Oregon Zoo orangutans make Super Bowl predictions
Portions of this story were taken from a press release courtesy of The Oregon Zoo.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Kutai, Inji, and Batik - three orangutans living at the Portland Zoo - have not reached a unanimous prediction of this year's Super Bowl winner. Kutai picked the Colts to win while Inji and Batik predict a Saints victory. The primates chose from either a Saints or Colts t-shirt in order to predict the winner.
Since 1996, when primate keepers first developed the system that allows the orangutans to predict the Super Bowl winner, the “orangs” - as they are called by zookeepers - have proven themselves to be the Portland area's foremost football prognosticators, or at least the foremost in the animal kingdom.
Inji's ability to predict the winner of football games was discovered by chance when a local sportscaster had seen the primates receive clothing items as enrichment and wondered what they might do with Beavers and Ducks T-shirts prior to the teams' 100th Civil War game.
Inji, the most dominant of the orangs at the time, put on an Oregon shirt, and the Ducks went on to win, 49-13.
Two years later, she was given the same challenge and again picked the winner — the Beavers this time, in a 44-41 double-overtime thriller. Still somewhat skeptical, keepers put Inji to the test in that season's Super Bowl, and she correctly chose Denver over Atlanta.
After a forced hiatus due to exhibit construction, Inji resumed her predictions in 2002, raising a few eyebrows when she picked the New England Patriots over the St. Louis Rams, who were 14-point favorites. As usual, Inji was right: The Patriots upset the Rams, 20-17. Inji eventually attained a record of 6-1 in her predictions, but became less reliable as time wore on, especially once her grandson Kutai began participating.
Kutai, youngest of the zoo's orangs, has correctly predicted the winner in four of the past five Super Bowls, including the Giants' upset victory over the heavily favored Patriots in 2008. Many zoo staffers privately believe he would be 5-0 if not for some questionable calls by the refs during last year's Cardinals-Steelers game.
According to Senior Primate Keeper Dave Thomas, Kutai began inserting himself into the prediction process in 2005 and has shown he knows how to pick a winner.
"While Inji's record has slipped, Kutai's is nearly perfect," said Thomas.
Thomas won't speculate about whether Inji might be stepping aside to allow her grandson to shine, or if he's taking over by force.
"One year, he took all the shirts from one team, so sometimes her choice has been limited," Thomas conceded.
Zookeepers are always looking for new and interesting ways to keep the animals engaged and active. Giving the orangutans T-shirts and other interesting items serves as environmental enrichment. The Oregon Zoo has been internationally recognized for its environmental enrichment program, designed to keep animals mentally and physically challenged and stimulated.