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(yú)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(gè)杯具

相關(guān)報(bào)道：

　　曾在南非世界杯期間以預(yù)測(cè)能力迅速躥紅的章魚(yú)保羅去世。

　　在今年夏天的南非世界杯中，章魚(yú)保羅成功預(yù)測(cè)了8場(chǎng)比賽，其中包括德國(guó)隊(duì)的全部7場(chǎng)和最終的冠亞軍決賽。而早在兩年前的歐洲杯上，保羅就開(kāi)始了他的預(yù)測(cè)之旅，當(dāng)時(shí)的命中率也有8成，世界杯后更是飆長(zhǎng)至了92.85%。

　　章魚(yú)哥的超強(qiáng)預(yù)測(cè)能力很快引起了媒體和球迷的關(guān)注，大家對(duì)他是又愛(ài)又恨。被預(yù)測(cè)輸球國(guó)家的球迷對(duì)保羅恨之入骨，他們揚(yáng)言要啃章魚(yú)大餐；而新科冠軍西班牙球迷則稱保羅是最可愛(ài)的，甚至西班牙水族館還想花錢(qián)引進(jìn)保羅。

　　德國(guó)奧伯豪森海洋館經(jīng)理斯特凡-波沃爾說(shuō)：“他的成功讓他自己變得比世界杯更像一個(gè)傳奇?！?br>
　　不過(guò)早在世界杯結(jié)束時(shí)就有消息稱章魚(yú)哥不可能再預(yù)測(cè)2012年歐洲杯了，因?yàn)檎卖~(yú)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(kāi)得非常平靜。令我們值得欣慰的是，他在這里度過(guò)了一段美好的時(shí)光。我們決定在館內(nèi)為保羅建造一個(gè)陵墓。”波沃爾表示。