Paul, the Octopus, became famous when he predicted every match of the World Cup in South Africa accurately. But his death in October has spurred a contest for another octopus to take his place.
Paula — dubbed such even though her gender is actually unknown — is one of eight creatures competing to become the official successor to Paul. She is on trial for this year’s women’s world cup, which begins this Sunday in Germany. Along with the other contenders, she was asked to choose the winner of the opening match by choosing between two compartments in a plastic box in its tank, one with a Germany flag and the other with a Canada flag.
(MORE: Paul the Octopus is Dead? Long Live Paul the Octopus!)
She chose Canada to win, which is brave considering the German team has won the past three World Cups and all previous nine matches against the Canadians.
We’ll see if Paula does better than her seven octopus competitors. If she does, the job is hers.