Whoever Googles Paul the Octopus today will come across, among other things, a Wikipedia entry that begins with: Born 26 January 2008 in the Atlantic Ocean near Weymouth, Dorset, died 26 October 2010 at the Sea Life Centre, Oberhausen, Germany.

In the few months of his fame, Paul made it from his Oberhausen aquarium to the media worldwide – and amazed with his accurate “predictions”: For 8 matches, he picked in advance the box of the team that actually won, including Spain’s victory over Germany.

A tradition was born: as early as 2010, animals in other parts of the world also predicted the results. But none has been right as often as Paul.

This year at the World Cup in Qatar, otters Taiyo in Japan and falcon Abdel Aziz Hatem in Qatar, among others, are trying to dispute Paul’s place at the top of the oracle animals.

Oracle dogs are particularly popular this year…