Our Favorite Things: World Animal Day Edition

October 4 is World Animal Day and to celebrate, we're putting together an exhaustive compendium of everything we love about these guys.

1) This Baboon Understands Magic and Straight-Up LOVES It

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDIFWqnFWxA[/embed] For a magic trick to work, it requires a lot of pretty complex cognitive tasks in the audience. The viewer needs to have a sense of object permanence, a general set of expectations about how the world works, and the capacity for amazement. This baboon has that in spades.

2) Dolphins Use Language To Make Plans (And Design Stunts)

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=YSjqEopnC9w[/embed] You may have heard that dolphins use language, but what you might not know is that it could be as rich, detailed, and functional as any used by humans. How do we know? Researchers taught dolphins Ronnie and Bill the concept of "create." Then, they asked the dolphins to create their own trick. The dolphins used language to plan out and coordinate a brief routine in a matter of seconds, and then performed it. Far from simply understanding basic commands, dolphins use language to communicate abstract ideas and make mutual plans.

3) Dogs Read Faces Just Like Humans

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z2MCwv-yxY[/embed] Thanks to a shared evolutionary path, humans and dogs basically grew up together. Because of that, dogs can figure out figure out how we're feeling just by looking at our faces. They even read faces the same way we do—from left to right. And that's just one of the reasons dogs are outrageously amazing.

4) Kittens Are Really, Really Cute & They're Killing Machines

Look. Whatever. They probably can't understand human language or make plans, and they definitely can't empathize with us. But who needs it when they're this cute? I mean, just look at this adorable little obligate carnivore! Did you know that at 5 weeks, kittens are already full-fledged predators? They can see in extreme low-light conditions, and find prey in complete darkness using their whiskers. Their ridged mouths give them a sense of smell 100 times more developed than humans, and they can survive a fall from 70 feet. Oh, and razor blades pop out of their hands and feet for, like, no reason at all. What are your favorite animal fun facts? Leave them in the comments and be sure to check Groupon for all kinds of coupons for pet beds, food, and more.