First, we define the butt. According to @MerriamWebster, butt, or buttock, is "the back of a hip that forms one of the fleshy parts on which a person sits".

I, personally, find this definition is problematic.
Many familiar animals like cats and dogs don& #39;t sit like we do, but we know where the butt is — the flesh around the butthole. So clearly, the butthole is the key.

However, with invertebrates, the butthole isn& #39;t always where you think it is.
To orient ourselves here are 2 familiar animals & their buttholes& #39; location.

On the left is Raymond, overpriced meme cat, a vertebrate. On the right is Flick, arthropod artiste, internet darling, also a vertebrate.

For them, food goes in one hole, poop goes out the other. Easy.
Now we see Zucker, Marina, and Octavian. The ONLY THREE invertebrates out of 400+ villagers. Blasphemy.

This is how they sit. Obviously, we can see where their butts are? LOL NO.
An octopus& #39; mouth is actually tucked between its appendages – technically called arms.

That & #39;mouth& #39; hole? That& #39;s where the poop comes out. It& #39;s called a siphon. In human terms, I guess we can call that the butthole.
So now we see that the & #39;sitting& #39; part and the & #39;butthole& #39; part don& #39;t align. Obviously, real-life cephalopods don& #39;t sit like this.

But this raises an issue, where is an octopus& #39; butt? Is it the butthole, or the round part near the butthole? What even are butts?
In the words of Dr @MaureenBug, invertebutt enthusiast: "Bones are limiting, bones are boring."

Only when we leave behind our attraction to bony animals, we can start asking the real important questions like these.

Viva la #InverteButt.
You can follow @franzanth.
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