Mote Marine Lab’s Super Bowl Picks: Who Got It Right?

SARASOTA, FL — Days ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 31-9 Super Bowl LV win over the Kansas City Chiefs at home, some of the resident otters, manatees and even an octopus at Mote Marine Lab made some predictions about the big game.

So, who got it right? It was “a house divided,” Mote tweeted Tuesday after it asked its resident manatees and North American river otters to share their picks for this year’s Super Bowl winner.

Buffett the manatee and Jane the river otter were rooting for the Bucs to bring home the Vince Lombardi Trophy this year.

Meanwhile, Hugh the manatee and Pippi the river otter teamed up to support the Chiefs.

"The #Buccaneers and #Chiefs have created a split house over here at Mote! Our manatees and otters picked today and we have (two) votes for each team," Mote tweeted.

To break the tie, Mote called in its resident octopus, who ate the Chiefs helmet, making the Bucs the aquarium’s official Super Bowl pick.

“We’re staying loyal to our local team and rooting for the Buccaneers,” Mote tweeted Friday.

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The animals are asked to choose their Super Bowl favorites each year. After Sunday’s game, Buffett boasts the best record of 11-2, while Hugh's overall record is now 6-7.

The otters are relatively new to the game, but Jane has selected the winner two years in a row for a 2-2 record. Meanwhile, Pippi is 0-2.

In a YouTube video, Brittany Cochrane, an aquarium biologist at Mote, said they train the otters five times a day and the manatees two to three times a day.

“So, training is definitely something that they’re used to. And then, of course, they always like to do new and exciting things, especially our river otters. They love to learn new things, do novel behaviors that they don’t necessarily do all the time,” she said. “So, they’re actually a little pumped, not really nervous … to do their super bowl picks.”

This training helps the animals with “their husbandry or veterinary care,” Cochrane added. This care can sometimes be stressful for the animals, she said.

“So, what we do is we train it, and we take the scary part out. We make it a routine part of their day and then, of course, they’re working with us," she said. "We’re associated with good things. We’re working with them consistently. We’re always bringing them fun things, food, toys things like that, so it helps to really get those behaviors stress free for both us and our animals.”