New Zealand: The octopus “Inky” escapes from the aquarium into the ocean
Cinematic escape The octopus “Inki” escapes from the aquarium into the ocean
In the morning his water tank was empty: the octopus Inky had escaped from the New Zealand National Aquarium overnight. He entered through a 50-meter sewer pipe directly into freedom.
Many studies have proven that octopuses are very intelligent. Apparently some people are smart enough to make a spectacular escape from an aquarium. Inky, an octopus from the New Zealand National Aquarium, managed to do just that: Like the British newspaper The Guardian According to reports, Enki managed to escape from his water tank, then crawled several meters on the ground and slid into a 50-metre-long drainpipe. Back to the ocean, back to freedom! However, Enki was unable to escape without help: the lid of his aquarium was accidentally opened slightly.
Aquarium director Rob Yarrell confirmed the escape to The Guardian: “Octopuses are famous escape artists.” He doesn't think Enki was unhappy in the aquarium and that's why he ran away: “He's very curious. He wants to know what was going on outside. That's just his personality.”
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“There's always a chance Enki will come back to us.”
Since octopuses have no bones, they can squeeze through the narrowest of cracks. In addition, their intelligence is so developed that Inky's peers have been observed using tools. Enki was once brought to the National Aquarium by fishermen after he got caught in a crab trap. “The staff and I are very sad,” Yarrell says. “But that's just Enky — he's always been an octopus full of surprises.”
At another New Zealand aquarium, in Wellington, an octopus regularly crawled into another tank overnight to eat crabs. After his meal he always returned to his tank. According to Yarrell, Enki was also said to be a “particularly intelligent” specimen: “He was friendly, very curious and charismatic in our aquarium.” A replacement for an escaped octopus should not be sought at first, but if a fisherman brings home a member of the species, he or she will likely take it. But the aquarium manager does not give up so easily: “You never know, there is always a chance that Inki will come back to us.”