Why is Inky making the headlines

Who?
Inky, a male common New Zealand octopus.

Why are we talking about an octopus?
Inky is quite the international celebrity. He is trending on social media.

Ok, a celebrity octopus, I get it. Tell me more.
Well, Inky escaped from the National Aquarium of New Zealand in Napier and made his way to the free ocean waters.

Escaped?
Yes. Under the cloak of darkness, Inky bolted from his enclosure through a small opening, slid 2 metres across the floor and squeezed his body through a narrow pipe leading to the Pacific Ocean.

How did an eight-arm creature fit into a six-inch drainpipe?
Octopuses have no bones. They are able to squeeze and fit into very small spaces. Inky is about the size of a soccer ball and I'm sure fitting into the drainpipe was no big deal.

Well, doesn't it sound a little fanciful?
It does. Although Inky didn't leave a note, there was a different telltale sign that he did, indeed, escape: a trail of water from his tank to the drainpipe of freedom. And don't forget that octopuses are really intelligent animals, very inquisitive and like to push their boundaries.

Smarty Inky!
Yeah, but we have more of such escape artists. A Humboldt penguin in Tokyo said sayonara to his captors and swam off to the Tokyo bay. Two llamas bolted off in DC last year. A red panda slipped away from the zoo in Nebraska. A white flamingo flew the coop in Wichita and the list goes on.

Wow...! Mr Inky did pull a Shawshank Redemption here
Literally. Gone for good.