Our giant Pacific octopus, Scooby, (Enteroctopus dofleini) tricked one of our aquarists into giving him two dinners!
Scooby is a 2-and-a-half-year-old giant Pacific octopus who is one of our well-known residents here. Giant Pacific octopuses have large, complex brains and well-developed nervous systems, with the capacity for long-term memory, learning, tool use and problem-solving.
While Abby Wheston, our amazing Aquarist, was feeding Scooby his dinner (a crab) it floated into an anemone. Anemones sting, so Scooby turned grey in colour, to show he was unhappy, and hid in the corner!
Abby gave Scooby another crab to replace the first. Once he finsihed the new crab, Scooby reached his arm into the anemone and helped himself to the first crab that was trapped and presumed lost. Very sneaky!
Abby said: “Scooby is a very intelligent animal and managed to con his way into having two crabs! I felt sorry for him because he seemed to have lost his first dinner and he sulked in the corner. Once he had two crabs, he was very happy again.
“He often splashes us as well when he’s trying to get us to play with him. Scooby is a very curious creature, if we’re cleaning the tanks on the opposite side of the room, we’ll often catch him watching us very closely.” Abby added.
Come and visit Scooby and learn more about him at our Giant Pacific Octopus talk and feed at 1:30 pm.
