Woman doesn't realize she's playing with one of the most venomous animals in the world

Bali, Indonesia - This could have ended in a tragedy: a young TikToker is going viral after she snuggled up to what is considered one of the deadliest and most dangerous animals in the world while on vacation.

Kaylin Phillips didn't think much of it when she picked up this little animal (collage).
Kaylin Phillips didn't think much of it when she picked up this little animal (collage).  © instagram.com/kaaayypeeee and tiktok.com/@kaylinmarie21

After having a clueless encounter with an extremely venomous creature while studying abroad in Bali, Kaylin Phillips from North Carolina is happy she's still alive.

A now-viral TikTok clip shows her holding a small orange and blue octopus in the palm of her hand.

"Going to Bali and unknowingly holding one of the most dangerous animals in the world," she wrote on the clip.

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It was only after she met the creature that she did some research and came across the horrifying results. A screenshot of the Google search results for "blue-ringed octopus" describes the species as "highly venomous," adding it carries enough venom to "kill 26 adult humans within minutes."

The animal's Wikipedia page only confirms these octopi are indeed one of the world's most venomous marine animals, despite their small size of only 5 to 8 inches.

Kaylin was lucky she remained so calm. Had the octopus felt threatened and bitten her, she would have suffered a terrible death.

Users point out how lucky she was

"Cheers for still being alive," she ended her video – literally – because she really tempted fate that day.

"I actually held 2 of them in the same day. I tried to feed them oranges and played with them for a solid 20 minutes," Kaylin added under the clip.

The scary story racked up more than 7.6 million views and over 1.3 million likes within just two days, with users going berserk over the tiny monster, and many coming up with hilarious reasons why the octopus spared her from its venom.

"He had a crush on you," one joked. "Octopus woke up and chose peace," another one chimed in.

In a second video, Kaylin followed up with more details about her infamous encounter.

Apparently, she took the octopus video almost three years ago when she was studying abroad in Bali. She and two friends were walking around on Uluwatu beach to explore its wildlife for a research project. The trio even passed the little devil in disguise back and forth to each other and found a second one.

Meanwhile, self-proclaimed experts warned to never touch anything in nature with bright colors because chances are high it's venomous.

"I’ve watched enough Animal Planet to know that beautiful animals with bright colours are no-touching zone," one person commented – advice Kaylin will likely be taking to heart!

Cover photo: instagram.com/kaaayypeeee and tiktok.com/@kaylinmarie21

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