Collossal SquidTe Papa, the natural history museum of New Zealand, is now housing the Colossal Squid.

That’s right, it’s a COLOSSAL SQUID. Squidzilla! Squid-Ra!

It’s become quite a draw card, so of course the Wellingtonista had to check it out.

The Colossal Squid

This lady-squid is housed in a purpose-built tank. Some may find it awe-inspiring, others may find it revolting. The squid has a sort of pinky outer layer of squidskin which is peeling off.

Did you know that squids have a beak like a parrot. Uuggh!

3D AV Squidtacular

Off to the side is a theatrette showing a computer animation of how the squid was accidentally caught by a fishing boat. I know what you’re thinking: "Boring, grandma! I am generation Y or even Z! I don’t use vowels, I have a two second attention span, carry three cellphones and can’t watch a boring old 5 minute video about a squid!"

Well, fortunately Te Papa have taken care of this and made the video in 3D. Yes, so you get to strap on a pair of glasses and watch the Colossal Squid being captured by a fishing boat in 3D. In threeeee-deeeee!

Whoa! Trippy as, man. Etc.

The Other Video

Miss PopularityStrangely enough, when I was there the part of the exhibit that got the most attention was the video documentary about the story of the squid, from capture to defrosting to Te Papa.

A large group of people gathered around it to watch the workplace-safety-style narrator enthusiastically tell us how the team were disappointed to discover that the squid was a lady and not a gentleman. Bloody sexist scientists.

So, it is worth a visit?

Well, the Colossal Squid will bring out your inner 5-year-old boy, much like the truckers’ street protest did earlier in the year.

One thing’s for sure: you are guaranteed to hear at least one dad hilariously joke, "You’d get a few squid rings out of that!"