Pyschic animals .... Paul the Octopus and Nelly the elephant !

"Nellie the Elephant" is a song written in 1956 about a fictionalintelligent elephant.   The original version was reportedly  released in 1956. Although never a hit single, it was played countless times on BBC national radio in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly on Children's Favourites. In 2010, the whole of Spain erupted with joy as their National side reached the FIFA WC final for the first time ever beating the odds on favourite Germany by a solitary goal. Before the first kick, Germany’s fate was sealed at  Oberhausen, a city on the river Emscher, a tributary of Rhine by a cephalopod, also known as inkfish in fishing industry !!!

It was the divination of - Paul the Octopus,  a two-year-old common octopus with a history of correctly predicting the results of major German international football matches especially in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  The ungainly looking creature was hatched at the Sea Life Park in Weymouth, England but resided at Sea Life Aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany.  Before German international football matches, Paul was presented with food in two identical containers; one container marked with the flag of Germany and the other is marked with the flag of Germany's opponent. In each instance, Paul's choice of food was interpreted as his predicted victor. Paul reportedly chose  the winner correctly in five of Germany's six UEFA Euro 2008 matches, predicting that Germany would win every match except a loss to Croatia.  

The psychic Paul the Octopus was not alone; a rare two-headed tortoise called Magdalena embarked on a new career as a tipster at ice hockey world championships in Slovakia and there was the German cross-eyedopossum called Heidi, there was also the Indian elephant named Chitta at Krakow zoo …… for the present, now it has emerged that an elephant from the locales of the Serengeti Park comes with similar abilities.  There’s no shortage of other World Cup-predicting animals, which, according to one report, include Brett the zebra, Tian Tian the giant panda, Barry the box jellyfish, Elmer the spot-breasted ibis, Chiyo the Thompson’s gazelle and Stephen the slime mold.

The one in news is ‘Nelly ~ the elephant’ …… it is no rookie! After predicting 30 of 33 results correctly from the women's FIFA World Cup in 2006, the men's FIFA World Cup in 2010 and the Euro 2012, Nelly seems to be nothing short of a football 'pundit.' To add to her credibility, Nelly has a former Germany national goalkeeper, Sepp Maier, taking her side in her predictions.  This elephant is based at the Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, Germany.  Her projections have been welcomed by the German national team with ex-Germany goalkeeper, Sepp Maier agreeing with the predictions of the elephants through he kicks of the ball in the posts. Nelly rightly predicted Bayern Munich’s victory over German rivals Borussia Dortmund in the final of the 2013 UEFA Champions League in 2013.

With the FIFA world cup just started, a lot of eyes will be on Nelly and the team she picks along the way during her incredible predictions. For those of us who do not have any specific favourites and not given to any betting, it is time to sit down, relax and enjoy.

To conclude on the song quoted in the first part, read that the rhythm and tempo of this song is often used to teach people the rhythm of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). More recently the Bee Gees', "Stayin' Alive", has been promoted as an alternative.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

13^th June 2014.