China's 'monkey king' picks Trump as next US president

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are currently in a neck-to-neck close competition with each other

Shanghai, Nov 4: A Chinese monkey described as the "king of prophets" has tipped Donald Trump for the US presidency, a tourism park said, after the creature successfully predicted the winner of football's European Championship final earlier this year.

Known as Geda - which means knots or goose bumps - the prophetic primate is the latest in a series of purportedly psychic animals that have popped up around the world since Paul the Octopus correctly predicted multiple 2010 World Cup matches.

The simian seer, wearing a yellow shirt emblazoned with his title, was given a chance to pick between life-sized cut-outs of Republican Trump and his Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton.

After "deliberate thought" the mystic monkey chose Trump, Shiyanhu Ecological Tourism Park said on Friday in a statement on its website. Without even waiting, he congratulated the cardboard candidate with a kiss on the lips.

The five-year-old simian correctly predicted Portugal would win the 2016 European football championship in July, two days before Cristiano Ronaldo's side prevailed 1-0, online news portal ifeng.com reported at the time.

Then, the monkey was presented with the national flags of Portugal and France with bananas on both. It finally walked towards the national flag of Portugal and ate a banana there, the report said.

Geda's antics seem to have been inspired by the oracular octopus Paul.

In 2010, Paul the Octopus became the world's most famous mollusc when he foretold the results of every match played by Germany at the World Cup in South Africa, as well as Spain's victory against the Netherlands in the final.

PTI