Remember the good old days when we could go out with our friends or family just to tour around the city? I’m sure you must have looked for complete strangers who would agree to take a picture of your entire gang, at least once if not more.
Well, would you believe me if I told you that an octopus residing in an aquarium in New Zeland has been fully trained to use a digital camera and click pictures of tourists?
I’m not messing with you. Rambo is a female octographer (octopus + photographer) who has been taught how to use a waterproof digital camera worth $300 i.e Rs. 22,000 (approx).
Rambo the octographer’s chosen weapon to impress the group of humans who visit her aquarium is a Sony Cyber-shot TX30.
The aquarium obviously charges a small token amount of $2 in their local currency for Rambo’s specialised talent. The fees goes towards the aquarium operations and programs.
But mind you, training an octopus to operate a camera underwater wasn’t as easy as it looks. Mark Vette who is Rambo’s trainer revealed how initially she was hostile towards the alien object intruding her territory:
On day two, she pulled the camera off, ripped it up, smashed it to bits and spat it out,” Vette recalled in the Sony video.
-Mark Vette
However, over a couple of weeks, with a lot of patience and positive reinforcement, Vette finally managed to train her. Sony New Zeland has recorded Rambo’s learning experience in the form of a BTS video:
Now, Rambo just takes photos by reaching her tentacle down a tube to push a red button that turns on the camera and takes a photo. In fact, her trainer reveals that she enjoys the game.
Here are some of the pictures Rambo has clicked:
Rambo looks like a better photographer than many of the strangers we’ve requested in a tourist spot to capture our entire gang. She hasn’t missed out anybody in the frame!
Ok, sometimes her tentacle can photobomb but hey, it’s all a part of the fun, exciting experience!
Here’s another reason to love New Zealand, it has taught us that Octopuses are smarter and stronger than we think.