Paul the Octopus aka Paul der Krake continues to enjoy widespread attention. The animal oracle is at first glance a common octopus living in a tank at a Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany but since 2008 he has proven to be 86% accurate in his predictions of who will win World Cup matches.

Paul's career began with a rocky start back in 2008 when he successfully predicted four of six Euro 2008 matches involving Germany. Since then his predictions have proven to be a lot more accurate with his predictions for the 2010 World Cup being 100% accurate.

Prior to each match Paul is presented with two boxes containing food. Each of the competing teams is assigned one of the boxes which is marked with their national flag. Paul then chooses which of the boxes he would prefer to eat from first. This team is judged to be the predicted winner of the game.

By the time the final match rolled around, many bettors were literally placing their bets based on Paul's predictions. Bookmaker William Hill made a prediction of their own that Paul's picks would yield punters nearly half a million dollars in winnings.

"There has been a remarkable amount of interest in Paul the octopus and I would be very surprised if there were not some lucky punters celebrating after the final," said Graham Sharpe, a spokesman for William Hill.

The odds of all eight of Paul's predictions being accurate, including the final, was placed at 3,000 - 1 on William Hill. This year was the first time that Paul has been tasked with picking a game in which Germany wasn't involved and many wondered if he would be able to do it. He proved that he could.

Whether his predictions are just a case of really good luck or something else, Paul the Octopus has garnered millions of viewers from around the world becoming nearly as big of a spectacle as the athletes themselves.