Rambo the octopus is arguably one of the most unique (and inexpensive) photographers for hire in history. Charging a modest $2 per visitor, Rambo will snap your picture with a Sony Cybershot from her tank - a task she reportedly learned to do in only three tries.
Footage of Rambo in action, which you can watch below, was obviously in-part a play for SONY to showcase how their latest DSCTX30B Cybershot model can be both durable and water resistant - utterly submerged in a tank as it was.
The initial rigging that held the camera to the inside wall of Rambo's tank even simply had the camera exposed to the elements - equipped only with a frame and a simple addition of a tube-guide to help Rambo hit the shutter button when guest approach her tank.
"When we first tried to get her to take a photo, it only took three attempts for her to understand the process," animal trainer Mark Vette, who works at Kelly Tarltons Sea Life Aquarium in Auckland, New Zealand , told the Cult of Mac. "That's faster than a dog. Actually it's faster than a human in some instances."
The exact secret to the training process was never revealed, but SONY and Vette did reveal that it pretty much had to do with a simple food reward system. Researchers have also long known that most cephalopods are exceptionally intelligent and curious animals.
Last month, for instance, researcher and digital media producer Benjamin Savard released stills of a lab octopus at Middlebury College turn a go-pro around on its observers to snap a few photos of their bemused expressions.
This same natural curiosity and ingenuity was likely what helped Rambo learn her new trick so fast. However, it also made her a bit of a danger to the camera itself.
A "Behind the Seaweed" video released by SONY New Zealand revealed that the team actually went through nine rigs after Rambo first learned her trick before crafting one that she couldn't completely disassemble.
"We got the first rig in and we thought 'yea! she's got it!' But on day two she had pulled the camera off, smashed it to bits and spat it out," Vett said laughing. "We realized how powerful she was."
You can still visit Sea Life for yourself to have Rambo snap you picture. The $2 donation goes towards the aquarium's conservation programs.
[Credit: SONY New Zealand]
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