Tortoise That Comes When Called

Octopus Steals Video Camera

Revenge of the Octopus

by Mike Krumboltz

19 hours ago

A few days ago, an ornery octopus stole a diver's video camera off the coast of New Zealand. What followed was a harrowing and hilarious adventure that resulted in some incredibly awesome video.  

We first spotted the story at Very Short List. The video, which you can watch below, begins innocently enough. Local diver Victor Huang is shooting video with his new underwater camera. (Cue the "Jaws" music.)

Suddenly, a mischievous octopus appears out of nowhere, and clings to the $700 camera. Mr. Huang holds on for as long as he can, but the mighty mollusk wins the tug of war and swims off with Huang's new toy.

Most folks would chalk this up to incredibly bad luck and let the octopus win, but Mr. Huang pursued the creature. After a five minute chase, he managed to wrestle his camera back, with the help of his spear gun. Huang used the gun to wedge the camera away from the eight-armed thief.

But it wasn't over yet. The octopus liked playing with the spear gun and refused to let go. According an article from New Zealand Stuff, "Mr. Huang then swam around with the octopus on his speargun, saying the tentacled sea creature seemed to enjoy the ride."

Amazingly, the robbery, chase, and recovery were all captured on video. Mr. Huang never got a chance to turn off his gadget before the octopus "borrowed it." And Huang holds no grudge. He feels the octopus never intended to hurt him. "I honestly believe that it saw the bright blue digital camera and went ‘oh I need that’, you know?"

Huang posted the three minute clip on the Web and the video has quickly gone viral. In just a few days, the clip has garnered close to a million views on YouTube. It's easy to see why. The struggle, vivid colors, and knowledge that it all turned out OK (even the camera survived), make this a must-see.