The world’s most famous octopus, which correctly predicted the winner of this year's World Cup, has died, the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre in Germany announced Tuesday in a statement.
Roland Weihrauch | AFP | Getty Images
An octopus named Paul sits on a box decorated with a Spanish flag and a shell inside on July 9, 2010 at the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen, western Germany. Paul's task is to decide in favour of one of the shells hidden in boxes with the flags of the Netherlands and Spain to act thus as oracle for the upcoming final match of the FIFA Football World Cup between the two countries on July 11, 2010. Paul, the 'psychic' octopus, who had predicted well the result of six German matches earlier in the
Paul the Octopus “appears to have passed away peacefully during the night, of natural causes, and we are consoled by the knowledge that he enjoyed a good life here,” the statement said.
The psychic cephalopod made his name by trumping well-established investment banks’ predictions about which team would win this year’s World Cup.
He rightly picked the outcome of seven Germany soccer games during the World Cup, including Germany’s elimination by Spain, prompting death threats from angry fans.
Before retiring to the aquarium in Germany, Paul was even transformed into a successful Ask the Octopus iPhone application which helped undecided people come to a decision without having to make the choice themselves.
“Don’t know which is the best choice? Do you want to guess the future? Ask the most famous octopus in the world. Ask the oracle, Octopus Paul,” said uTouchLabs, the Brazilian software company behind the application.
Sea Life Centre Manager Stefan Porwoll said, "Paul amazed the world by correctly predicting the winners of all Germany's World Cup clashes, and then of the final… his success made him almost a bigger story than the World Cup itself.”
The Sea Life Oberhausen Centre also announced that, “in anticipation of the sad event, a new younger common octopus had been acclimatizing behind the scenes. The new octopus shall be named Paul too.”
So here’s wishing the new Paul as much psychic success as his predecessor.