Maggie the Monkey facts for kids

Maggie the Monkey, also known as Maggie the Macaque, was born in 1991. She is a type of monkey called a crab-eating macaque. Maggie lived at the Bowmanville Zoo in Canada. She became famous for being an "animal oracle," which means she made predictions, especially about the Stanley Cup Playoffs in ice hockey.

Maggie's Story

Maggie was born and raised by people at the Bowmanville Zoo in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. At the zoo, she learned how to spin a special wheel.

In 2003, some people from a Canadian sports TV channel called TSN wanted to do something fun and different for their show. They decided to bring Maggie onto their broadcasts to make predictions.

During the 2003 Stanley Cup Playoffs, many experts thought the Detroit Red Wings would easily win against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. But Maggie spun her wheel and picked the Ducks! Surprisingly, the Mighty Ducks won all four games against the Red Wings. As the playoffs continued, Maggie kept picking the Ducks, and they kept winning. The Ducks eventually lost the Stanley Cup to the New Jersey Devils in seven games. Still, Maggie had a great record, getting 8 predictions right and 7 wrong. She was almost as good as the human experts! Maggie became very popular, especially in Anaheim, and was even featured on the front page of the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

For the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Maggie got her own TV segment on TSN called The Ape-rentice. This was a funny take on the popular reality show The Apprentice. Her predictions weren't quite as successful that year, but she still got 7 right and 8 wrong.

In the 2005–06 season, TSN asked its viewers if they wanted Maggie back for the playoffs. A huge 74% said yes! Maggie had her best year in 2006. Even though she incorrectly picked the Edmonton Oilers to win the championship over the Carolina Hurricanes, she still finished with the most correct predictions among a panel of sports experts. In 2008, she got 8 out of 15 predictions right. In the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Maggie didn't start well, getting only 2 out of 6 predictions right in the first round. However, that year, she correctly picked the team that won the Stanley Cup for the very first time!

How Maggie Made Her Picks

Maggie's way of choosing teams was completely random. She used a wheel, much like the "big six wheel" you might see at a carnival. This wheel was split into sections. Half of the sections showed one team from a playoff match-up, and the other half showed the opposing team.

Her handler would prompt her, and Maggie would spin the wheel. Whichever team the wheel landed on was her prediction to win that best-of-seven series. A sportscaster from TSN, James Duthie, said in 2003 that one reason they had Maggie on the show was because ice hockey can be so unpredictable.

Maggie's Prediction Record

See also

• Sports betting
• Ice hockey
• Paul the Octopus
• List of individual monkeys