'Mystic meerkats' predict World Cup win for England's Lionesses
They're back after correctly forecasting their Euros win last year
England are set for Women's World Cup success on Monday (August 7th) - if a group of 'mystic meerkats' at an East Sussex zoo are to be believed.
The mob at Drusillas Park have a strong record for predicting football results, correctly guessing the Lionesses' run to success at Euro 2022 last year.
They've now returned to predictions ahead of their last-16 clash with Nigeria - and have plumped for Sarina Wiegman's side to come out on top.
Using two buckets of treats, each with a team's flag on, the meerkats are left to choose which bucket they would prefer to eat from, and the bucket surrounded by the most meerkats is declared the predicted winner.
Although it might seem a strange activity for meerkats, the activity forms part of the zoo’s daily enrichment programme, which makes sure all the animals enjoy a diverse diet in imaginative and unusual ways.
The activities encourage them to think and work for their food, like they would in the wild - and it's now become a bit of a tradition at the zoo and the meerkats run over excitedly when they see the buckets.
Head Keeper Gemma Romanis said:
"They sometimes take a while to settle on a decision with interest in each of the buckets, but today they are full of optimism and went straight for England and Nigeria barely got a look in
"We’ve got lots of football fans in the team and always like to get behind the squad and show our support.
"We’ve been doing this for a while now and the meerkats get so excited when they see us setting it up – even our new baby, Reggie who is only a couple of months old was in on the action.
"We are so proud of our Lionesses so it would be amazing for England to win as the meerkats have predicted!"