A crowd of soccer fans leans forward as Mani, Singapore's World Cup-forecasting parakeet, creeps out of his small wooden cage and chooses between two white cards — one hiding the flag of the Netherlands, the other Spain.
If the bird's many new believers are right, Holland will win its first World Cup championship Sunday. Mani grabbed a card in his beak Friday and flipped it over to reveal the Dutch flag.
The 13-year-old parakeet has become a local celebrity after its owner, M. Muniyappan, claimed Mani accurately forecast the World Cup's four quarterfinal games and Spain's semifinal victory over Germany.
Paul the Psychic Octopus has some competition—a 13-year-old Singaporean parakeet named Mani has picked the Netherlands to beat Spain in the World Cup championship game on Sunday. Mani was right about the quarterfinals and Spain beating Germany.
Mani's owner, an 80-year-old Indian fortuneteller named M. Muniyappan, who lives in Singapore, told the AP: "People usually want help picking the lottery numbers, or when to get married. Then gamblers started asking about the World Cup." Muniyappan said Mani's popularity has risen from about 10 visitors per day to 30, and people generally pay around $7 for him to predict their future.
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