Pretty Cool, We Guess: This Zoo’s Tortoise Has Successfully Predicted 6 Of The Past 57 Super Bowl Winners
Like all of America, the town of Jasper, Indiana is fired up for this year’s Super Bowl. Unlike all of America, it’s because of a tortoise: Johnny U-Tortoise.
Every year before the Big Game, the JCZ (Jasper County Zoo) puts on a televised celebration of the amphibian’s nuanced selection process. U-Tortoise, who turned 114 this past June, will again attempt to select this year’s winner. And the town is frothing at the mouth.
The JCZ acquired U-Tortoise in September of 1966 and knew immediately they had something special. “That year Kansas City was playing Green Bay, and as a joke we put his food in two places–on a green bandana and a red bandana,” said retired JCZ manager Ronnie Kessler, 81. “Johnny ate both, but he ate off the red one first. It’s pretty clear he was telling us the Chiefs were going to win. We put a lot of money on the Chiefs that year.”
The Chiefs lost, marking the first of Johnny’s 51 incorrect picks. But a tradition was born that day, and the town, said Kessler, “came out of its shell.” The following year the zoo sold cotton candy and allowed townspeople to cast bets — a practice which has since brought the town half of its yearly income. Soon zoo-goers from other counties and states were flooding Jasper, filling its hotels in order to catch sight of this tortoise who could actually, occasionally, “pick” the Super Bowl.
These days, U-Tortoise comes out of a tunnel and tears through a banner in a process that takes the animal 20 to 35 minutes. The zoo has also traded bandanas for official NFL t-shirts from Walmart. Turfside tickets start at a cool $450.
When one reporter noticed that U-Tortoise has a 10.5% success rate, Ron Jr., JCZ’s new manager, didn’t appear fazed, stating, “Do you know how much money we make off this thing? We’re gonna get a panda next year!”
When asked what happens when U-Tortoise passes away, Ron Jr. said the zoo was already training Johnny’s backup, “Turt Warner.”
