[1][2]This protozoan uses extensions called pseudopodia to move and to eat smaller unicellular organisms.

A. proteus inhabits freshwater environments and feeds on protozoans, algae, rotifers, and even other smaller amoebae.

[citation needed] The first description of this amoeba is probably that of August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof who, in 1755, published drawings of an amoeboid protozoan he called the "little Proteus".

[5][6] The locomotion of Amoeba proteus exhibits chaotic dynamics described by a low-dimensional chaotic attractor with a correlation dimension around 3-4, indicating that the seemingly random movement arises from deterministic cooperative interactions among a small number of processes like sol-gel transformations, cytoplasmic streaming, and calcium-mediated reactions.

[8] Furthermore, the Rac/PAK pathway is involved in regulating cell migration, with the PAK kinase MIHCK acting as an effector for the Rac-like protein, and inhibition of MIHCK disrupts normal migration and pseudopod formation, although it does not directly affect actin polymerization.