Paul the Octopus, the tentacled oracle who enthralled millions of people around the world by correctly predicting results at this year�s World Cup, was murdered today by unknown assassins. German police suspects it may be the work of some Dutch soccer fans who were incensed by Paul�s prediction of their loss to Spain in the world cup final. German police are seeking help from Interpol to assist them in their investigations.

Paul the Octopus

There are some quarters who think that Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad� may have a hand in Paul’s death. Ahmadinejad has criticised that the sea-based oracle represents the decadence and decay that characterises ‘his enemies’. He has accused Paul of spreading ‘Western propaganda and superstition’ during a speech in Tehran.

Paul was in good shape when he was checked late Monday, but he did not make it through the night. He was assassinated under cover of darkness between Monday night and Tuesday morning.

I guess that must have really caught your attention. I am sorry to clarify that there is no truth to the above.� Actually Paul had reached the octopus old age of 21/2 years and died from natural causes in his tank on Tuesday morning at the Oberhausen Sea Life Center in the western German city of Oberhausen, spokeswoman Ariane Vieregge said. Life expectancy of octopus is about 2 and a half years.

“We are consoled by the knowledge that he enjoyed a good life here.” said Stefan Porwoll, manager of the Oberhausen Sea Life Center in western Germany. “We had all naturally grown fond of him and he will be sorely missed.”

“Paul amazed the world by correctly predicting the winners of all Germany’s World Cup clashes, and then of the final,” Porwoll said.

Paul also inspired a special clothing line and mobile phone applications. A documentary film on Paul is scheduled to debut soon. Paul�s name will live on the Greek island of Zakynthos, where a permanent sea turtle rescue center funded in part by donations generated by the famous octopus is being established.

�El Pulpo Paul� became so popular in Spain that the northwestern Spanish town of O Carballino tried to borrow him and made him an �honorary friend.�

The aquarium has not yet decided how best to commemorate their most famous resident, he said.

“We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds and erect a modest permanent shrine,” Porwoll said. “While this may seem a curious thing to do for a sea creature, Paul achieved such popularity during his short life that it may be deemed the most appropriate course of action.”

The sea center has Paul’s body in cold storage as it finalizes funeral plans.

After rising to global prominence during the World Cup in South Africa in June and July, Paul retired from the predictions business after the final between Spain and the Netherlands – the result of which he also forecast correctly – and returned to his prime role of making children happy.

After his World Cup soothsaying skills were revealed, the English-born Paul was appointed as an ambassador to England�s bid to host the 2018 World Cup. He had English roots, having been hatched at Weymouth Sea Life Center on England�s south coast in 2008.

Will Spanish flags be flying at half-mast on the day of Paul’s funeral? That would truly create history!

You brought so much added fun to this year’s world cup and you will be sadly missed. I, in particular, will truly miss you. My blog posts about your World Cup antics brought huge amount of traffic to my blog. And for that, I am truly� grateful to you!

Der Tinten Fisch Paul Oktopus, rest in peace!

Octopus Paul has come out of retirement to do one more prediction for his Malaysian fans. Knowing how much Malaysians care about their politics, Oracle Paul has made his prediction on the outcome of Malaysia’s next general election! So here it is….Paul’s final prediction before he went back into retirement again.

Paul's Prediction For Malaysia's Next General Election

Octopus Paul is retiring from the oracle business and will not give any more oracle predictions. He will be getting back to do what he likes best: play with his handlers and making children laugh.

The psychic cephalopod became a global sensation and the star of FIFA World Cup 2010 by correctly predicting the result of every Germany game at the World Cup. He signed off with a perfect eight out of eight record by picking Spain to beat the Netherlands in the final.

Paul took one last curtain call on Monday when aquarium employees at the Oberhausen Sea Life presented the octopus with a golden cup – similar to the official World Cup trophy. Although the cup was garnished with three mussels, Paul ignored it for several minutes as it was lowered into his tank. He finally picked off one mussel and devoured it in front of television cameras.

Octopus with a world cup trophy

Never in sporting history has such a wacky thing happened. Octopus Paul now has a Facebook page and millions of fans and followers all over the world. FIFA World Cup 2010 will always be remembered as the Octopus Paul�s World Cup. Paul became a talisman for gamblers, with bookmakers William Hill claiming the octopus’s forecasts cost them �500,000 as punters flocked to follow his advice. Bookmakers, marketing experts and brokers around the world have offered large sums of money for the octopus.

For those who have been hoping that Octopus Paul will still be around to liven up FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 to be held in Brazil, you are in for a sad surprise. Even if Paul does not retire from his oracle business, he will be long gone by the time the next world cup comes around.

Brazil FIFA World Cup 2014 Logo

Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Most species may live for three to five years. Reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don’t die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).

