Paul - The Oracle Octopus

By Srikanth R, 6th Jan 2011 | Follow this author | RSS Feed | Short URL http://nut.bz/9yyvn4w7/
Posted in Wikinut>Celebrities>Sports

Paul, an octopus in a German aquarium, had correctly predicted results of matches involving Germany! This oracle octopus was a celebrity during FIFA world cup 2010!!

The Mystery Octopus

Paul, an octopus (Octopus vulgaris), had become a celebrity creature after FIFA 2010. Paul was hatched in England in the year 2008 and died in the month of October 2010 at Sea Life Oberhausen, an aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany.

Paul gained fame due to his capacity to predict correct results of football matches involving his country, Germany. Paul was allowed to choose between two boxes with food (like mussel or oyster), each box marked with the national flag of a team. Then this oracle octopus would predict the winning team by choosing food from the box with the national flag of the winning team.

Paul had earlier predicted results of matches played in 2008 UEFA European Football Championship. During hie lifetime Paul had predicted results of more than 10 football matches. He prediction went wrong only once. He had incorrectly predicted that Germany would win the finals of Euro 2008. But Germany lost to Spain 0-1. But his record in FIFA 2010 world cup was 100 per cent! He had predicted that Spain would win the world cup and Germany would be in the third place by the end of the tournament.

Unfortunately Paul had made enemies out of German fans. Some of the fans wanted him to be cooked! Paul's capacity had roused curiosity of many scientists and they came up with various theories. Some of them said that the colors and shapes of the flags may have influenced Paul's decision.

Paul never played football during his lifetime even though he had eight legs. But he surely attained celebrity status in the football world with his soothsaying skills!

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Meet the author

Srikanth R
Srikanth is a graduate in Mathematics, Economics and Statistics. He works full time. He loves writing as he says it is a great way to express his thoughts.