The one pet you should never cuddle when you're on your period

Sitting smugly at the top of the food chain, we might we're smartest creatures around, but that's often not the case.

Animals are often a lot cleverer and more intuitive than we give them credit for.

Octopuses , for example, can open pill bottles with childproof caps - a task many adults struggle with.

Bats map out space with echolocation. Chimps can easily beat us at recounting number sequences displayed for a split second.

Then there are our pets.

Dogs are able to recognise nuanced body language signals which we simply can't.

Along with cats, they can also detect olfactory changes brought on by hormones when a woman is menstruating too.

Do you know which other animal knows when we're on our period?

Iguanas.

And if you're the proud owner of a male iguana, you should avoid cuddling them when it's that time of the month.

Granted, they're not renowned for the cuddly qualities, but still, be on your guard.

"We recommend you don't handle male iguanas during menstruation," Dr. Beth Breitweiser, a veterinarian at All Wild Things Exotic Hospital, told Broadly .

By and large very calm pets, however, male iguanas have been known to to attack their owners that are menstruating.

Breitweiser believes these attacks are prompted by their owner's changed pheromonal odor.