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.
Taio does at least bring ideal credentials: with a snout around 30 centimetres long, the anteater is thought to have an especially good nose.
The anteater is considered endangered
Taio was born in 2024 at Münster’s Allwetterzoo. His species is considered endangered. He is the first giant anteater to be born at the Allwetterzoo, the zoo announced on its social media channels.
Zoo director Simone Schehka from Münster explains why the choice fell on anteater Taio by bringing awareness to an important cause.
“We keep and breed many endangered species here at Allwetterzoo. The anteater is one of them. Taio is one of our offspring and a good representative of the many other species that need protection,” said zoo director Simone Schehka when the oracle animal was announced.
A football World Cup attracts a lot of attention, interest and emotion. The zoo wants to harness that and use the oracle to draw attention to our vital conservation work, Schehka said.
A chronicle of oracle animals
The most successful German football oracle to this day remains octopus Paul from Oberhausen. At the 2010 World Cup he correctly predicted all of Germany’s matches as well as the final, giving him a 100 percent success rate (8 out of 8 predictions).
Because his first tips were all right, Paul suddenly became known around the world. Even international newspapers such as The Guardian and Le Monde reported on him, and his prediction for the semi-final was broadcast live on television.
Since then, numerous animal oracles have tried to emulate that success, but none has been able to secure a comparable record. Paul died a natural death a few months later in his home at Sea Life Oberhausen.
Two years earlier, however, the octopus had already been practising at the European Championship. At the 2008 UEFA European Championship he guessed two out of six match outcomes wrong, including the final. In that game, Germany beat Spain, although Paul had wrongly predicted a loss.
Sea Life Oberhausen had already chosen a successor on the very same day. Paul II, also known as “little Paul”, predicted the results of the Women’s World Cup a year later. Other German cities also tried to get octopuses to make World Cup forecasts.
Eight octopuses in eight different German cities were to compete against each other. The one in Berlin, Hanover, Konstanz, Königswinter, Munich, Oberhausen, Speyer or Timmendorfer Strand with the most correct predictions was to be crowned successor to the famous Paul.
2014 World Cup: the year of oracle animals
A true successor never emerged, however. At the 2014 World Cup, there was not one single animal oracle, but a whole host of rival oracles.
Armadillo Taka from Erfurt
Armadillo Taka from Erfurt Zoo was, for example, supposed to predict the outcome of the match between Germany and Ghana. The armadillo was also the official mascot of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
The armadillo in Erfurt did in fact predict the 2014 group match between Germany and Ghana, but the forecast was not published before kick-off. After the 2-2 draw it therefore remained unknown to the public whether Taka had backed Germany or Ghana.
Octopus Regina from Berlin
Octopus Regina from Berlin’s Sea Life was also often touted as the true successor to her fellow species member Paul at the 2014 World Cup. Not all of her predictions are publicly known, however. For the opening match she predicted a German win, and was proven right: Germany beat Portugal 4-0.
In the group stage, however, the octopus was wrong twice. Germany drew with Ghana, but Regina had plumped for Ghana’s flag.
The final group game also proved tricky, and the octopus did not choose either goal. In the end Germany beat the USA 1-0.
Brazil hits back with a sea turtle
Brazil, the host nation that year, also wanted to shine with an oracle. A sea turtle called “Cabecao” (in English: “Big Head”) was chosen as the World Cup oracle. She was the response to the hype surrounding Paul.
A turtle named “Cabecao” (English: “Big Head”) swims in a pool in Praia do Forte, Brazil, on Tuesday 10 June 2014. The turtle, Brazil’s answer to the German octopus Paul, who sparked the hype over animal fortune-tellers during the 2010 World Cup, predicted on Tuesday that the hosts would win the tournament’s opening match against Croatia on Thursday.
2018 World Cup: from tigers to pigs
The Allwetterzoo Münster also sent an animal into the oracle race in 2018. Siberian tiger Fedor was asked to choose between three boxes: Germany win, opponents win or draw. Across three group-stage games, the tiger was right only once.
That same year, for example, the porcupine Dinah and other animals from Chemnitz Zoo, as well as the domestic pig Harry from Cologne Zoo, were also enlisted into oracle service.
At the 2018 World Cup, Harry predicted Germany’s three group matches. After Germany went out, Harry was very publicly packed off into “oracle retirement”.
2022 World Cup: Japanese otter predicted Germany’s defeat
The oracle animals at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar also fell well short of octopus Paul. A Japanese otter called “Taiyo” correctly predicted Japan’s victory over the German national team and was celebrated for it.
In Germany, a dog from Emsbüren was supposed to predict the national team’s wins and defeats. Lions, penguins and turtles in zoos were also drawn into the oracle game.
“At the 2024 European Championship, lowland tapir Theo took on the role of oracle. Back then, he was wrong with almost all of his predictions,” said Allwetterzoo director Schehka. “We will see whether Taio’s long nose has a better sense for results.”