Animals / octopus-escape-artistry
Facts about Octopus Escape Artistry
- 05
Some aquariums have resorted to using child-proof locks and weighted lids to prevent octopuses from repeatedly escaping their enclosures.
- 04
The strong suction cups and flexible arms of octopuses allow them to push open latched lids, making secure tank design a genuine challenge for aquariums.
- 03
A captive octopus has been documented leaving its tank at night to raid nearby fish tanks and then returning to its own enclosure before morning.
- 02
Inky, an octopus at New Zealand's National Aquarium, famously escaped his tank in 2016 by squeezing through a drainpipe leading to the ocean.
- 01
Octopuses can escape from tanks by squeezing through any opening larger than their hard beak, which is their only rigid body part.