Octopus oracle keeps clean sheet

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Octopus oracle keeps clean sheet

Posted : 2010-07-12 15:38

Updated : 2010-07-12 15:38

Two year-old octopus Paul, the so-called "octopus oracle," predicts Spain's victory in the 2010 World Cup semifinal match against Germany by choosing a mussel, from a glass box decorated with the Spanish national flag instead of a glass box with the German flag, at the Sea Life Aquarium in the western German city of Oberhausen on July 6. Korea Times file

In the end, it turned out Paul the octopus was really Mr. Know-it-all, or Mr. Percipient, during the 2010 World Cup.

The two-and-a-half-year-old tipster, living in the Sea Life Aquarium in Oberhausen, western Germany, ended its World Cup campaign with a perfect series of eight correct game predictions, including the final between Spain and the Netherlands.

Paul made his tips by choosing between two boxes marked with the flags of the competing countries that contained a mussel inside to eat.

Earlier, the cephalopod psychic accurately forecast all five German wins, and even predicted its two defeats, the first to Serbia in the group stage and then to Spain in the semifinals.

The surprising accuracy affected punters all over the world. British bookmaker William Hill said it took so many bets on the octopus' tips that they offered a special bet on whether he will pick the winner of the final match.

The correct World Cup predictions even caused him to get death threats, first from anguished Argentinean fans after calling the Latin American side's loss to Germany in the quarterfinals, then from home supporters following its choice against Germany prior to the semifinal match against Spain.

Paul's prophetic accuracy has improved from two years ago. During the 2008 European Championship, he managed an 80-percent success rate for the German results, failing to forecast the 1-0 loss to Spain in the final.

Unfortunately, his many followers may become disappointed as it is unlikely that he will be able to display his ability at upcoming football tournaments. Generally an octopus' life span is three and a half years at best.

hckim@koreatimes.co.kr