Mote Marine's resident manatee Buffett makes his pick Wednesday. He chose the Atlanta Falcons to win the Super Bowl. Herald-Tribune staff photo / Rachel S. O'Hara

Did Florida animals pick the right Super Bowl winner? Well…

Elizabeth Djinis | Feb 06, 2017 4:38pm

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On Sunday night, the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl and Tom Brady became a five-time Super Bowl champion. It was the surprise game that seemed like it was going for the underdog–the Atlanta Falcons–that is, until it wasn’t.

But if you took your cues from two of Florida’s Super Bowl-predicting animals, you probably weren’t happy last night.

Last week, Mote Marine’s two manatees, Hugh and Buffett, swam towards goal posts decorated with the two teams’ logos. Buffett, the manatee with the better record, chose the Falcons. In a divisive measure, Hugh chose the Patriots.

Only one was right. And it was Hugh, who had been wrong 4 out of the 9 times he’d previously predicted the Super Bowl. Oh well.

At Orlando’s Gatorland, alligators are given two full chickens decorated with the logos of either Super Bowl Team. The Orlando Sentinel reported on the gators’ choice this year and it was…the Falcons.

A gator at Gatorland chooses the Falcons-themed chicken. Video still from the Orlando Sentinel’s Rich Pope

Maybe the moral of this story is not to hinge your Super Bowl bets on Florida’s animals. Either way, we’ll be out there next year, rooting for one of the teams and still wondering whether a manatee or a gator could possibly get it right.

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