While many sports fans were shocked that defending champion Spain were knocked out of the 2014 World Cup so quickly, a red ruffed lemur at the Zoological Center Tel Aviv-Ramat Gan could have warned them not to expect success.

Max the lemur is serving as Israel’s ‘Paul the octopus’ in this year’s World Cup predictor role. The German eight-armed cephalopod, which has since died, wowed 2010 World Cup followers after correctly forecasting the outcome of eight matches. The Safari staff chose Max because of his friendly and inquisitive nature.

Max makes his predictions by choosing a food box. There are three options: two with team flags and one with ‘tie/draw’ written on it. Max is following in the footsteps of yet another forecasting animal – the safari’s giraffe, Dovale, correctly guessed 18 of 31 games in the 2012 UEFA European Championship. (via Israel21c)

[Photo: jnmed2407 / Flickr]