Octopuses on ecstasy get touchy-feely like humans

Anti-social octopuses act like humans by getting touchy-feely after taking the drug MDMA, scientists say.

Researchers tested the animal’s reaction to the drug – also known as ecstasy – by using three connected water chambers: one empty, one with a plastic figure in a cage and one with a male or female octopus in a cage.

When the octopuses were exposed to MDMA, they spent more time in the chamber with the caged octopus.

Gul Dolen, of the US Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said: “They tended to hug the cage. This is … how humans react; they touch each other frequently.” The study was published in Current Biology.