Aquarium staff believe Inky made his bold move in the middle of the night, while the aquarium was closed, the Guardian reports.
“Octopus are very intelligent, very inquisitive and like to push the boundaries,” Rob Yarrell, the manager of the National Aquarium of New Zealand told CNN. “This particular one was very friendly and intelligent and obviously found a weak spot in the top of his tank.”
A local crayfisherman inadvertently caught Inky of the coast of Napier and donated the clever octopus to the aquarium.
Yarrell noted eight-armed escape artist learned a lot in his time at the aquarium.
“He was the type that was inquisitive, and a bit wiser than we thought.”
There’s not going to be a big search for the wily critter, who’s likely prowling the ocean floor, back in his natural home.
“We’ll chalk this up to experience,” he said.
He made his escape three months ago, but weirdly, the story only became public Tuesday, The Washington Post reports.
If there’s one thing that can be said about octopuses, it’s that they are extremely flexible. They can wriggle through the tiniest space and the only thing that restricts them is the size of their beak, which is the only rigid part of their body, CNN reports. Yarrell noted that Inky could likely hear water in the pipe, and that may have lured him into making his escape.
Even though the drain is only six wide, Inky managed to squeeze his football-sized body into the drain. Then he made his break for the Pacific.
Yarrell told News.com.au that Inky will be dearly missed, and noted he and his staff have been pretty sad since his escape.
Scientists have long known how intelligent cephalopods, including octopuses, really are, and they have remarkable problem solving abilities, as this video below demonstrates:
What’s truly interesting is that Octopuses are actually mollusks–of the order Octopoda. This puts them in the same company as limpets, snails, slugs, clams, mussels, scallops, and oysters.
