Additionally, the team noticed a distinct pattern when analyzing the beaks. The attire was not uniform. The right side of the jaw was more consistently worn, scraped, and bruised than the left. The team concluded that this asymmetry was not an accident but evidence of lateral behavior. This is a tendency we see in modern octopuses, which often favor a specific side of their body or a particular eye when performing complex tasks.
In biology, lateralized behavior is usually associated with highly sophisticated, specialized neural systems. “Of course, we can’t measure intelligence directly from fossils,” Iba said. “But the asymmetric clothing suggests that the hunting behavior of these animals may also have been advanced and individualized, in some ways similar to that of modern octopuses.”
They weren’t just huge and powerful. They were probably smart.
evolutionary arms race
A highly intelligent, 19-meter-long cephalopod actively hunted and crushed prey, showing that the Cretaceous evolutionary arms race was not entirely dominated by vertebrates. By shedding the heavy shells seen in early nautiloids and ammonites, the ancestors of modern octopuses traded passive defense for active offense. He achieved explosive swimming speeds, vastly improved vision, and the neurological abilities needed for enhanced cognition.
“Our study sheds light on convergent evolution. Vertebrates and cephalopods have very different evolutionary origins, but both evolved toward becoming large, intelligent marine predators with powerful jaws, flexible bodies, high mobility, and advanced behavior,” Iba said. They noted that Cretaceous marine ecosystems were probably more complex than we thought.
The IBA also hopes that digital fossil mining techniques can be used to learn more about this complexity. “A key direction is to apply digital fossil mining to many more fossil-rich rocks,” he told Ars. “This approach allows us to uncover organisms and structures that were previously virtually invisible in the fossil record.” He believes this technique is especially important for animals like octopus and squid, which rarely fossilize.
The team ultimately wants to reconstruct a more complete history of cephalopods. “More broadly, our goal is to uncover hidden components of ancient ecosystems and build a complete picture of how past ecosystems actually worked,” Iba said.
Science, 2026. DOI: 10.1126/science.aea6285
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