What made Paul the octopus special?

Answer 1

Paul the Octopus was a common octopus that lived in the Sea Life Centre, Germany.

Before each of Germany's matches in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, his keepers placed two boxes containing mussels in front of him. The flags of Germany and the opposing team were placed on the boxes. The team with the box that the octopus ate out of would be Paul's prediction of who won the match.

The first few of Paul's predictions were correct, but did not attract much attention. He was made internationally famous after predicting correctly the result of the match between Germany and England in the Round of 16.

He later also correctly predicted the result of the match between Germany and Spain, sparking outrage amongst German citizens who claimed he was a traitor. Spain offered the Sea Life Centre to place bodyguards around Paul after the match. He would continue to correctly predict the result of the quarter-finals match between Germany and Argentina and the third place play-off between Germany and Uruguay.

Paul's keepers also allowed him to predict the result of the final match between the Netherlands and Spain. Again, Paul correctly predicted Spain's victory of the Netherlands. After this match, the mayor of a city in Spain officially presented an honorary Spanish citizenship upon Paul. The octopus is now retired.

RecordGermany 4-0 Australia

• Prediction: Germany
• Result: correct

Germany 1-0 Serbia

• Prediction: Serbia
• Result: correct

Germany 1-0 Ghana

• Prediction: Germany
• Result: correct

Germany 4-1 England

• Prediction: Germany
• Result: correct

Germany 4-0 Argentina

• Prediction: Germany
• Result: correct

Germany 0-1 Spain

• Prediction: Spain
• Result: correct

Germany 3-2 Uruguay

• Prediction: Germany
• Result: correct

Spain 1-0 Netherlands

• Prediction: Spain
• Result: correct