New Zealand prisoner escapes to Pacific Ocean through six-inch drain pipe

[lisiate]

@Richard_Pearse

Really? I didn’t know that. Does that mean we’re not supposed to call it “the north island” now?

Depends how scared you are of the wrath of the New Zealand Geographic Board I suppose.

[Colibri]

@Senegoid

Even is Mr. Inky made out to the open ocean, what are his survival chances? Captive critters commonly don’t do well when released into the wild, especially if the release is not carefully planned.

Evidently you have not bothered to read the rather short article in the OP, which has the answers to most of your questions. Inky was captured locally, in a trap set for spiny lobsters (known locally as crayfish) on Pania Reef, a few miles from the National Aquarium from which he escaped.

Is the immediate ocean environment around the aquarium right for this species of octopus?

Yes

Are there other similar octopuses around?

Yes.

Are there predators that will kill and/or eat him more-or-less instantly?

No doubt there are predators around, but they are unlikely to eat him instantly since he managed to grow to adulthood in the same environment.

What ever Inky is in the habit of eating, is there any of that around?

Yes.

Was Inky captured from the wild or captive-born?

Captured from the wild as an adult.

Does he still have (or did he ever have) the necessary wild survival skills? We know that a captive octopus can do Differential Equations and quote Shakespeare, but would Inky know the things that a wild octopus needs to know?

Very obviously he does.

Given all these factors, I would say Inky has an excellent chance of finding his way back to his original home and surviving in the wild as he did before.

[Richard_Pearse]

@lisiate

Depends how scared you are of the wrath of the New Zealand Geographic Board I suppose.

Wikipedia says we are still to use “the”, phew.

[Princhester]

@Senegoid

We know that a captive octopus can do Differential Equations and quote Shakespeare, but would Inky know the things that a wild octopus needs to know?

The Shakespeare quoting octopus market pays well and I think his material needs will be well met. The market for those with mathematics qualifications is rather softer.

[RickJay]

@Colibri

Intelligence has evolved independently in vertebrates and mollusks. However, their nervous systems are homologous in origin. One would still expect that their mental processes might have more in common than organisms of completely independent origin.

Probably, but intelligence in an octopus is still something that is quite possibly impossible for humans to comprehend. Octopus nervous systems diverge from ours in terms of their evolution basically before anything on this planet had intelligence - I don’t think we share a common ancestor with octopi until something like 500 million years ago, which is further before the rise of dinosaurs than the dinosaurs are further before today.

An octopus perceives the world totally differently than mammals do, and has a life cycle completely different from ours. They are not aliens, but if you wanted to start practicing on understanding how aliens might be intelligent, octopi would be a good place to start. We think they are intelligent because they demonstrate behaviours we associate with intelligence; they solve problems, learn from demonstration, play, and express emotions. But the way that stuff happens in their brains is way different from a mammalian or avian brain.

In discussing Inky, for instance, one of the strange things about octopi is that they have learning abilities unrivalled by most animals and yet we know they don’t learn from other octopi. The octopus is a notoriously anti-social creature; they don’t like each other and parents don’t raise their offspring. But they seem to know how to survive. So they presumably have some inherited survival instinct, and yet the little bastards can learn well enough to open locks. They’re just weird.

[Sir_T-Cups]

@Sunspace

“Octopus tracks”!

@Tom_Tildrum

That’s also a variety of Japanese ice cream.

Also a sure-fire bet in Japan that your girlfriend is cheating on you

[Hari_Seldon]

@The Great Sun Jester

Assuming the drain goes more or less directly to the ocean as reported, then bully for the octopus. But aren’t the odds fairly decent it leads instead to, like, a sewer and possibly a treatment plant? In which case Inky would be in a world of shit. The touch of a human hand is said to be very uncomfortable for them (burns), I can’t imagine what it would be like for them to be completely coated in muck.

I’ve heard octopodes are about as smart as cats. But cats and people are both terrestrial, mammalian chordates with a common ancestor at some point, and probably think similarly about stuff like solving problems. Incidents like this make me wonder what the thought process is like for a very smart mollusk. Which would still be closer to the thought process of a human than that of an alien. I don’t think much further than that because I start getting sleepy and looking for the Oreos.

And you think that octopuses and men don’t have a common ancestor. Some kind of creationist?

[Tom_Tildrum]

@Hari_Seldon

And you think that octopuses and men don’t have a common ancestor. Some kind of creationist?

Please. We all saw Spider-Man 2. “Guy named Otto Octavius winds up with eight limbs. What are the odds?”

[aruvqan]

@wolfman

But on the other hand who among us hasn’t had a craving for some Calamari working late at the office, then told the boss “yeah I guess he escaped somewhere, like that pipe, yeah that must be it”

Back in the mid 90s our roomie was an overnight maintenance worker for the Mystic Aquarium, and we used to joke about the lobsters they kept - I have a pound of butter and am not afraid to use it!

[Annie-Xmas]

Am I the only one whose first thought was “Andy Dufresne”?

[Cabin_Fever_1]

@Jackmannii

Now I’m hearing the voice of Elmer Fudd.

“Shhh. Be very very quiet. Octopus tracks!”

I have nothing yet to add, however I must admit that I spit Pepsi upon your characterization of Elmer Fudd.

I have to go grocery shopping and this phrase will be in my head in the check-out lane.
I will blame you if that is OK.

[TroutMan]

@Annie-Xmas

Am I the only one whose first thought was “Andy Dufresne”?

Considering all the jokes so far (including the OP), I’d say not.

@Tom_Tildrum

Apparently the gap in the tank lid was overlooked because it was covered by a poster of the Little Mermaid. Inky had been doing taxes for the Aquarium’s director and guards, who are under investigation. Rumor has it that his tankmate will eventually be joining him off of a small seaside town in Mexico.

@Gorsnak

In 2016, Inky the Octopus escaped from the National Aquarium. All they found of him was a muddy set of tentacle tracks, and an old rock hammer damn near worn down to the nub…

@robert_columbia

The octopus has now been spotted in the town of Fort Hancock, Texas.