Krakow elephant to be Euro 2012 oracle
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
22.05.2012 11:22
The South African 2010 World Cup had Paul the Octopus to predict the scores: for Euro 2012 meet Citta the Elephant, who predicted the winner of Saturday's European Champions League final.
Citta the Elephant: photo - PAP/Stanisław Rozpędzik
The 33 year-old Citta, Krakow Zoo's largest inhabitant, will now be applying her wisdom in predicting the results of the forthcoming Euro 2012 football tournament, which begins in Poland and Ukraine on 8 June.
“Elephants have great intuition and I am confident that Citta will correctly indicate the favourites,” said zoo director Jozef Skotnicki during a press conference on Monday.
Citta beat off competition from two other Krakow Zoo residents, a parrot and a donkey, by correctly predicting that Chelsea would win the European Champions League final in Munich last weekend.
As Euro 2012 draws near, Citta will be offered fruit emblazoned with the flags of competing teams, and her instinctive choices will have bookmakers on tenterhooks.
The elephant's star role in the tournament echoes the sensation caused by Paul the Octopus from the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany, who made a series of uncannily accurate predictions during the 2010 World Cup.
Citta the Elephant came to Krakow from the Terra Natura Park in Valencia, where she had spent twenty years working in the circus.
She has a penchant for munching chocolate, as well as more traditional elephantine pursuits, such as rolling in the mud.
Meanwhile, Wroclaw Zoo in south west Poland has also produced its own Euro 2012 oracles in the shape of two so-called ‘Silkie’ cockerels named Gerwazy and Protazy.
The birds will also be trying to predict who will win the tournament and whether Poland will beat Greece in the opening game at Warsaw’s National Stadium on 8 June. (nh/pg)