Octopus Paul and the World Cup's other surprise stars

Paul's predictions

Had anyone predicted this before the World Cup they would have been locked up in an asylym. But our eight-legged friend's uncanny knack of predicting all of Germany's results correctly this summer has created the tournament's undoubted internet sensation. He is so famous he even has his very own Twitter account: @PPsychicOctopus. Full of typos...

Mind you, not everyone has been happy about Paul's predictions. The Argentinians threatened to kill and eat him in an act of vengeance after he said Germany would win the quarter-final. Apparently octopus goes very well with potatoes, a little bit of olive oil and pepper. The ocotpus, though, remains undeterred and his handlers are confident he will still be making predictions in 2014 and beyond.

Octopus Paul swims by boxes containing the Argentinian and German flags, pr...

Berlin: Soccer fans across Germany will be hoping a "psychic" cephalopod's fabled skills of prophecy have failed him after Paul the octopus predicted a German loss in their World Cup semifinal with Spain.

With a 100 percent record so far, the British-born aquarium dweller at Sea Life in Oberhausen, western Germany has become a celebrity having correctly predicted a series of German wins and even Germany's surprise group stage loss to Serbia.

On Tuesday, Paul once again was given the choice of picking food from two different plastic containers lowered into his tank -- one decorated with a Spanish flag and one with a German flag.

The container which Paul opens first is seen as his pick. He settled on both containers at first in a sign of hesitation before opening the box with the Spanish flag.

The decision was broadcast live on several news channels in Germany, although commentators immediately cast doubt over the prediction by Paul, who was born in Weymouth, England.

While Paul has been faultless at the World Cup so far, he is not infallible -- at Euro 2008 he incorrectly picked Germany as the victor against Spain.

After Germany's heartbreaking 1-0 defeat to Spain in the World Cup semi-final, angry German fans are calling to kill Paul, the psychic octopus, who had predicted that Spain would win the do-or-die clash.

German fans had been praying that the two-year-old octopus, who was born in Britain and later moved to the German aquarium in Oberhausen, had made a mistake when he chose the Spaniards to triumph.

Some sections of the crowd were also singing anti-octopus songs.

According to a local newspaper, there have been "a host of comments on Facebook, Twitter ... suggesting Paul should be fried, barbecued or turned into a seafood salad or paella".

"Others wanted to throw him into the shark tank," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted the paper, as having written on its website.

Major predictions, which came true in this World Cup, have been in the Germany-England Round of 16 clash and Germany-Argentina quarterfinal game. Paul had chosen Germany's flag on both the occasions.

If the eight-limbed oracle survives the threats, the fans would be thinking twice about dismissing his advice in future.