GitHub: What is the story behind GitHub’s octocat mascot?

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Simon Oxley designed the octopuss, alongside the white bird Twitter used (before they received a proper logo) as part of a usual routine of cranking out images for iStock. GitHub saw it, and wanted it, presumably under the notion that it can represent how complex code combines to create peculiar things, much like the octopuss... except the CEO of GitHub called it an octocat, and it has been the octocat since.

Git has something called an octopus merge. I think they just thought it would be cute to have an octopus with a cat's face. Or, more likely, their designer liked it and just did it.

Coincidentally, we also have a Hubot script that, when executed, tells you the full, adorable story of how he/she/it got his/her/its actual name.

What is it, you may ask? I dare not reveal more secrets.