(Reuters) – Nicholas, a rescue bottlenose dolphin, made waves on Tuesday when he predicted the Kansas City Chiefs would win Sunday’s Super Bowl, a controversial choice as the Florida resident picked against the hometown favourite Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
An animal care specialist dressed as an NFL referee at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium presented Nicholas with two footballs – one with the logo of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and one with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The 18-year-old, who got his name after he was found badly sunburned on Christmas Eve in 2002, selected the winning team by touching the ball featuring the Chief’s logo with his nose.
The Chiefs are slight favourites to defeat the Bucs and become back-to-back champions when the title game is held in Tampa on Sunday.
If they do win, it will extend Nicholas’ streak of correctly choosing the winning team in his last seven sports predictions.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
