3 ms·

To be fair, tree octopuses sound about as outlandish as land crabs, which I still have trouble believing are real. https://arthropoda.files.wordpress.com/2010/

• UncleSlacky 3y ago
  Not to mention the land shark: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Shark_(Saturday_Night_Live) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Shark_(Saturday_Night_Liv... and the prairie squid: https://subgenius.fandom.com/wiki/Prairie_squid https://subgenius.fandom.com/wiki/Prairie_squid
  • MarkMarine 3y ago
    And drop bears
• hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
  I think this is a great point. It's easy to come back with a "hah, look how gullible you are" when someone believes hoaxes like this, but that ignores the reality that "truth is often stranger than fiction." I mean seriously, a coconut crab specifically evolved a special breathing apparatus to survive on land - why should that be any different from an octopus having "special adaptations" to keep it from getting desiccated when out of the water for extended periods? It's like when I used to read through Snopes feeds, and 9 times out of 10 I'd think "wow, that's so dumb, how could anyone believe that", and then the tenth time I'd think the same thing for a story that actually ended up being true.