Following recent reports about Paul the German oracle octopus and his predictions for the soccer World Cup, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors yesterday brought two octopuses to the Taipei City Council to predict the winner in November's Taipei mayoral election.
During a question-and-answer session with Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), DPP Taipei City councilors Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄), Huang Hsiang-chun (黃向群) and Liu Yao-ren (劉耀仁) prepared a tank with two plastic boxes inside, one with Hau's photo and one with a photo of his DPP opponent, former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
The first octopus to be dropped into the water tank quickly moved to the box with Hau's picture and embraced the box with its tentacles, attracting a round of laughter and applause from city government officials.
PHOTO: HUANG CHUNG-JUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The second octopus, however, moved to Su's picture and was followed by the first octopus, still holding the box with Hau's picture.
“Apparently, the octopus predicts that Su will win the mayoral election. Mayor Hau, with the forecast and your low support rate, I think you should be worried about the election's results,” Chuang said.
Hau played down the forecast and said he was confident he would win the Nov. 27 election.
“It's clear that he [the first octopus] chose my picture. He grabbed my box tightly,” Hau said.
Hau also accused the DPP councilors of animal abuse after Chuang tried to affect the octopus' choice with a long stick.
“It's an act of animal abuse and you are killing the octopuses by putting them in an environment that is not suitable for them,” Hau said.
Paul the octopus became a superstar after accurately predicting the winner of the World Cup and the outcome of all six of Germany's World Cup matches.
Chuang said the octopuses were purchased at a fish market and would be freed after the session.
Yen I-feng (嚴一峰), director of Taipei City's Animal Protection Office, said the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) only includes regulations on vertebrates. Octopuses and other invertebrates are not protected by the act.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City councilors later joined Hau in accusing the DPP councilors of abusing the octopuses and using the animals for political show.
“I think the question-and-answer session should focus on the discussion of municipal policies and Hau's performance. The octopus show is nothing but a hoax,” KMT Taipei City Councilor Dai Hsi-chin (戴錫欽) said.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
RSS