Pei Yan Heng is a teacher and diver from Singapore who has visited reefs all around the world. Heng shares videos of her dives on her YouTube page.
She also shares amazing photos of her discoveries on her Facebook page. Heng has seen some stunning sites during her many dives!
While Heng has seen some amazing things during her dives, one of her most incredible animal encounters actually happened on land.
In 2013, Heng was on the beach near the Cyrene Reef in Singapore. As she was walking, she noticed a tiny octopus stuck in the sand. The octopus wasn’t moving, and it was clear that he wasn’t going to make it if someone didn’t help him.
Heng quickly grabbed a cup from her bag and scooped the octopus into it. Then, she gently placed the octopus into the water.
The octopus stayed still for a moment, his gills opening and closing rapidly as he recovered from his time on dry land. Heng took video of the octopus as he sat in his spot in the water.
Heng thought the octopus would simply swim off into the sea once he recovered, but that wasn’t what happened.
To Heng’s shock, the octopus swam over to her and placed his tentacle on her foot. It was clear the octopus was thanking Heng for her help!
The octopus stayed with Heng for about a minute. Then, he swam off into the sea to rejoin his family.
It seems like the octopus spread the word about Heng. Since that first encounter, she’s seen many more beautiful octopuses on her dives!
Heng’s YouTube video of her encounter with the octopus quickly went viral, receiving over 11 million views. Many YouTube commenters joked about how Heng will now be safe if the octopuses ever decide to revolt.
Other commenters loved seeing an octopus’s intelligence in action.
As this video makes clear, octopuses are incredibly intelligent creatures. Scientists have found that they can solve simple problems, and they can also learn to navigate mazes and open jars.
“Octopuses are pretty good at sophisticated kinds of learning, but how good it’s hard to say, in part because they’re so hard to experiment on. You get a small amount of animals in the lab and some of them refuse to do anything you want them to do – they’re just too unruly,” academic philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith told The Guardian.
Heng is a kindhearted person who went out of her way to save a small octopus in need, and the octopus was grateful for it. If you’d like to the octopus’s amazing thank you, check out the video below.
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