Inky, a resident octopus at the National Aquarium of New Zealand, somehow managed to escape from his enclosure by squeezing through a gap at the top of the tank. He then slithered down a runoff pipe and out to the bay outside.
Rob Yarrell, the aquarium's national manager, told The Guardian that octopi, like Inky, are "famous escape artists." The creatures can compress their squishy bodies to fit through surprisingly small openings.
"But Inky really tested the waters here," Yarrell told the paper. "I don't think he was unhappy with us, or lonely, as octopus are solitary creatures. But he is such a curious boy. He would want to know what's happening on the outside. That's just his personality."
The escape actually occurred a few months ago, but word only recently got out to the international media.
Inky's current whereabouts are unknown, though he's likely swimming around somewhere off the eastern coast of New Zealand's North Island.
The crafty cephalopod has been making waves on social media ever since his great escape.
Inky the New Zealand octopus has fired the opening shot in the cephalopod uprising https://t.co/whmZyP0hHK— Quartz (@qz) 13 April 2016
I stand with Inky. https://t.co/8wdscxxPzy— Parker Higgins (@xor) 13 April 2016
You're my hero, #Inky. Hope you're jetting through Pacific shallows, or blending with the surface of a purple reef. https://t.co/bdlGwUcRMO— Tom Matthew Wolfe (@tom_m_wolfe) 13 April 2016
Inky was a relatively recent denizen of the aquarium. A local fisherman who caught him in a crayfish pot donated Inky to the aquarium in 2014.
Yarrell said that news of the animal's liberation was bittersweet for aquarium staff.
"The staff and I have been pretty sad," he told the paper. "But then, this is Inky, and he's always been a bit of a surprise octopus."
Source : CBS News
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