RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. Australian researchers have found that octopuses may be capable of deliberately throwing things at each other. Maybe it's to protect their eggs. Or maybe they've just had a day, and they need some personal space. In a 20-hour span, a female octopus was taped throwing 17 objects in 60 minutes, hitting other octopuses nine times. Another female was seen throwing material that hit a male in a nearby den who had been trying to mate with her. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.