AP Photo

Sorry, Squidward. There’s a new famous octopus in town: Paul. Paul is a common octopus who made history this month by correctly predicting the outcome of games played in the 2010 World Cup. Paul predicted one win for each of his arms—he was correct eight out of eight times.

Paul lives at the Sea Life Aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany. Before each game of the recently concluded World Cup, Paul was presented with two boxes marked with the flags of the opposing soccer teams. Inside each box was a mussel—a favorite food of octopi. Paul’s prediction for the winner was determined by which mussel he chose.

Each time the German soccer team played, this octopod accurately predicted the winner of its matches. Paul’s biggest moment was his final World Cup prediction. By snatching a mussel from a box marked with Spain’s national flag, he prognosticated that Spain’s team would beat the Netherlands team to become the 2010 World Cup champion. Spain went on to win the match.

Paul picks Spain over the Netherlands on July 9. (AP Photo)
 

Paul was not the only animal predicting winners of this year’s World Cup. Other supposedly clairvoyant creatures included Leon the porcupine, Petty the pygmy hippopotamus, and Anton the tamarin. All of them made incorrect choices, however. Paul was correct eight out of eight times.

Having eight legs makes playing soccer a breeze! (AP Photo)

The odds of correctly guessing just one match is 1 in 2. The odds of picking 8 in a row is 1 in 255!

Paul’s predictions didn’t just make some soccer fans happy. He also managed to save the lives of a few fellow octopi. Spanish chef José Andrés wrote, “If Spain wins today, octopus is out of all my menus!” In addition, when Paul’s final prediction proved true, he was awarded a special World Cup trophy decorated with mussels.

Paul poses in his tank with his trophy. (AP Photo)
 

What’s next for the world’s greatest predicting octopus? Hollywood? Wall Street? The Madrid Zoo in Spain is now interested in moving Paul there. “We've had a lot of offers for Paul, but he will definitely be staying with us and returning to his old job — making children smile,” Sea Life spokeswoman Tanja Munzig told Reuters.

If the future holds anything else for Paul, he may be the only one who knows what it is.

Words to Know:
clairvoyant – one who is able to see or know things that others cannot
predict – to tell what will happen in the future
octopod – an animal with eight arms
prognosticate – to predict (see above)
tamarin – a type of small South American monkey, about the size of a squirrel

Think About It!
Should Paul stay at home in Germany or move to Spain? Why or why not?