If you’re looking to place a bet on Saturday’s do-or-die World Cup match, an unconventional method could be to follow the prediction of Vancouver’s furry friends.
The sea otters at Vancouver Aquarium have made their pick for who will come out of the round of 16 between Canada and Morocco in Houston.
The animals were presented with two blocks painted to look like the flags of each nation using clam paste.
After inspecting the flags, one of the otters grabbed hold of the Morocco block and brought it into the pool, where the other mammals began feasting on it. Later, a patriotic otter dragged the Canada block into the water as well.
As it crossed the seeming finish line first, it looks like the otters have predicted Morocco will win the match.
The otters are making a safe bet, as the odds heavily favour the 6th-ranked Atlas Lions over the 30th place Canadians.
Vancouver Aquarium’s otters were last called upon for a prediction on June 16, and correctly foretold Canada would win over Qatar in the group stage.
While Team Canada is a massive underdog against Morocco, who reached the semi-finals last World Cup, Les Rouges are on a historic run—going from having never won a World Cup match to reaching the round of 16—and will give it their all.
“We want to make the most of this opportunity,” Burnaby-born defender Niko Sigur told reporters ahead of Team Canada practice in Texas Thursday. “Maybe from the outside people are writing us off or saying that we’re the underdog but we don’t look into that at all. We want to go into every game trying to win.”
