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Psychic penguins have made their pick for Arsenal vs Aston Villa in the FA Cup final...

And the winner is...

Friday 29 May 2015 07:04 BST

(National sea life centre)

Psychic animals have long been predicting football matches.

Ever since Paul the Octopus gripped the world's attention by correctly predicting 11 out of 13 results at Euro 2008, there have been a number of mimics.

The gentoo penguins at the National Sea Life centre in Birmingham are among the more reliable, having correctly predicted that England would have a poor World Cup campaign last summer.

World Cup 2014: The best animal mystics in Brazil

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1/8World Cup 2014: The best animal mystics in Brazil

World Cup 2014: The best animal mystics in Brazil

Nelly the elephant

Paul may have got all the headlines glory but Nelly the Elephant has a much better record. Nelly has been making predictions since 2006 and has a stellar record across the Women’s World Cup, 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012, making 30 of 33 correct predictions. Nelly also predicted that Bayern Munich would beat Borussia Dortmund in the 2012 Champions League and has a famous backer in World Cup winner Sepp Maier, who said: “I share Nelly's predictions, that we will draw against Portugal and win against the USA and Ghana. So we'll stay in the tournament.”

Getty Images

World Cup 2014: The best animal mystics in Brazil

Alf gentoo penguin

The National Sea Life Centre Birmingham’s newest residents put their necks above the parapet for the group stages. Not content with just predicting one team or the other, the Gentoo penguins have also been predicting draws. By standing on one of three rocks Alf, the colony’s leader, has predicted a win for Brazil and a draw for England against Italy. But Pablo, who has been challenging Alf for his leadership, predicted a win for Italy against England (he was right).

SeaLife Centre

World Cup 2014: The best animal mystics in Brazil

Chinese pandas

These young pretenders have been selected by a panda conservation centre in the Sichuan province of China. With the national team having not made it to the tournament, the pandas could find the spotlight difficult. They haven’t even decided on a method yet, though it could involve eating foods in containers marked with a national flag, or climbing a tree with a flag.

Getty Images

World Cup 2014: The best animal mystics in Brazil

Big Head the Turtle

Unsurprisingly, this Brazilian loggerhead turtle has picked the nation of his birth to be victorious in the tournament’s opener - the 25-year-old was given a choice to eat fish hung from either a Brazil flag or a Croatia flag.

AP

World Cup 2014: The best animal mystics in Brazil

Shaheen the camel

The Dromedary Camel is yet to make his first prediction but will do ahead of the World Cup opener on Thursday. Deep in the desert of Dubai Shaheen makes his prediction by kicking the ball into nets marked with a team’s flags.

Gulf News

World Cup 2014: The best animal mystics in Brazil

Predictaroo

The eastern grey kangaroo formerly known as Flopsy is being looked after at Australia Zoo by Bindi Iriwn, son of wildlife expert Steve. Predictaroo also picks teams from identical bowls of food emblazoned with the flags of the two teams.

Australia Zoo

World Cup 2014: The best animal mystics in Brazil

Citta the Elephant

Citta the Elephant didn’t perform in her home nation of Poland, much like the hosts in 2012. She predicted the three opening group games wrong and although made up for it in the group stages by predicting every result right, she failed at the last hurdle by predicting Italy to beat Spain in the final. Like Nelly, Citta predicted the results by kicking a ball.

World Cup 2014: The best animal mystics in Brazil

Paul the Octopus

The cephalopod who started it all, Paul became a worldwide storm after a run of correct predictions in Euro 2008. He was wrong in the final, but returned well at the World Cup 2010, correctly predicting that Spain would be the winners. Paul died in his Oberhausen tank in October 2010, aged two-and-a-half.

GETTY IMAGES

(National Sea Life centre)

Ginny has made her pick and (we wonder if there is some bias here) selected local side Aston Villa to prevail in the FA Cup final over defending champions Arsenal.

"Our penguins love getting the chance to put their psychic abilities to the test, especially Ginny," said Naomi Bird, Aquarist at the underwater themed attraction.

Arsene Wenger is not impressed (we'd imagine) (Getty Images)

"Anyone that follows her on Twitter will know that she’s got such a big personality and likes to make herself heard so she was determined to be at the forefront of the predictions this time around!

"We put out two identical buckets for the penguins to choose from and there was no hesitation in Ginny’s decision, she’s certain that the Birmingham-based team will be the one to win."

For more information on the National Sea Life centre visit www.SEALIFE.co.uk/birmingham/

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