Toby the Penguin has become a star attraction at <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/lifestyle/things-to-do/2022/11/23/ski-dubais-first-festive-fun-run-aims-to-be-the-coolest-race-of-the-season/" target="_blank">Ski Dubai</a> during this year's <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/world-cup-2022/" target="_blank">Fifa World Cup</a>. The 13-year-old bird, "who loves to play football", has so far correctly predicted the outcome of five matches with prophetic precision, including the most unexpected results. Toby correctly forecast a win for <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/saudi-arabia/" target="_blank">Saudi Arabia</a> against Argentina on Tuesday and the following day he went for Japan before their shock win over Germany at Khalifa International Stadium. Despite the penguin's five correct guesses, Toby’s handlers said some predictions have been off the mark — he chose Qatar to win against Ecuador and Iran against England. Videos posted by Ski Dubai on its Instagram account on Thursday showed Toby being presented with two footballs each placed next to each other (no option for draws) and he chose Uruguay to win against South Korea, Portugal to come out on top against Ghana and Serbia to cause another tournament upset against Brazil. "The penguin predictions have proved hugely popular with guests and social media followers," a Ski Dubai representative said. "People can catch the penguin predictions on Vox Cinemas and Ski Dubai's social channels every day just after noon." Toby joined the Ski Dubai penguin family in January 2014. His handlers say he is very inquisitive and feels most comfortable being close to his partner Gummy. Toby is part of a breeding programme that started many years ago at Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland, where he has a number of siblings, as well as a sister, Polly, at Sealife London. He is not the first creature to engage in predictions during football tournament finals. Back in 2008, Paul the Octopus <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/world-cup-diary-paul-the-octopus-makes-his-final-pick-1.483653" target="_blank">rose to international fame</a> for success in choosing winners in Euro 2008. Two years later, he correctly predicted the results of all that Germany matches as well as the final, in which Spain defeated the Netherlands.
