The Octopus: Nature’s Greatest Escape Artist

The octopus: Nature’s craftiest escape artist. Is this just another preconception? Is it fact or is it fiction?

Most of us have heard tales about octopuses escaping from fishing boats through tiny holes. Is this reputation of octopuses being so elusive based on reality?

We wanted to put this to the test.

An Octopus Escape Room

We needed to design an experiment and test exactly how much skill a smart octopus would display in order to escape from a confined environment.

So we sat down and devised the first ever escape room for an octopus. After all, escape rooms are great fun!

If they are stimulating and entertaining for us, wouldn’t they be equally beneficial for an octopus?

As always, our main concern was to ensure that the experiment is 100% safe for the octopus. Moreover, we would not allow the octopus to stay in the escape room for more than a few minutes each round in order to eliminate the possibility of him getting stressed.

Rudy, the Master of Escape

We chose Rudy for this experiment due to his playful character and average size. He is big enough to be streetwise, and small enough to have plenty of space to move around in the escape room.

Rudy surely enjoyed his new playground enormously. He was excited and could not wait for the next challenge to be set up. It was as if he wanted to show us how intelligent and crafty he is.

The Challenges

We divided the escape room challenge in four rounds, according to their level of difficulty.

Level 1 was easy. It was called the Hidden Door Challenge. Rudy had to find the hidden door behind the colorful plants

Level 2 was moderate. It was called the Tube Challenge. In this challenge, Rudy had to find the entrance to the narrow tube and squeeze through it in order to escape.

Level 3 was difficult. It was named the Bridge Challenge. A shallow bridge could lead Rudy to an exit, so he needed to climb onto the bridge and cross it.

Level 4 was extremely difficult. It was called the Synchronized Button Challenge. This was the most complex challenge. A red button was installed within the room. Rudy had to press the button which opened the door for only 15 seconds. As soon as the button was pressed, a green light would signaled that the door was open. Therefore, Rudy had to deal with the sudden change in his lighting environment and figure out that when the button was pressed, the door would open.

We enjoyed planning the escape routes enormously and we would like to revisit this experiment in the future so don’t forget to share your ideas with us in the comments.

1 comment