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Super Bowl 2024: Blank Park Zoo catfish predicts game outcome

“The catfish was very thoughtful with the decision," a spokesperson for the zoo said.

DES MOINES, Iowa — A 15-pound catfish at Des Moines Blank Park Zoo had the weight of the sporting world on its whiskers Wednesday afternoon. 

Handlers placed two food dispensers in the fish's tank — one for the San Francisco 49ers and another for the Kansas City Chiefs — and left the fate of football's biggest game up to a fish. 

After 10 minutes of waiting, the tiger shovelnose catfish chose Kansas City to win Super Bowl LVIII

“The catfish was very thoughtful with the decision," said Ryan Bickel, a spokesperson for the zoo. "Obviously it was weighing the ramifications of going against hometown players Brock Purdy and George Kittle."

The zoo's residents have predicted Super Bowl outcomes for more than a decade now.

They've correctly predicted 10 out of the last 13 Super Bowl outcomes. But the nonprofit zoo shared a word of warning on its Facebook: "Despite this track record, we urge caution in using the fish's pick as a basis for wagering."

Even if all this predicting sounds fishy to you, don't worry — the zoo claims making these Super Bowl forecasts is a net good for the animals.

"On a more serious note, this pick was an example of an animal enrichment activity that keepers perform daily with every animal at the Zoo to help keep them mentally and physically active," the zoo's Wednesday release reads in part. 

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