The oracle octopus who slithered to stardom this summer by predicting the results of World Cup games has succumbed to something he didn't predict -- his death.
From inside his tank in Germany, Paul the Octopus became the surprise star of the 2010 World Cup in faraway South Africa, for choosing a mussel from two boxes bearing the flags of competing nations' teams. He had a 100 percent success rate in predicting the games' winners.
Paul found a special place in the hearts of Spanish soccer fans, whose team he successfully predicted as the tournament's winner. His gangly image was printed on Spanish fans' T-shirts and painted on faces.
Paul the Octopus, the surprise star of the 2010 World Cup for his prediction powers, has died. He had a 100 percent success rate in predicting the games' winners.
Paul the Octopus died overnight in his aquarium in Germany. He was 2.
"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 somber statement excerpted by Agence France-Presse.
Veterinarians say octopuses rarely live past age 2.
Paul's body is now in cold storage while the aquarium decides "how best to mark his passing," the facility's manager, Stefan Porwoll, told The Daily Nation of Kenya. "We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds and erect a modest permanent shrine," he said.
"We are consoled by the knowledge that he enjoyed a good life here," Porwoll also told ESPN.
Before he died, Paul's final prediction was that England would win the rights to host the 2018 World Cup.
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