From Achilles the cat to Datou the dog: Meet the animal soothsayers at Fifa World Cup 2018

It is impossible to forget Paul, the octopus! Unlike football fans, who often take the help of form guides and results from pre-tournament friendlies, the eight-tentacled Cephalopod did not need any of them but made predictions with 85% accuracy during the Fifa World Cup in 2010 and thereby achieved global stardom.

Paul rose to fame as an animal oracle during European Championships in 2008. He rightly predicted the results for four of Germany's six games at the continental tournament. However, his prediction for the final — a German win did his reputation some damage.

The octopus, which breathed its last in 2012, made the animal kingdom proud with his accurate predictions in 2010. He made some excellent calls throughout the tournament in South Africa and topped it all with the prediction of a Spanish win in the final.

Many animals, including the Swiss Guinea pig, Madame Shiva (2014 World Cup), in the past have tried to emulate Paul but have very little success.

As we head into another edition of Fifa World Cup, starting June 14 in Russia, the search for Paul's successor continues.

IBTimes, India has compiled a list of animal soothsayers who will be predicting the results of the 21st edition of the quadrennial global spectacle.

Achilles the cat

The furry white feline, the official World Cup animal oracle, has already made a prediction - a Russian win against Saudi Arabia in the tournament opener on Thursday in Moscow.

Achilles had been working at Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, working with a team of cats to fight off rodents at the famous attraction. He has now moved to "Cat Republic" cafe in the city for his World Cup duty.

The white started making predictions during the Confederations Cup in 2017, making three right choices in four attempts. The cat is deaf but it believed that the hearing disability allows him to focus a lot more on his predictions.

The cat makes its predictions by choosing between two cat food bowls with flags of the participating countries.

Achilles was chosen for soothsaying activities after he "had displayed capabilities for choice, analysis, and unusual behaviour" in the past, according to reports.

Apart from being trained in the lead up to the World Cup, the furry white feline also was forced to follow a strict diet.

Datou the dog

Datou, the 11-year-old, is Hong Kong's animal oracle for Russia World Cup. The white Maltese, a former stray, made the prediction in his "favourite shark costume", according to the South China Morning Post.

32 sheets of paper, each with a team's flag and shirt, was placed in a circle, as seen in a video uploaded by the news portal. Two cubes of treats were placed on each paper and Datou was asked to choose.

The Maltese didn't go for the heavyweights but choose Euro 2016 quarter-finalists Iceland.

Davey the physic quokka

The psychic quokka comes from Wild Life Sydney Zoo, a wildlife park in the Australian city.

It had previously predicted the outcomes of elections in the country and a few major sporting events as well, according to the Wide World of Sports.

Quokka was asked to choose the winner of Group C, which has tournament favourites France, Denmark Peru and Australia.

Four bowls of grass, with flag names embedded on it, were kept in front of Davey.

The Sydney-based quokka dumped France but picked Australia, the lowest-ranked team in the group.

Farah, the Falcon

Farah, a two-year-old saker in Dubai, has been recruited by the United Arab Emirates-based radio station, Dubai Eye 103.8, to predict the winners of all 64 matches of Fifa World Cup 2018.

The female falcon chose host nation Russia over Saudi Arabia for the tournament opener. Check out the video below.