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- Ruby-throated hummingbirds can fly up, down, forward, backward, sideways, and even upside-down. The tiny birds can streak toward a flower at 25 mph and come to a dead stop in a space no longer than your pointer finger.
- Better than a bulldozer: Woodchucks dig a network of burrows and underground chambers in which to live. Their tunnels may stretch almost 80 feet, and the woodchuck may remove nearly 700 pounds of soil during construction.
- Why so blue? During mating season, the inside of a double-crested cormorant’s mouth turns bright blue. When a female approaches a male’s nest site, he spreads his beak wide open to show off his sky-colored pie hole.
- There’s a good reason why zebra swallowtail butterflies usually lay only one egg on each pawpaw plant: The baby caterpillars will happily eat any of their siblings that crawl too close.
- Common merganser babies often hitch a ride on their mother’s back as she swims through the water. This offers the little fluff balls some safety from fish and other underwater predators.
- Dutchman’s breeches contain druglike chemicals. Cattle that eat too many of these spring-blooming wildflowers often foam at the mouth and stagger around as though they were drunk.
- Like four peas in a pod: Nine-banded armadillos always give birth to four — no more, no fewer — identical babies, either all boys or all girls. It takes a couple months for baby ’dillos to develop the protective armor adults possess.
Also In This Issue
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Is that a beaver or a Labrador retriever? Get to know Missouri’s furry water critters.
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Wild turkeys have a language all their own. We’ll help you learn to speak it.
And More...
This Issue's Staff
Bonnie Chasteen
Les Fortenberry
Alexis (AJ) Joyce
Angie Daly Morfeld
Noppadol Paothong
Marci Porter
Laura Scheuler
Matt Seek
David Stonner
Stephanie Thurber
Cliff White
Les Fortenberry
Alexis (AJ) Joyce
Angie Daly Morfeld
Noppadol Paothong
Marci Porter
Laura Scheuler
Matt Seek
David Stonner
Stephanie Thurber
Cliff White