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.
沪江网校C.C猫携与章鱼哥惆怅合影表示哀悼……
沪江网校C.C猫碎碎 世界杯终究是个杯具
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曾在南非世界杯期间以预测能力迅速蹿红的章鱼保罗去世。
在今年夏天的南非世界杯中，章鱼保罗成功预测了8场比赛，其中包括德国队的全部7场和最终的冠亚军决赛。而早在两年前的欧洲杯上，保罗就开始了他的预测之旅，当时的命中率也有8成，世界杯后更是飙长至了92.85%。
章鱼哥的超强预测能力很快引起了媒体和球迷的关注，大家对他是又爱又恨。被预测输球国家的球迷对保罗恨之入骨，他们扬言要啃章鱼大餐；而新科冠军西班牙球迷则称保罗是最可爱的，甚至西班牙水族馆还想花钱引进保罗。
德国奥伯豪森海洋馆经理斯特凡-波沃尔说：“他的成功让他自己变得比世界杯更像一个传奇。”
不过早在世界杯结束时就有消息称章鱼哥不可能再预测2012年欧洲杯了，因为章鱼的寿命一般就只有三到五年，所以保罗的去世也在所有人的意料之中。
“他是自然死亡，离开得非常平静。令我们值得欣慰的是，他在这里度过了一段美好的时光。我们决定在馆内为保罗建造一个陵墓。”波沃尔表示。