Watch This Camera-Shy Octopus Steal a GoPro

Ever hate it when someone takes your picture? Well, in a bizarre new incident one camera-shy octopus stole a photographer's GoPro and turned the tables on the man himself.

Benjamin Savard, a digital media producer at Middlebury College in Vermont, set out to capture images of an octopus that the school's neuroscience department had been studying.

As part of a test run Monday, Savard wrapped a GoPro camera in a waterproof case, and set it to automatically take rapid-fire photos before placing the device in the octopus' tank.

However, what was supposed to be a simple photo shoot turned into something else entirely.

In a surprising turn of events, the octopus grabbed the GoPro with its tentacles and began taking pictures of Savard, before trying to eat the camera.

"We did this a few times with different octopuses and one of the more cheeky cephalopods grabbed the camera and turned it around on me for a quick couple of pictures," Savard told NBC News.

Savard posted the series of photos on Reddit, where it became a viral sensation and received more than 1,400 comments. Given the rarity of this incident, some Reddit users accused Savard of staging the photos, so he turned the entire image sequence into a GIF and posted it Wednesday.

While Savard was as surprised as anyone at the octopus' reaction, he shouldn't have been. This particular species of octopus, known as a California two-spot octopus, is famed for its intelligence. They are also known to be friendly creatures, though this one in particular seemed to have a little bit of sass as well.

"I was just trying to brainstorm different ideas of how to show off the kind of unique research that's going on here and in ways that would be engaging," Savard told The Washington Post. "I think the octopus's timing was great. I was just in the right place at the right time."

Currently, Savard is trying to get a better handle of where he wants to go with the video, but he plans to use the same GoPro setup in the future.

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