Celebrity Paul the Octopus Dies The World Cup phenomenon died overnight, his aquarium said Tuesday By People Staff Published on October 26, 2010 08:30AM EDT Photo: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters/Landov Paul, the Psychic Octopus, who correctly called the winners of last summer’s World Cup, has died. He would have been 3 in January. “Management and staff at the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre were devastated to discover that oracle octopus Paul, who achieved global renown during the recent World Cup, had passed away overnight,” the aquarium in Germany said in a statement Tuesday. No further details were given. Born in January 2008 in Weymouth, England, Paul accurately forecast the results of all but two of Germany’s games during Euro 2008 (he slipped up on predicting the defeats to Croatia and Spain). At this summer’s World Cup, he maintained a perfect record, correctly predicting all of Germany’s results before picking Spain to beat Netherlands in the final. Paul’s method: His caretakers at the Sea Life Centre placed a mussel in each of two clear plastic containers within his tank, and each container was marked with the flag of the competing soccer team. Paul always took his first mussel from the container bearing the flag of the team he “knew” would win.– Stephen M. Silverman Can’t get enough celebrity pet news? Read more on PEOPLEPets.com • Vampire Diaries’ Ian Somerhalder Is a Cat Man! • Get 10% Off Our Editors’ Picks at Petco