"The Dude" - Giant Pacific Octopus

[whatcaneyedo]

Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre?

[Youngster Dan]

Originally Posted by paddyob

So this is where?

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre?

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.

[jorjef]

Um, ya.....ahhh that is just a bit too unsettling for me...How do you tell when he gets mad and need to back off?

[Lampshade]

The ship thing would be hilarious, if i had one I'd mail it. COuld cheap out and use a whitespot pirate pack?

[Youngster Dan]

Originally Posted by jorjef

Um, ya.....ahhh that is just a bit too unsettling for me...How do you tell when he gets mad and need to back off?

That's actually a pretty good question. Really, it's almost impossible to know for sure if what I think is "play" is actually playing, or a sinister attempt to eat me. That said, I interact with him daily and I have slowly built trust with him. It didn't take him too long to figure out that I was the source of food. I can't really explain it, but you can just tell he doesn't mean you any harm.

Though, if he is really hungry and I start playing with him and would rather food he can get a bit more aggressive. I avoid letting him touch me with his larger suckers because they are STRONG. Seriously, it is impossible to pry yourself off if he grabs you with them. There have been a couple times where I wasn't paying attention and he has grabbed me and refused to let go. The only course of action at this point is to hold your hand out of the water and let his weight tire him out and he will let go eventually.

For this reason, I am just starting to train him to let go of me on command. Which is perhaps the only time I have been able to apply part of my education to my job thus far!

Signs that he is mad would be him showing me his beak, or going mostly white while accentuating his eye. Or if I startled him he would ink me and try to escape. He has never done any of these things.

Originally Posted by Lampshade

The ship thing would be hilarious, if i had one I'd mail it. COuld cheap out and use a whitespot pirate pack?

Haha, thanks! Maybe we could pitch that to whitespot! I like burgers after all.

[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.

[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?

[lastlight]

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 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.

[parkinsn]

Originally Posted by jorjef

Um, ya.....ahhh that is just a bit too unsettling for me...How do you tell when he gets mad and need to back off?

When he's trying to eat your face would be my guess lol

Thats pretty cool, thanks for the pics.

[jorjef]

Originally Posted by parkinsn

When he's trying to eat your face would be my guess lol

Thats pretty cool, thanks for the pics.

Ya that would be my concern.." hum maybe I should have GLUP GLUP let go before he decided to GLUP GLUP latch on to me and GLUP pull me in. "