Once the octopus reaches adulthood, it will eventually get the urge to mate. As with most creatures, the octopus’s main purpose in life is to reproduce. If it knew just what was waiting for it soon after, it might think twice about mating. Both the male and female octopuses die soon after mating. The male dies a few months afterwards, while female dies shortly after the eggs hatch. If this is what happens to human beings too, I can’t imagine how life would be like, haha!

Octopus mating game

A male octopus's hectocotylus, or mating arm (with pink lining), is inserted into the female's mantle.

Paul is about two and a half years old now so it is a certainty that he will not live to see the next world cup. But if Paul (poor Paul, lol!) does not have the chance to mate in the aquarium, will he live to see the next world cup?� I don’t have the answer to that…you will have to ask marine biologists.

The worldwide frenzy over Octopus Paul may spawn a rash of octopus products such as toys, jewelry, fashions and movies.� Hmmmm…maybe we will� be seeing movies like “Octopus Story”, “The Octopus Strikes Back”, “Lord of the Octopus”, “Octopus Man” and “Octopus of the Carribean” hitting the cinemas soon.

Octopus fashion

Octopus kiddy fashion

Octopus hat

Octopus brooch

Octopus toy

Octopus bag

But one thing is certain. The Oberhausen Sea Life Aquarium in Germany will definitely be seeing huge throngs of visitors queuing up to see Paul in the coming months. Paul, may you enjoy your retirement and may you bask in your World Cup glory!

FIFA World Cup 2010 is finally over and Octopus Paul has really stolen the limelight from all the soccer stars. Despite being dismissed as pure fluke, Paul has defied all odds and achieved a 100% correct track record in his World Cup predictions. For the grand final, a lot of cynics worldwide bet their money against Paul and threw their support behind Netherlands based on their perceived superiority of Netherlands over Spain.

And Paul is having the last laugh now. Spain, Paul�s choice to win the world cup, beat Netherlands 1-0 through an extra time goal by Andres Iniesta in the 116th minute to win their first world cup title.What a heart-stopping game it has been! The photo below is taken from ESPN Soccernet.

Andres Iniesta celebrates his winning goal!

Those who have faithfully followed Paul�s predictions when they placed their bets are now grinning from ear to ear. What a bonanza world cup this has been for them!

Fans who had placed bets based on Paul's predictions are grinning like this dog now!

It is truly amazing that an octopus can pull off such a feat. I know it is probably just coincidence but the coincidence borders on eeriness. I would not be surprised at all if Paul is featured in a show like �Ripley�s Believe It Or Not� in the near future. And Paul has put to rest the widely-held notion that a single person is too insignificant to make an impact in this world. An octopus can make such an impact in this world so humans should not seek refuge behind the excuse that they are too small to make an impact in this world.

Paul, thank you for livening up this World Cup and hope you will still be here to keep us entertained when the Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup comes around. A backlash against you by incensed soccer fans will see many of your cousins ending up on dining tables as charred octopus, octopus ravioli, grilled octopus, octopus calamari and the like. But we are consoled by the knowledge that you will be well-protected at the Oberhausen Sea Life Aquarium. In case you really feel the need to migrate, Spain will welcome you with wide open arms.

Octopus ravioli

Octopus salad

Octopus in cooking pan

Grilled octopus

This world cup will also be remembered for the vuvuzelas.� The popularity of the vuvuzelas resulted in brisk sales worldwide and many far-sighted sellers on Ebay saw sales of vuvuzelas shoot through the roof. I personally bought one yellow vuvuzela from an Ebay seller based in Hong Kong a couple of days ago but I will probably have to wait another week or longer before I can receive it. I am really curious as to how loud the horn can be. And it will be a great souvenir to remind me of this world cup in years to come.

A vuvuzela

There has been a lot of curiousity as to the origins of the vuvuzelas.� And someone sent me this email about the possible origins of this noisy horn.

Origin of the vuvuzela?

But I cannot see how the “vuvuzela” in this photo can be blown unless the man’s “little brother”� has some special power. To verify that, you would need to fly to Papua New Guinea.

It’s already 5.10am here in Malaysia. I have not slept any wink for the whole night but it has been worth it. I will catch up on my sleep in a few hours’ time. Have a great week!

Octopus Paul proved yet again why he has been accorded the title of Oracle Paul when his choice for the Germany-Uruguay match lived up to his prediction. Germany beat Uruguay 3-2 after coming from behind in a pulsating match in Port Elizabeth to secure third place for the second successive World Cup.

Germany’s midfielder Sami Khedira headed in the winning goal in the game that saw both Thomas Muller and Diego Forlan move onto five goals for the tournament.

