Successor to octopus Paul is French

The successor to the game-guessing Paul the octopus is French, although it remains to be seen if he will have the same forecasting talents as his famous English-born predecessor.

Paul gained global fame by correctly calling all seven of Germany’s World Cup games and predicting Spain’s victory in July over the Netherlands. He was found dead of natural causes in his tank at the Oberhausen aquarium on Tuesday.

Aquarium spokeswoman Tanja Munzig said the new octopus, also to be called Paul, was born near the southern French city of Montpellier and will be presented to the public next week.