Paul the Octopus, who correctly predicted the outcome of games during this year's World Cup soccer tournament, is dead.

The eight-tentacled cephalopod oracle died of natural causes at age 2 and a half, the aquarium where he lived said Tuesday.

"We are consoled by the knowledge that he enjoyed a good life here ..." said Stefan Porwoll, manager of the Oberhausen Sea Life Center. "We had all naturally grown fond of him and he will be sorely missed."

Paul enthralled millions of people around the world by correctly predicting the outcome of several World Cup matches this year.

His caretakers set him up to make predictions for a particular match by draping boxes in his tank with the national flags of teams that were set to play each other. The boxes contained food for Paul. The caretakers divined his pick by watching to see which box he opened first.

"Paul amazed the world by correctly predicting the winners of all Germany's World Cup clashes, and then of the final," Porwoll said in a statement.

滬江網(wǎng)校C.C貓攜與章魚哥惆悵合影表示哀悼……


滬江網(wǎng)校C.C貓碎碎 世界杯終究是個杯具

相關報道：

　　曾在南非世界杯期間以預測能力迅速躥紅的章魚保羅去世。

　　在今年夏天的南非世界杯中，章魚保羅成功預測了8場比賽，其中包括德國隊的全部7場和最終的冠亞軍決賽。而早在兩年前的歐洲杯上，保羅就開始了他的預測之旅，當時的命中率也有8成，世界杯后更是飆長至了92.85%。

　　章魚哥的超強預測能力很快引起了媒體和球迷的關注，大家對他是又愛又恨。被預測輸球國家的球迷對保羅恨之入骨，他們揚言要啃章魚大餐；而新科冠軍西班牙球迷則稱保羅是最可愛的，甚至西班牙水族館還想花錢引進保羅。

　　德國奧伯豪森海洋館經(jīng)理斯特凡-波沃爾說：“他的成功讓他自己變得比世界杯更像一個傳奇?！?br>
　　不過早在世界杯結束時就有消息稱章魚哥不可能再預測2012年歐洲杯了，因為章魚的壽命一般就只有三到五年，所以保羅的去世也在所有人的意料之中。

　　“他是自然死亡，離開得非常平靜。令我們值得欣慰的是，他在這里度過了一段美好的時光。我們決定在館內為保羅建造一個陵墓。”波沃爾表示。