During the upcoming women’s football World Cup, eight octopuses in Germany are set to compete to find a worthy successor to the famous tipster Paul.
In an endeavor that is likely to infuriate Iranian President and anti-Octopus activist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the aquarium that brought Paul the octopus into the limelight is on a quest for a new psychic predictor.
“We are currently implementing a range of skills-training activities for the octopuses, hoping that at least one will be able to predict outcomes as accurately as Paul did,” stated Britta Anlauf, spokesperson for Sea Life Germany.
To guarantee fairness, each of the eight Sea Life centres located in Germany, the host nation for the women’s World Cup from June 26 to July 17, will receive identical equipment this week.
Every time Germany plays at 11am local time, the octopuses will be tested in Berlin, Hanover, Koenigswinter, Konstanz, Munich, Speyer, Timmendorfer Strand, and at Paul’s former residence in Oberhausen.
While the specific method remains confidential, it is expected to resemble what Paul accomplished during last year’s World Cup, where he was noted for accurately predicting the outcomes of all seven German matches.
Two boxes, each containing a mussel and the flag representing the opposing teams, were lowered into the water of the prescient octopus’s tank. The box he opened first was considered his prediction for the winner.
Ultimately, the performances of the British-born cephalopod were streamed live on several news channels in Germany. He proved costly for bookmakers and accurately forecast Spain’s triumph over the Netherlands in the final.
Paul passed away at nearly three years old in October, prompting an outpouring of condolences from his fan base on Facebook, which has since grown to over 200,000 members—tripling since his death.
Last year, President Ahmadinejad remarked that the craze surrounding Paul epitomized everything wrong with Western society.
Ahmadinejad described the octopus as a representation of decadence and decline among “his enemies” and accused Paul of promoting “Western propaganda and superstition.”
“Those who subscribe to such beliefs cannot lead global nations that, like Iran, aim for human perfection grounded in reverence for sacred values,” he stated.
by Buford Balony