Nine months may feel like forever to welcome a new baby into your life, but imagine if it took 4 1/2 years.  Thats how long it took a female octopus, a Graneledone boreopacifica, and that makes it the longest known brooding period for any animal.

READ MORE // Fetus Has DNA Sequenced

Biologists reported the event from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in July.

Back in 2007, researchers found the female octopus in deep, chilly waters off of California’s coastline.  The continued to return 18 more times, only to discover the nearly starved mom still where they left her, every time.

Researchers believe that the mother died when her brood hatched, which is fairly typical for new octopus mothers.

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