Whoa 😲
Lucy is a happy-go-lucky puppy who loves nothing more than going to the beach with her family — and her tennis ball.
However, Lucy’s time with her beloved toy was cut short lately on one of these outings.
Lucy and her family were at the beach near their house in South Africa the other day when they were approached by a curious octopus. The eight-armed creature chose to get closer, shortly showing what piqued his curiosity.
What happened next could not have been predicted by the puppy.
Lucy’s owner, Riette Creighton, told The Dodo, “High tide was coming in, and all of a sudden this octopus came through in the shallow water.”
Lucy, very likely taken aback, dropped her ball into the water near where she was standing. It didn’t stay unclaimed for long, though.
“All of a sudden,” Creighton recounted, “we saw [the octopus] taking the ball.” “My response was probably the same as Lucy’s! It was unlike anything I’d ever known. This was a whole other level!”
The octopus now owned the tennis ball. He’d taken it, and Lucy had no option but to stand there and watch.
Surprisingly, the octopus seemed to love the tennis ball as much as Lucy did.
And he had no intention of returning it.
After a few seconds of manipulating the ball near the water’s surface, the octopus chose to return home with his new toy.
“He encircled the ball with his tentacle and vanished!” Creighton remarked. “We waited for almost 20 minutes, expecting the ball would appear, but it never did. It had vanished!”
Given the buoyancy of tennis balls, the octopus must have gripped it with great care as he transported it down the depths.
The ball was misplaced. Thankfully, Lucy’s beach day was not completely spoiled.
She continued to play, unconcerned that her toy had been taken by someone else.
Creighton described her as “such a kind spirit.”
It’s unclear why the octopus wanted to grab a tennis ball or what he intended to do with it. “He’s probably playing fetch with his mates,” Creighton, the dog’s owner, said.
What about Lucy?
“The next day, she was back in the water with a brand-new ball!”