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Fifa World Cup 2018
Lifestyle

Seven psychic animals said to rightly predict World Cup results, from Achilles the cat to Hong Kong’s own Datou

Football’s love of clairvoyant animals knows no bounds and in recent years they have even proven to be very successful. Here are the top tipsters

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Achilles the cat has patriotically predicted that Russia will beat Saudi Arabia in the opening World Cup match tonight.
Lauren James

From clairvoyant camels and prophetic pandas to one very famous oracular octopus, there has been a whole menagerie of creatures said to be bestowed with the special – and incredibly niche – power of predicting the outcome of World Cup games over the years.

With each World Cup comes a new soothsaying star ready to steal the limelight with their “skills” – with varying degrees of success. Let’s take a look at this mystical array of animals.

Paul the octopus.
Paul the octopus.
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Paul the octopus

Who could forget Paul, the lovable psychic cephalopod, who left his indelible inky mark on football history after the 2010 World Cup.

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His keepers at the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany, would offer him two boxes that contained food and had different countries’ flags on the outside.

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