How about a few Far Out Facts for our scaly friends:

• 3000 Pound-per-Square-Inch crushing pressure in their toothy jaws
• Fast for short bursts of speed, rumored capable of outrunning a horse for 30 feet
• Alligators can go through 2000 to 3000 teeth over the course of their lifetime
• Can hold their breath for up to two hours under water where they lay in wait for unsuspecting prey
• Can go up to one YEAR without eating
• Powerful acid in their stomach enables them to dissolve bone

If you are in the swamps or strolling the southern latitude, remember to watch where you step. They have been a successful predator for more than 200 million years and know how to use those teeth to their advantage.

Not only are they fun to watch, but they are also keepers of some very far out facts:

• The hummingbird brain is 4.2% if its total body weight – #1 in the world of birds
• Hummingbirds see and hear better than we humans however they have no sense of smell
• Hummingbirds can turn up the intensity of their color as well as turn it down as appropriate
• Hummingbird hearts beat 1260 times per minute, taking 250 breaths during that same period.
• Hummingbird metabolism is about 100 times that of an elephant
• And those fast and furious wings – during a dive they beat at a rate of 200 times per second driving the little rocket upward to 60 miles per hour. Look out below!

Although the tiniest bird in the world, hummingbirds are full of far out facts. And ounce for ounce, I think they are one of the most entertaining denizens of our natural world. Best of all, they come to visit you in your home if you just share a little sugar water.

Here are a few in along lost of far out characters that have staked a claim in our world:

The Nutria – a 20 pound giant rat from South America that was originally farmed for its fur. Upon escaping to the wilderness they have bred copiously and are now widespread in the wetlands of Maryland.

The Burmese Python – a big slithering snake that attracted many pet owners. However as they grow and grow…and grow, many were released into the wild. They have found a welcome habitat in the Florida Everglades where they are estimated to number in excess of 30,000…and growing…

The Asian Carp – imported to clean catfish ponds in Arkansas, they quickly escaped into the Mississippi River where they happily grow to over four feet and weigh in at over 100 pounds. They compete with native fish for plankton and are forever hungry.

Feral pigs – introduced to the US in the early 20th century for hunting, these squeelers quickly went hog wild and have bred into a population of over 4 million responsible for more then $800 million in property damage each year.

Kudzu – not restricted to the animal kingdom, invaders from abroad include plants of all kinds. Kudzu found its way here from Japan and is inundating waterways around the south spreading at a rate of over 150,000 acres per year.

Not all visitors are welcomed but the immigration continues. What other strange beasties will join these ranks over the coming years? Stay tuned…

Only during brief thaws in their pond – sometimes not until June – are conditions right for breeding and egg laying. As with other frog species, males court their female counterparts with resonant ribbits. Imagine the surprise when passing a frozen pond to hear just such a mating call from beneath the ice!

Far Out Snow Frog Facts:

- Cold climate frogs grow slower than their cousins in warmer reaches but live more than twice as long

- Although they grow slower, they grow bigger

- The “mating game” with the male clasping the female from behind can last two or more days

- Eggs are 30% larger in these snowy reaches, bigger tadpoles housed within to have a better chance in harsher surroundings

- These high-altitude frogs have developed a resistance to ultraviolet radiation common in thinner higher altitudes

Cold weather is not for everyone but for a few frogs in the Alps, it is just their cup of tea.

According to National Geographic, these reptilian gliders are in fact more efficient fliers than the better known flying squirrel. The description of the actual process of flying is an alphabet soup:

“To prepare for take-off, a flying snake will slither to the end of a branch, and dangle in a J shape. It propels itself from the branch with the lower half of its body, forms quickly into an S, and flattens to about twice its normal width, giving its normally round body a concave C shape, which can trap air.”

