#AnimalCognitionFunFacts
October was packed with special animal days, but we also lost a legend on October 1.

On October 4, the convergence of #WorldAnimalDay and the start of the #WorldSpaceWeek marked the beginning of #AnimalAstroPhotography, which now accompany some of the #AnimalCognitionFunFacts 🐾✨
November 1, 2025 at 7:24 PM
The last Friday in October is World Lemur Day !

This year, #WorldLemurDay is on the same day as #Halloween. Such a wonderful alignment 🎃

Did you know ring-tailed lemurs preferentially bond with group members who are good at cognitive tasks?

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #Lemurs
October 31, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Mule cognition by Leanne Proops, Faith Burden, Britta Osthaus:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#AnimalAstroPhotography is by Britt Myers (see the 10th photo in the gallery):
www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/artic...

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #AnimalAstroPhotography #NationalMuleDay
October 26, 2025 at 7:08 PM
October 26 is National Mule Day in the US 🫏 🐎

Did you know mules outperform both horses and donkeys on cognition tasks? #AnimalCognitionFunFacts

#AnimalAstroPhotography is by Britt Myers (see the 10th photo in the gallery):
buff.ly/P1EVYCJ

#NationalMuleDay #Mules
October 26, 2025 at 6:46 PM
The last Saturday in October is Hug a Sheep Day 🐑 🐏

Did you know sheep can recognize human faces from photographs?

#AnimalAstroPhotography by Jen Rowland shows sheep with Milky Way from Northumberland 📷 🌌

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #AnimalAstroPhotography #HugASheepDay #Sheep
October 25, 2025 at 6:45 PM
October 24 is International Gibbon Day!

Did you know gibbons plan their travel based on what type of food they want to eat later in the day?

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #InternationalGibbonDay #Gibbons
October 24, 2025 at 6:02 PM
October 23 is International Snow Leopard Day 🐈

Did you know that snow leopards can solve puzzle boxes? #AnimalCognitionFunFacts

The #AnimalAstroPhotography is by Morup Namgail, showing a snow leopard with the Milky Way in Ladakh, India 📷 🌌

#InternationalSnowLeopardDay #SnowLeopards
October 23, 2025 at 5:02 PM
October 22 is International Wombat Day.

Did you know wombats’ underground burrows are so extensive that the patterns they leave on the surface can be detected even from aerial imagery?

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #InternationalWombatDay #Wombats #Satellites
October 22, 2025 at 8:08 PM
The #AnimalAstroPhotography for reptiles comes from Joshua Wallace 📷 @wildwallacephoto.bsky.social.

Northern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus) with our Moon and Aurora Borealis 🤩

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #AnimalAstroPhotography #NationalReptileAwarenessDay

bsky.app/profile/wild...
Well, it's time to give Bluesky a shot. Here is one of my all-time favorite bucket list photographs.

Beacons of the North

Northern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus) and the Northern Lights.

#snake #herpetology #wildlife #photography #naturephotography
October 21, 2025 at 6:48 PM
October 21 is National Reptile Awareness Day in the US 🦎 🐊 🐍 🐢

Reptiles are so cool!

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #NationalReptileAwarenessDay #ReptilesAreCool

Make sure to check out the #AnimalAstroPhotography in the reply. You won’t want to miss this one, it is absolutely fascinating 🤩
October 21, 2025 at 6:38 PM
October 20 is International Sloth Day 🦥

Did you know wild sloths sleep less than those in captivity?

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #InternationalSlothDay #Sloths
October 20, 2025 at 8:49 PM
There are not too many peer-reviewed papers on okapi cognition, so I was glad to find this paper:
www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/article.php?...

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #WorldOkapiDay #Okapi
Zoo Foraging Ecology: Preference and Welfare Assessment of Two Okapi (Okapia johnstoni) at the Brookfield Zoo — Animal Behavior and Cognition
www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org
October 18, 2025 at 6:54 PM
October 18 is World Okapi Day!

Did you know okapis form mental maps of their habitat?

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #WorldOkapiDay #Okapi
October 18, 2025 at 6:52 PM
October 17 is International Sawfish Day 🐟

Did you know sawfish have an elongated toothed nose (rostrum) that helps them detect the electric fields of other animals?

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #InternationalSawfishDay #Sawfish
October 18, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Check out this Current Biology paper "Defensive tool use in a coconut-carrying octopus" to learn more and to see cool videos of octopus carrying coconut shells 🐙 🥥

www.cell.com/current-biol...

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #WorldOctopusDay
Defensive tool use in a coconut-carrying octopus
The use of tools has become a benchmark for cognitive sophistication. Originally regarded as a defining feature of our species, tool-use behaviours have subsequently been revealed in other primates an...
www.cell.com
October 8, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Today, October 8, we celebrate two marine animals.

October 8 is both World Octopus Day and National Salmon Day 🐙 🐟

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #WorldOctopusDay #NationalSalmonDay
October 8, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Want to learn more about badger foraging behavior?

Michener, Gail R. "Hunting techniques and tool use by North American badgers preying on Richardson's ground squirrels." Journal of Mammalogy 85.5 (2004): 1019-1027.
academic.oup.com/jmammal/arti...

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #NationalBadgerDay
Hunting Techniques and Tool Use by North American Badgers Preying on Richardson's Ground Squirrels
Abstract. Techniques used by North American badgers (Taxidea taxus) when hunting Richardson's ground squirrels (Spermophilus richardsonii) were assessed ov
academic.oup.com
October 7, 2025 at 6:42 PM
October 7, 2025 at 6:33 PM
October 6 is National Badger Day 🦡

Did you know badgers modify the tunnel entrances of squirrels to capture them?

#AnimalCognitionFunFacts #NationalBadgerDay
October 6, 2025 at 1:04 PM
To mark today's convergence of #WorldAnimalDay, #InternationalObserveTheMoonNight & #WorldSpaceWeek, I am excited to announce that some of the upcoming #AnimalCognitionFunFacts will be accompanied by #AnimalAstroPhotography 😀

First one from @albertdros.bsky.social, original post
buff.ly/MsqHkSK
October 4, 2025 at 4:30 AM