BERLIN (AFP) – Paul the octopus, who shot to fame during this year's football World Cup in South Africa for his flawless record in predicting game outcomes, has died, his aquarium in Germany said on Tuesday.
"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 said in a sombre statement.
"Paul amazed the world by correctly predicting the winners of all Germany's World Cup clashes, and then of the final," said Sea Life manager Stefan Porwoll.
"His success made him almost a bigger story than the World Cup itself ... We had all naturally grown very fond of him and he will be sorely missed," said Porwoll.
Paul beat the odds during the World Cup by correctly forecasting all eight games he was asked to predict, including Spain's 1-0 win over the Netherlands in the final.
For the prediction, two boxes were lowered into the salty soothsayer's tank, each containing a mussel and a flag of the two opposing teams.
Watched by a myriad of reporters, Paul would head to one box, wrench open the lid and gobble the tasty morsel, with the box he plumped for being deemed the likely winner.
Paul's body is now in cold storage while the aquarium decides "how best to mark his passing."
However, Paul's fans need not despair. The aquarium has already been grooming a successor, to be named Paul like his mentor.
"We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds and erect a modest permanent shrine," said Porwoll.
"While this may seem a curious thing to do for a sea creature, Paul achieved such popularity during his short life that it may be deemed the most appropriate course of action."
I THINK IT WASN´T RIGHT THE THINGS THAT THEY DID TO THE POOR OCTOPUS.He is remembered as the octopus that is an oracle.it´s stupid!!I admit that it´s impressive and all of that but it´s not normal when they chose a follower,because he will not have the same LUCK thaT his "MENTOR" had!!!
ReplyDeleteOTHER THING THAT ITS OUT OF NORMAL IS WHEN THE PRESS CHOSE A STORY TO NOTICE THAT IT´S RELATED TO THE DEAD OF A OCTOPUS!!
OMG!!! I know and I understand how important is that octopus, but... please... There are people passing way, all over the world, because they do not have anything to eat, and there're people that care more about a octopus, an animal???? And is mentor and how amazing it was!!! Please... The octopus had luck, only luck...
ReplyDeleteSo you think Paul the octopus was lucky? Can you predict the outcome of football matches? 'Nuff said! RIP Paul, wherever you may be!
ReplyDeleteof course the ostapus was only lucky.in philosophy we learn that animals don´t have the free to choose between two aliments and in that case the animal don´t have a reaction like humans,they will wait to choose and don´t have a reason to that choice.
ReplyDeletei agree totally with Mariana Bernardo
According to Wikipedia, "the probability of his 8 successful World Cup predictions out of 8 attempts is 1/28 = 0.0039, or 0.39% (256 to 1)", that is, he had 99.61% chances of not guessing the outcomes. Can philosophy explain that?
ReplyDeleteNo, but math can!!! if something is more or less probable to happen it can happen!! and that happen in that case. The octopus doesn´t have psychic powers. he had just luck and became famous due to that!! a agree totally with mariana when she said that "There are people passing way, all over the world, because they do not have anything to eat, and there're people that care more about a octopus".JUST ONE MORE THING: GOOD LUCK to the octopus paul trained!!!!
ReplyDeletethank you, Filipe, for the support!! I really think that Paul had luck, and isn´t normal to care about an octopus, in my opinion, of course.But...although this things, the octopus is really famous and every people know him...But...What can we do about that???... ANYTHING, IT IS NOWADAYY WORLD!
ReplyDeleteWell, some animals can predict earthquakes, so why not football results? Paul was a very kind, sensitive octopus and will be sorely missed. I just hope I can lay my hands on an animal that can predict Euromillions results!
ReplyDeletei hope the that phenomenon of the prediction of earthquakes are scientific explained. Can science explain the prediction of paul?
ReplyDeletewe all hope we get our hands on an animal like paul
It's really sad, Paul was magician, the things he guess were strange because nobody believes that he will guess all results and it's really notorious!
ReplyDeletePaul was definitely special!
ReplyDelete