Paul predicted winners for that years' World Cup by choosing one out of two boxes containing food, while Achilles will be presented with bowls marked with teams' flags. For the World Cup, Achilles will move out of his lifelong home of the basements of the Hermitage, where he works with a team of dozens of other cats to keep the world-famous museum free of rodents. Instead he will live at the "Cat Republic" cafe nearby. The cat is not the first animal to be positioned as successor to the celebrated Paul, who became the world's most famous mollusc when he correctly predicted all the matches of the German team during the South African World Cup. Swiss guinea pig Madame Shiva made a play for the crown in 2014, as did British Piranha Pele, but neither quite had Paul's foresight.

Source: The Nation Bangkok June 09, 2018 10:18 UTC