HAND-FED OCTOPUS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20611, 9 January 1929, Page 11

HAND-FED OCTOPUS.

'lt is a _ pretty fair test of tameness when a wild creature feeds out of your band, and the London Zoo is quite justified in now describing its biggest octopus as “ tame,” says the Daily Mail. When the time comes for its crab supper the eight-armed thing comes' brazenly to the edge of its tank and pushes out a tentacle so as to be helped before its three companions. Handed a fair-sized crab, the octopus brings it within reach of its horny beak—ignoring casual nips from the victimchips a piece of shell as delicately as if it were an egg, and then absorbs the soft inside. i The four large octopods now in the Zoo Aquarium promise to do really well. The reason contains no moral for children. because the authorities base their hopes on the constant quarrels which take place. Life is one long wrestling match for the quartet, and bits of skin float in the water after each round. Thus the wellmatched get plenty of exercise aa well as something to give them an interest in life. As they are also feeding well, there is every hope that they will establish themselves. A group of healthy, blood curdling octopods would bo, so to speak, a bright gem m the crown of Regent's Park.