First there was Paul the "psychic" octopus, then there was Yvonne the "runaway" cow - animal predicitons of international soccer matches are still all the rage in Germany.

Enlarge image A 13-part archive composite photo shows various animal predictions around octopus Paul (C). (Above L-R) Elephant Citta (Krakow, Poland, June 6, 2012); porcupine Leon (Chemnitz, July 6, 2012); otter Ferret (Aue, June 8, 2012); random seagull (Zinnowitz, May 4, 2012); (center L-R) elephant Shahrukh (Hamburg, June 8, 2012); octopus Paul (Oberhausen, June 29, 2010); cow Yvonne (Deggendorf, June 8, 2012); (below L-R) ostrich Feodor (Chemnitz, July 9, 2010); hipo Nelly (Hodenhagen, July 18, 2010). (© picture-alliance/dpa)

Yvonne, who resides at the Aiderbichl animal sanctuary in the Bavarian town of Deggendorf, on June 8 erroneously "predicted" that Portugal would beat Germany during a European Championship soccer match the following day. (She also reportedly later made a wrong predicition in the June 13 match that pitted Germany against the Netherlands, in which the German team emerged victorious with a score of 2-1.)

Despite this grim news from the strong-willed bovine beauty for German soccer fans, Germany ended up beating Portugal 1-0 on June 9 in Poland.

Whether Yvonne makes a better prediciton for Germany's June 13 match against the Netherlands remains to be seen.

She made her June 8 "prediction" by favoring a feeding station marked with a Portuguese flag over one marked with a German flag on an enclosed field she was hanging out on with several other cows at Aiderbichl.

Paul - "the oracle of Oberhausen"

Enlarge image Paul making some of his World Cup predictions. (© dpa - Bildfunk)

In any event, she has taken on the "pschic" animal mantle - for now, at least - from the late Paul (January 26, 2008 - October 26, 2010), an octupus who resided at the Sea Life aquarium in the western German city of Oberhausen, where he became an international sensation after his feeding behavio was used to correctly predict the winner of each of Germany's natinal team seven matches in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. In Germany he was dubbed "das Orakel von Oberhausen" (the oracle of Oberhausen). Paul was even affectionately known as "Paul Baba" in India.

Yvonne's moooving story

Enlarge image Yvonne the cow at her animal sanctuary home at the Aiderbichl farm, near the Bavarian town of Deggendorf, on June 8, 2012. (© picture-alliance/dpa)

Yvonne, who eluded capture by Bavarian authorities last year for more than three months (from May 24 to September 1), escaped from a farm in Mühldorf, Germany, where she was due to be fattened up and slaughtered.

The brown-and-white cow, who was born in 2005 and spent her early years as a dairy cow in the Austrian Alps, was bought after her famous flight by animal rights activist Michael Aufhauser, who eventually captured her and brought her to Aiderbichl to live out the rest of her natural life in peace.

Now Yvonne is set to star in her own Moooovie backed by US producer Max Howard and Munich-based Papa Löwe Filmproduktion. The partly animated family feature film is aptly due to be entitled "Cow on the Run."