Oklahoma Aquarium Octopus Predicts Cornhuskers Over Sooners In Big 12 Championship

Rick Wells, News On 6

JENKS, Oklahoma -- Can animals really predict winners in sporting events? Many have tried.

There have been pachyderms, dolphins, dogs and most recently a German octopus who correctly predicted World Cup soccer winners.

As News On 6 reporter Rick Wells found out, the Oklahoma Aquarium has an octopus who's taken a run at picking a winner in Big 12 football.

Greg and Chuck, the morning guys from Z104.5 The Edge, named the octopus Octavia. They did a live gig with her at the Aquarium Friday morning.

It all started back during the world cup. Remember the German octopus named Paul who correctly predicted world cup soccer winners?

Chuck and Greg thought they'd give it a try with a octopus here in Oklahoma.

"Quite honestly, I wasn't that impressed with Paul," Chuck Stickel said. "Sure he had a good record at picking world cup games, but."

But it never seemed like much of a challenge.

So the boys got together with the staff at the Oklahoma Aquarium to create a tougher test. They rigged up a couple of hamster balls with screw-off lids. They've been testing it over the past few weeks.

"There didn't seem to be a preference for one side of the tank or the other," said John Money. "We flipped a coin to see where we put the Huskers or OU, on the left or right."

So for the big event they baited each of the hamster balls with a piece of fresh fish and waited.

Greg and Chuck did a radio play-by-play on their morning show.

It wasn't long before she popped the top and picked Nebraska.

The game is Saturday night down in Texas at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. We'll see if Octavia has any real powers of prognostication.