--- title: Octopus Escapes National Aquarium of New Zealand description: Inky the Octopus has escaped from the National Aquarium of New Zealand canonical: https://time.com/4291327/inky-octopus-new-zealand-national-aquarium-escape/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-12T21:30:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:31:34.901Z og:title: Sneaky Octopus Escapes From New Zealand Aquarium og:description: Inky the Octopus has escaped from the National Aquarium of New Zealand og:url: https://time.com/4291327/inky-octopus-new-zealand-national-aquarium-escape/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sneaky Octopus Escapes From New Zealand Aquarium twitter:description: Inky the Octopus has escaped from the National Aquarium of New Zealand twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Sneaky Octopus Escapes From New Zealand Aquarium  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 12, 2016 9:30 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 12, 2016 9:30 PM UTC A male octopus named Inky recently made an _ink_redible escape from the National Aquarium of New Zealand. During a routine tank check, it slipped out of its enclosure when its lid was slightly ajar, scooched across the floor, and squeezed through a drain pipe that led to the Pacific Ocean, Rob Yarrell, manager of the aquarium in Napier, told the [New Zealand Herald](http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c%5Fid=1503462&objectid=11621234) and [Radio New Zealand](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSUZi%5F6oQOc). Staffers learned it had gone missing when they spotted the trail of water that the sea creature left behind. The incident happened a few months ago, but the news is only coming out now, according to [Radio New Zealand](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSUZi%5F6oQOc). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4291327/inky-octopus-new-zealand-national-aquarium-escape/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4291327/inky-octopus-new-zealand-national-aquarium-escape/"},"headline":"Sneaky Octopus Escapes From New Zealand Aquarium","datePublished":"2016-04-12T21:30:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:31:34.901Z","description":"Just wanted to be under the sea","url":"https://time.com/4291327/inky-octopus-new-zealand-national-aquarium-escape/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4291327/inky-octopus-new-zealand-national-aquarium-escape/","name":"Sneaky Octopus Escapes From New Zealand Aquarium"}}]}] ```