Before the German national team even play their first World Cup match against Curaçao on Sunday, a small spectacle has already taken place thousands of kilometres away from the host nation, the United States: this year’s World Cup oracle, anteater Taio, made his first prediction on Friday.
He provided plenty of suspense, as the animal at Münster’s Allwetterzoo took its time over the decision. Then came the surprise: Taio is predicting a draw.
The bottles representing the possible results were filled with food. Bad news for Germany: the mealworms in the bottle standing for a draw evidently smelled particularly tempting to the anteater.
Whether Taio is right will become clear on Sunday. One thing is already certain, though: in his new role as World Cup oracle, he has some big footsteps to follow.
Eight correct predictions in a row – that is the record Taio would have to beat to match the cult status of octopus Paul from 2010. Since then, countless animal oracles have tried their hand at predicting major football tournaments. None of them has come close to the famous octopus’s hit rate.