Far Out Facts for Flying Snakes:

• One of the smaller varieties of flying snake can “fly” up to 330 feet
• Flying snakes spend most of their life in the canopy above the ground below where they hunt and survive
• The Chyropelea is not limited to free falling but instead can slither it’s way to alter its direction and attitude while in flight

Sometimes with amazing animals you just have to see it to believe it. Take a look at a snake in flight.

Heads up!

Interesting parallels have been drawn between these four legged drinkers and humans. Studies over the years have determined that:

• Some monkeys can control their drinking while others do not know when to stop
• Some monkeys do not drink alcohol at all and at the same percentage as is found  in human kind
• Similar to people, 12% of monkeys drink in moderation and 5% drink to the last drop

And it appears that monkeys that are heavy drinkers make better leaders. Maybe Animal House had it right all along. If John Belushi were still alive today our national pastime might include FOOD FIGHTS!

Check out YouTube to see the Vervet monkeys in action.

Kakapo far out facts

• The worlds only flightless parrot
• The worlds only nocturnal parrot
• Although it does not fly, the Kakapo does parachute from tree tops by spreading its wings
• The worlds heaviest parrot tipping the scales at up to 9 pounds [that's a lot of feathers!]
• One of the worlds longest living birds with an average age of 95 and a maximum of 120 years
• The lowest rate of reproduction of any birds breeding only in years when the trees fruit heavily to provide a good amount of food, typically every 3-5 years

With the Kakapo population precariously low, there are numerous efforts to help assure their survival including the Kakapo Recovery Programme well worth your review if you are interested in helping out.

Redwoods are officially known as Sequoia Sempervirens which is Latin for “forever living” something they come close to doing. Though widespread 60 million years ago, today their kingdom is limited to a 450 mile stretch of land along California and into Oregon.

Far Out Facts

• Giant redwoods are the tallest trees in the world reaching heights up to 378 feet. Check out this very cool video of Steve Sillett climbing to the top of a big redwood.
• In the redwood canopy 300 feet above the ground exists a unique ecosystem supporting a wide variety of plants and animals found only there.
• Their base can be 22 feet in diameter and they would tip the scales at 1.6 million pounds.
• Giant Sequoias can live up to 3200 years - if they could only speak, what a history lesson they could share!
• The bark on Giant Sequoias grows up to three feet thick.

With over 1100 species winging their way around the world, bats represent about 20% of all classified mammal species. And with the exception of the Arctic, Antarctic and a few islands, these world travelers happily make their home anywhere, making them one of the most widespread group of mammals. Their wings are actually webbed forelimbs so when they fly they stretch their toes rather than their “wings”.

But enough for small stuff, how about some Far Out Bat Facts:

• The Bumblebee Bat of Thailand is the world’s smallest mammal weighing in at under a penny
• On the other extreme, Giant Flying Foxes have a wingspan over six feet
• Ever the helpful hunter, a single brown bat can catch up to 1200 mosquitoes in an hour
• A variety of bat in Mexico flies up to two miles high to eat and catch tailwinds that propel it quickly across the sky at 60 mph
• And tip a glass you Tequila drinkers – without the pollen carried on neighboring bats, the agave plant seed population would be only 1/3000 what it is! Now that would be a DRY desert for sure.

Furry, fast, sometimes fearsome but always free-flying, bats are another member of nature whose Far Out Facts keep us ever-intrigued and attentive.

As for Far Out Facts, this critter is loaded with them!

• Able to hold their breath for an hour
• Can live to be over 100 years old
• Is the most ancient of all living reptiles having survived almost 200 million years
• Young Tuatara have a third eye between the other two which is covered over when it becomes an adult
• Females are ready to mate only once every 2-5 years
• The warmer the soil around the eggs, the higher the likelihood of males hatching. Colder soil leads to more females.
• Tuatara continue to grow until they reach 35 years of age

In a land known for its many Far Out creatures, the Tuatara of New Zealand definitely holds it’s own.

Stay tuned as we discover other residents of this exotic locale to share with our faithful readers!