Actually, my guess is that this octopus isn't lucky at all. I think it's pretty safe to say that he has been trained to recognise the German flag, and colour-wise, the Spanish flag is actually quite similar to the German one. He's probably attracted to the yellow and red in the Spanish flag.
Wiki wrote:According to Janet Voight at the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History there is no evidence that the Octopus vulgaris has colour vision, and it is unlikely that colour played a part in Paul's preferences. However, Shelagh Malham of Bangor University, said octopuses can distinguish brightness, and are drawn to bold horizontal shapes.
Paul Connolly of the Daily Mail speculated that Paul may have chosen the German, Spanish and Serbian flags because each of them display horizontal shapes. And he may have picked between the flags because the Spanish flag has a broader horizontal stripe than the German flag, and the Serbian flag is more vivid than the German flag.
Volker Miske, an expert at the University of Greifswald and mentor of the German "Coleoidea Archive" sees minor chemical differences as background of Paul's decisions. He might be able to distinguish minor differences of the size of the mussels or chemical traces of the flags colors via the scent sensors in his arms. Even minor differences in the closure of the boxes might be significant as well.
OOH! We get coverage on two different terrestrial channels!! WOOOOH!! The choice!!! DAMMIT THE CHOICE!!!!!
Why the hell am I getting so exciteeeeeeeeeeed
Poor Holland.
