The veined octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus)

Scientists have long known that some animals use tools to help them get what they need.

But they have only recently discovered the most unusual way one animal “builds” its house — and they found this animal scurrying across the sands of the ocean floor.

The veined octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) builds its home using coconut shell halves that people have thrown into the ocean. Stacking one on top of the other, it crawls between the two halves — the perfect underwater armor for this soft-bodied octopus. When the octopus needs to travel, it simply stacks the shell halves under its body — much like stacking two bowls. It then “stilt walks” on its eight legs, dragging the shells with it. Scientists have even spotted veined octopuses digging buried coconut shells out of the sand and squirting them with jets of water to clean them before moving in.

The veined octopus is just one of several animals that uses tools. There’s a group of bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, that carries sea sponges in their beaks to stir up the ocean sand and uncover their prey. Also, sea otters use stones as hammers to crack open abalone shells to get to the food inside.

Indescribable: 100 Devotions About God & Science by Louie Giglio (found here: Indescribable)