World Cup-Predicting “Paul the Octopus” Dies

The octopus that accurately predicted the outcomes of eight World Cup matches this year died peacefully on Tuesday in Sea Life Center aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany. The staff members responsible for his care say they’re “devastated” and are considering erecting a permanent monument to him on the aquarium grounds.

Named “Paul” by the media and aquarium staffers, the octopus achieved international fame by picking the winner of every World Cup match he was presented with. His caretakers would place two boxes in the water, each with a flag representing one of the teams in an upcoming match, and he would swim to one of the boxes. Every time, he swam to the box representing the team that ultimately won the match.

Paul ranked highly in Twitter trends and was the inspiration for several Internet memes, many of which Buzzfeed has listed in tribute to mark the occasion of his death. He even had his own iPhone app. It allowed you to enter two choices and see which one the digital octopus would choose.

The octopus died of natural causes at a ripe old age — for octopuses, anyway. Thankfully, none of the German soccer players who threatened him with death over his (correct) prediction that Spain would defeat Germany were behind his demise. Neither was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who called Paul an agent of “Western propaganda and superstition,” according to the New York Post.

> mashable.com

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