As September began to transition to October, a number of things began to start up for Animalia and its colonies. Some were more... immediate, and others were a bit more far off.
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The most immediate thing that was starting off was the Autumn heat for Animalians who mated in the autumn months. While some of the newer Animalians were caught off guard by this, there were plenty of choices of heat suppressants for both males and females.
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The second-closest event was Spookyville 2024. While most of the special events were to be expected by this time, there was a few new things that were surprising, but anticipated. The biggest event was the 2024 Boo Haw Haw, since this year there was going to be a USA VS. Soviet Union/Russia-themed matchup, with Sam going up against a female Eurasian Brown Bear Animalian (a converted female Russian), partly because Little Russia (Animalia's new 'Russian District') was now the second-largest Animalia district (Chinatown still being the largest).
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The next thing was the Year of the Snake competition, partly because Slick "Scales", Angie's new boyfriend, was generating a lot of waves on the Animalia Website due to the BARA House documenting every "step"/slither of his bodybuilding journey. Though the number of snake Animalians (including more than a few herm snakes) were enough to prevent him from being a shoo-in to win.
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Another thing that was coming up was Oka's father's conversion and his subjecting to Animalia's four-punishment system. Though initially blocked from selecting a predatory cat Animalian, Animalia's IT specialists (who focused mainly on keeping hackers, foreign or otherwise, from obtaining the Animalia Virus Schematic) had tracked down the video that Oka had starred in, thereby pushing her father over the edge. Afterwards (since it was both advertising a black rapper from Las Vegas and "ammunition" for a "war" against a rival white rapper from New York), it was decided to allow him to select a predatory cat, but not a lion since Animalia had enough "Kings" as it is.
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There were also the beginnings of the Autumn Migrations for many bird and reptile Animalians. However, sometimes there were a few surprises here and there. The Best example of this was when Sophie and Roland were "assigned" to do coverage of New Patagonia, Animalia's Dinotopian Colony in Argentina. While it had been in development for a while, the discovery of gold in Gondwana Land had held the majority of attention. Fortunately, New Patagonia hadn't been completely abandoned.
Like all Dinotopian colonies, New Patagonia focused on dinosaur species found in South America. While some of them were well-known (partly due to movies like Giants of Patagonia), others were a bit more obscure.
A brief update from Ishinoha Island also came around this time. Another 90+ old man had gotten a prehistoric conversion, and his choice had been a little surprising: A prehistoric sea turtle named Archelon Ischyros. After his conversion, his scales and shells were both a green so deep it nearly looked black, so he was almost guaranteed to be the Black Turtle of the north, though a white snake wasn't available quite yet.