I heard of an octopus once that was able to disassemble and reassemble an
M16A1 rifle whilst blindfolded. Mike.
"Haywood Jablowme" wrote in message
...

I understand what you mean by "friend of a friend". But, this was my
next door neighbor. I accompanied him to Sea World a number of times
and actually observed the tanks he was talking about. By the time I
got there, the three tanks that had Octopus in them had fully sealed
tops on them. Having talked to him and observed the site, there is no
doubt this happened.

These are very intelligent animals. I have seen an Octopus open a
glass jar with a screw on lid in order to get a shrimp that was in it.
It was amazing. The jar was filled with salt water and the shrimp
added. The lid was screwed on finger tight and the jar was then
dropped in the tank with the Octopus. The Octopus tried at first to go
through the glass to get the shrimp. Then, the animal enveloped the
entire jar with it's body and tentacles. After several minutes it
figured out how to open the jar. The entire process took about 20
minutes. The Aquarists at Sea World did all kinds of experiments to
test the intelligence of these animals.

So, yes they can move out of their tanks, explore their environment and
then return to their tanks. This is not conjecture. It is a fact.

HJ

In article , Mike Williams
wrote:

Wasn't it Haywood Jablowme who wrote:

A number of years ago, my next door neighbor worked as an Aquarist at
Sea World (in Orlando, Florida). He told me that this actually
happened there. An octopus was observed leaving it's tank, "walking"
about 5 feet, entering another tank, catching and eating a fish, and
returning to it's tank. As unbelievable as it sounds, according to Sea
World Orlando, this is an established fact. These are indeed very
intelligent animals.

Well yes, we started from the idea that there are lots of friend-of-a-
friend type stories about this.