Do Octopuses Mean to Deceive?
The deceptive behaviors of cephalopods may indicate sophisticated intelligence.
Posted September 25, 2025 | Reviewed by Gary Drevitch
Many animals use deception to get what they want. Most of these sneaky tactics are instinctual; however, a few creatures engage in tactical deception: They adapt their tricks depending on their goal or audience. Tactical deception involves some sophisticated cognition , and research on the phenomenon often focuses on primates or brainy birds like corvids. Recently, scientists suggested that a different group of animals may be ideal for the study of tactical deception: cephalopods .
Deception involves conveying misinformation in order to mislead others, but not all forms require higher cognition. Many deceptive behaviors are genetically determined, such as harmless butterflies evolving to resemble toxic ones.
“Tactical deception, by contrast, is flexible, context dependent, and shaped by the deceiver’s assessment of an audience,” says Elias Garcia-Pelegrin, an animal behaviorist at the National University of Singapore and a co-author of the new paper.
For instance, researchers have observed chimpanzees taking advantage of moments when others are distracted to access food or resources. Jays provide another example: They will move, and sometimes pretend to move, their hidden caches of food when they notice other jays watching them.
“These cases suggest that the animal is considering what others can see, know, or do,” says Garcia-Pelegrin.
Tactical deception is thought to be linked to Theory of Mind , the ability to attribute mental states (such as knowledge, intentions, or desires) to others. In humans, this capacity is central to our social lives. In other animals, the evidence for Theory of Mind is debated. However, tactical deception is one of the behaviors that might reveal whether non-human species are able to take another’s perspective.
For scientists looking to study advanced cognition and deceptive behaviors, it’s hard to beat cephalopods, according to Garcia-Pelegrin.
“They combine sophisticated camouflage and signaling with advanced problem-solving abilities, all supported by a nervous system that is completely different from that of vertebrates,” he says. “Their use of camouflage, masquerade, or ink clouds is not always reflexive. These strategies can be selectively deployed depending on context, which raises the possibility that some of their behaviors involve sensitivity to what an observer can see or know.”
Some cephalopod behaviors seem likely to involve tactical deception. An example is the split-body display in mourning cuttlefish, where a male presents courtship coloration to a female on one side of his body while simultaneously mimicking female patterns on the other side to fool a rival male.
Another example is the common cuttlefish’s strategy of flashing false eyespots to startle or scare away approaching predators. The cuttlefish only displays these false eyespots to visually oriented predators and not to those that rely on smell and taste to hunt.
Other cephalopod deceptions, such as releasing ink clouds to distract or confuse predators, appear strategic but may be part of a simple escape reflex and therefore not offer evidence of higher cognition — unless they can be shown to be flexibly deployed according to context, says Garcia-Pelegrin. For instance, pygmy squids appear to use their ink strategically when hunting crustaceans, either attacking through the ink cloud or inking on one side of the prey and then attacking from the other direction.
Demonstrating tactical deception in a cephalopod would provide a powerful example of convergent evolution, according to Garcia-Pelegrin and colleagues. It would suggest that complex cognitive skills, possibly including a rudimentary form of Theory of Mind, evolved independently in vertebrates and invertebrates.
“This would reshape how we think about the evolutionary pathways to intelligence , while also strengthening the case for considering cephalopod sentience and welfare,” he says.
To establish whether a behavior qualifies as tactical deception, Garcia-Pelegrin and colleagues propose controlled laboratory experiments that manipulate the presence, perspective, and attentional state of observers. Through this approach, scientists may be able to discern intentional, context-sensitive strategies from simpler, fixed responses.
Further, the authors suggest that scientists designing such behavioral experiments look to magicians for inspiration. Magicians specialize in misdirection techniques that rely on understanding what the audience sees, expects, or overlooks, drawing directly on Theory of Mind. Garcia-Pelegrin says that some animal deceptive strategies bear a striking resemblance to the techniques of magicians.
“Jays sometimes feign caching to mislead potential thieves, which is similar to a magician’s false move,” he says. “In cephalopods, the split-body display is another example of dual signaling that feels almost theatrical.
“By borrowing experimental tools from magic, we can test whether animals manipulate attention in comparable ways.”
Drerup C, Garcia-Pelegrin E, Wilkins C, Herbert-Read JE, Clayton NS. Tactical deception in cephalopods: a new framework for understanding cognition. Trends Ecol Evol. 2025 May 22:S0169-5347(25)00128-4. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.016.
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Mary Bates, Ph.D. , is a science writer who specializes in neuroscience, animal behavior, psychology, and biology.
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