Octopus Paul does it again

| Wednesday July 7, 2010 00:00

 

The 'oracle' creature, who lives in Germany, maintained his 100% record of correctly choosing all of his homeland's results in the tournament after opting for Spain in the semi-finals. His prediction came true and the Spanish went through to the World Cup final, after defeating the opposition 1-0 thanks to a Carlos Puyol goal. A football fan was reportedly seen in the crowd holding up a banner saying Paul's prediction would be wrong.

His keepers claim the creature is psychic and Paul has now topped Twitter trends. He is also the talking point of many social networking sites. The animal has become the most unusual celebrity at this year's tournament after correctly indicating whether Germany would win or lose each of their six games in South Africa. His entire homeland was hoping Paul was wrong after going for the men in red and yellow on Tuesday.

Two plastic boxes with the flag of each country on the front had been placed into his tank at the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre. With food in both boxes to attract Paul, it is then a matter of waiting until he opens one of them to determine his predicted winner. On this occasion, the octopus, who originally comes from Weymouth in Dorset, initially went straight for Spain's container. German hopes were raised as he moved and began to hover over his homeland's flag, but the indecision was brief as he went with his first instinct.

Other results that Paul successfully predicted in the South African tournament included Germany's win against England and their defeat to Serbia. The eight-legged mystic is said to have had an 80% success rate during Euro 2008. In what German fans had hoped was a good omen, the only tip Paul has ever got wrong is the Germany v Spain final two years ago. His keeper, Oliver Walenciak, said before Wednesday's match: 'We know that all octopuses have nine brains so we know he has exceptional powers. 'In the European Cup he got one game wrong. It was the final between Germany and Spain and he picked Germany which was wrong and this time he has picked Spain so we are thinking he must be wrong again.'

Now the world is waiting to see if Paul can successfully predict the result of the World Cup final between the Spanish and the Dutch. (SKYNEWS)