National Zoo's longest living giant octopus dies

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- The National Zoo's oldest giant octopus, Pandora, recently died at the age of 5.

Pandora weighed 15.4 pounds and her arm span was 7.8 feet. The zoo announced her death Wednesday after they noticed she had minimal movement and had lost muscle tone. They plan to perform a necropsy but believe that the cause of death will be old age.

Pandora was a zoo favorite, and zoo biologist Tamsen DeWitt said, "She was a terrific ambassador for her species. She was curious, charismatic and taught us so much about octopus behavior. We’re happy she had such a long and healthy life."

[GeoBeats]