N.J. camel known for Super Bowl predictions makes 2013 pick

A camel at a New Jersey zoo has predicted the winner in seven of the last eight Super Bowls.

Baltimore Ravens fans should hope her record improves to 8-1.

Princess, a 26-year-old camel at the Popcorn Park Zoo in Ocean County, chose the Ravens to beat the San Francisco 49ers, zoo manager John Bergmann said.

"She's been pretty uncanny," Bergmann said. He said he was a bit surprised at the camel's choice -- in the playoffs, she picked the 49ers to beat the Atlanta Falcons, but chose the Denver Broncos over the Ravens.

"Then when she got to the Super Bowl, she picked the Baltimore Ravens," Bergmann said.

Here's how the predictions work: Bergmann writes the name of one team on each of his palms. He covers the names with graham crackers, and the cracker Princess eats first reveals her pick for the winning team.

During the regular season, she'll make picks for some New York Giants and New York Jets games. (She used to make predictions about the Eagles, too, but that stopped when Michael Vick joined the team, due to his dog-fighting guilty plea.)

Princess went 11-6 during this year's regular season, "not one of her better years," Bergmann said.

The predictions started during the 2005 season, when local radio DJs who wanted to pick games against an animal called the zoo. Bergmann chose Princess to make the picks, and she hasn't stopped since.

The camel's made some surprising predictions over the years, including correctly guessing that the Giants would beat the New England Patriots in last year's Super Bowl.

That bodes well for Baltimore fans, as the odds for this year appear to favor San Francisco.

"She's picked some pretty big upsets," Bergmann said.