The Glory of the Octopus

“If you want to know what aliens will be like, just look at an octopus.”

The octopus is our very own terrestrial alien, with eight prehensile arms lined with suckers; three hearts; an ink-based defense mechanism; highly developed jet propulsion; a body that can change size, shape, texture and color at will; and cognitive abilities to rival many mammals. They can retrieve hidden objects from nested Plexiglass cubes, find their way through complex mazes, utilize natural objects as tools, and even solve problems by watching other octopuses do the same. The common octopus, Octopus vulgaris, has about half a billion neurons, roughly six times more than a mouse. If there are sentient aliens in the universe, one way of trying to understand what sort of consciousness they may have is to think about the inner universe of the common octopus.

https://ideas.ted.com/want-to-know-what-aliens-will-be-like-just-look-at-an-octopus/