Sami Khedira's Winning Header Goal (photo taken from ESPN Soccernet)

With his prediction materialising yet again, Paul has thus continued to maintain a 100% correct record in his predictions for this World Cup. It could be pure fluke but there is no doubt that Paul has undeniably become the star of this world cup tournament. The most intriguing question now is whether Paul will again be right in his prediction for the Spain-Holland final. Will Spain really lift the FIFA World Cup 2010 championship trophy as predicted by Paul?� The whole world waits with bated breath!

Oh gosh, what a fantastic start to my day! I woke up a short while ago and upon checking my blog traffic, I was both thrilled and amazed at the huge amount of traffic my blog has been receiving since I posted my last blog entry “Paul Predicts Spain Will Be The World Cup 2010 Champion“. And the reason for the huge amount of traffic is due to that blog article of mine being prominently featured on Canada’ s national daily The Globe And Mail website. To Oracle Paul…Octopus Paul…or Der Titenfisch Paul Oktopus….whatever they call you, many thanks for being such an inspiration!

Canada's The Globe And Mail

To the people at The Globe And Mail, I wish to extend my sincere thanks for what you did. And it makes me even more nostalgic about Canada now.

Octopus Paul has made his prediction for the World Cup 2010 finals and he is going to make lots of enemies in Netherlands with his latest prediction. Paul has predicted that Spain will be the FIFA World Cup champions while Germany will beat Uruguay to bag the third place.

The octopus, who has now attained almost celebrity status worldwide, chose the winners of World Cup’s two remaining games at an event held in Germany. He was first asked to predict the outcome of tomorrow’s Germany-Uruguay clash.

Two boxes, one with Germany’s flag and the other Uruguay’s, were lowered into Paul’s water tank. Paul took his sweet time to make his prediction, keeping fans and the media in anticipation as he fiddled with the two boxes for a while. Initially it looked as if Paul was going to choose Uruguay but he finally opened the lid of the box containing the German flag and ate the food inside – his standard way of signalling the winner.

Then Paul did what the whole world has been waiting for: his prediction for the Spain-Netherlands final. Paul feasted from the plastic box containing the Spanish flag. Octopus Paul has made his choice.

Spain will be the World Cup 2010 champion!

It appears that some German fans are lacking a sense of humour. The keepers at the Oberhausen, Germany aquarium where Paul resides have received death threats and octopus recipes after Germany was knocked out by Spain on Wednesday. And Germans aren�t the only ones incensed at Paul. Angry Argentinian fans blamed him for Argentina�s embarrassing 0-4 defeat by Germany and threatened to eat him to avenge his prediction. Paul�s handlers are stoically undeterred by the threats.

Paul�s keeper in Oberhausen, Germany said �there are always people who want to eat our octopus but he is not shy and we are here to protect him as well. He will survive.�

Paul hatched from an egg in an aquarium at Sea Life Weymouth in Weymouth, England but is now residing in an aquarium at the Sea Life Oberhausen in Oberhausen, Germany. His name Paul is based on the title of a poem by the German writer Boy Lomsen: Der Tintenfisch Paul Oktopus.

This is where Paul resides.

According to statements from Sea Life’s entertainment director, Daniel Fey, Paul showed his intelligence early on: “There was something about the way he looked at our visitors when they came close to the tank. It was so unusual, so we tried to find out what his special talents were.�

During the UEFA Euro 2008, Paul made his debut in predicting soccer match results. He was correct in 70% of the predictions that he made but he was wrong in his prediction of the winner of the final match which saw Germany pitted against Spain. Paul predicted a win for Germany but Spain emerged from the match as champion.

After that successful run of picks in Euro 2008, Paul is on fire again but with an even better track record this time, correctly predicting the outcomes of all the six matches that Germany had so far played in this World Cup 2010. Fans of Spain and the Netherlands will no doubt be anxious to see what Paul�s prediction will be for the final. Presuming, that is, his handlers aren�t too bummed out by their team�s defeat to make him pick between two non-German nations. So the question on every one’s mind now is this: Will Paul be predicting the outcome of the Spain-Netherlands final?

If you have placed your faith in Paul and have bet on all the 6 matches that he had made predictions for, you would have been laughing all the way to the bank now. And if Paul himself has bet on his own predictions, this is how he would look like now.

Octopus Paul With His Winnings

With the fame that Paul has attained in this World Cup, I would not be surprised if this year’s top selling Christmas toy is an Octopus� blowing a South Africa 2010 vuvuzela! Hey, China toy makers, take note, there is a fortune to be made here!

It is really amazing…..Octopus Paul is right again! Spain beat Germany 1-0 through a header by Carles Puyol in the 73rd minute. The whole of Spain is celebrating now.� Paul has been 100% correct in his predictions in this World Cup and that is really incredible!!

Carles Puyol scores!

The above photo is taken from ESPN Soccernet. By the way, I realised now that the photo showing Paul predicting Spain to be the winner in my last post is a fake and I apologise for that.