World Cup: After Paul the Octopus, 'Shaheen The Camel' turns soothsayer

If ‘Paul the Octopus’ successfully predicted the outcome of matches in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, then ‘Shaheen the Camel’ has taken on the mantle of a booming animal oracle this time around in Brazil. Shaheen, an Emirati camel, who was discovered by a Gulf News videographer before the start of the mega event, has so far got all the predictions spot on. [caption id=“attachment_1574371” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of Shaheen the Camel. Youtube Screengrab[/caption] There are many more animals in the guessing game, but Shaheen is the only one with a 100 percent record after predicting the winners of the Spain-Netherlands and the England-Italy contest. Sitting on the desert sand, the camel is made to choose from the flags of competing nations placed in front of the animal with a football in between and it conveniently picks the winner with its teeth. The names of other predictors are Big Head the Turtle, Flopsy the Kangaroo, China’s Pandas, Nelly the Elephant, Roo the dog. But camel or no camel, teams would be practising hard to rely on actual field play and talent than taking the predictions too seriously. For the uninitiated, Paul the Octopus died soon after the conclusion of the 2010 edition that was won by Spain. PTI