"The Dude" - Giant Pacific Octopus

[Youngster Dan]

I took a few pictures playing with my favorite aquarium pal, he is very special and it is easy to see why.

This is "The Dude", he is the second GPO I have had the opportunity to look after. Him and I have a pretty cool bond, and he is not shy in the slightest with me around the tank. He lets me pet him, and we have a few games that we like to play. He seems to enjoy contact with me, and will often ignore food just to hang out.

Greeting me at the top of the tank:







Holding my hand:





When I splash him at the top, he covers his face and has even siphoned water at full blast right back at me!



Cool sucker shots:





He is smart enough to open jars to get his food, and can easily tell the difference between me and other people.

Just thought I might share

[cuz]

that is cool!!

who needs a dog when.....

[Lampshade]

That is very cool. I knew they where smart, but that seems to be very smart.

[Lance]

Very cool! Thanks for that.

[paddyob]

So this is where?

[whatcaneyedo]

Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre?

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by Youngster Dan

Yup! It's the Discovery Center in Sidney.

Speaking of dogs, I even got him a dog "Kong". He loves his kong, and it's pretty cool to see him snake his arms through it to get treats. I'm on the lookout for a good sized toy tall ship. I would love a video of him sinking the ship to get food. Gimicky, I know. But hilarious.

Haha, release the Craken!

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[Youngster Dan]

Originally Posted by dwerbs87

I heard this story a few years ago about this aquarium having fish go missing during the night from tanks that had no other fish with them. So they assumed that an employee was stealing fish during the night so they set up a hidden camera. Turns out that they had an octopus and there was a small hole on top of the tank, he had figured out how to reach out and open his tank. Then climb out, across the floor and into another tank. He would catch fish and then climb back out and go back home.

Yeah I have heard about this story too. We have our lids sealed very tight so that he isn't able to escape, I wouldn't doubt that he would figure out how to squeeze through a hole. The hole needs to be larger than the beak and that's it.

Originally Posted by Delphinus

They are really cool creatures. This is so awesome, I love reading your updates.


What is the lifespan of these big guys? It's kinda sadly short, isn't it?

Thanks! You are right, they only live up to five years old. While longer than the little tropical guys still makes me kind of sad.

Originally Posted by lastlight

Yeah I found it. Simply AMAZING!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROwnyb6T2e4

Sounds like you have a really rewarding job I envy you! Thx for the stories.

Haha, random. That video made me chuckle.