Rescued Octopus Figures Out How to Clear Obstacles From His Favorite Barrel to Make Room For Himself

Arnold Octopus Clears His Barrel

A very clever rescued octopus named Arnold who lives at the Octolab loves his empty barrel hiding place. The humans involved in the Octolab project decided to see what Arnold would do if his barrel became inaccessible and filled it up with soft bricks while Arnold took a stroll. Although they provided another place for Arthur to use, he only wanted to clear the obstacles from his own barrel.

Arthur stretched his magnificent tentacles in an effort to use every resource at his command to remove the impediments, including two square tiles and a piece of the air filter he snapped off from his tank. Somehow Arnold cleared enough away to fit happily inside.

The octopus in this observation aquarium is Arnold. He’s a new octopus here at Octolab. He absolutely loves his barrel and spends hours just hanging out and observing the people around him. We wanted to know what would happen if we removed his barrel, filled it with obstacles, and added another hideout. Would he just use the new hideout or would he try to make himself comfortable in his trusty old barrel?

Octolab is a research facility that seeks to learn more about these incredible creatures by observing their behavior in a variety of situations. Each and every cephalopod in their care has been rescued from a fisherman’s catches and saved from an otherwise horrific fate.

At no point do we place any of our animals in harm’s way. Our priority is, always has been, and will always be the well-being and health of our octopuses. …All of the eight-armed friends who are part of the Octolab project were rescued from the catch of fishermen. Their fate would have been gruesome otherwise. Quite literally they would have been smashed on the rocks while still alive to “tenderize” them and then hung to dry in the sun before being sold to local seafood restaurants and markets.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

Recent Posts