A nine-year-old boy’s dream of a pet octopus is a sensation as thousands follow Terrance’s story online

This undated photo taken by Cameron Clifford, shows Terrance, the pet octopus his son Cal adopted at their home in Edmond, Oklahoma. The family soon learned that Terrance was female as she laid 50 eggs that later hatched, with nearly half of them surviving. Although female octopuses usually die soon after laying their eggs, Terrance is still alive four months later. — Cameron Clifford via AP

The one thing nine-year-old Cal Clifford wanted more than anything since he was a toddler was a pet octopus.

The boy’s family in rural Edmond, Oklahoma, humoured him with toy versions of an eight-legged mollusk, but as Cal got older it became clear that only the real thing would do.