This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
For a rookie, Vulcan the lion wasn't a bit tentative.
He burst out of his pen Thursday at Utah's Hogle Zoo and went directly to a New England Patriots' helmet, picking it up in his powerful jaws and carrying it around the grounds of the African Savanna.
If zoo precedent holds true, that means the Patriots will upend the defending champion Seattle Seahawks in Sundy's Super Bowl.
Vulcan's predecessor, Eli the orangutan, was seven-for-seven in his Super Bowl picks. He even got national attention for his selection of the Seahawks last year over Peyton Manning's Denver Broncos.
But Eli died during the summer of breast cancer, leaving Hogle Zoo officials to find an alternative selector. Who better to turn to, said spokeswoman Erica Hansen, than the king of the jungle?
Vulcan seemed up to the task.
He wasted no time going straight to the Patriots helmet after what Hansen described as "very unbiased keepers" sprinkled a little cinnamon — "a favorite scent of our lions" — on each helmet.
Vulcan pawed at the Patriot helmet, knocked it over, then took it in his mouth and trotted around the yard. "He seemed very confident with his decision," Hansen said.