1. Lightweights–The average Ruby-Throated Hummingbird weighs about 3 grams which is roughly the same as a penny. The Bee Hummingbird of Cuba is the smallest bird in the world and only measures in at around 2 inches and 1.5 grams. Hard to believe they are in the same family as the huge African Ostrich!   My inner nerd calculated that it would take 30,000 Bee Hummingbirds to match a grown Ostrich’s weight.
2. Speedsters–Hummingbirds are small but they have blinding speed. Their wings flap 50 to 200 times per second. This is faster than any other bird species and, like most species, they speed up during times of courtship. Hummingbirds can fly 30 MPH in a straight line and dive bomb intruders at about 60 MPH.
3. World Travelers–The Rufous Hummingbird wins the distance competition with the longest migration of any hummingbird species at more than 3,000 miles from nesting grounds in Alaska and Canada to winter habitats in Mexico. Many Ruby-Throats make a 2,000 mile journey to Central America including, for some, an astounding 500 mile non-stop flight over the Gulf of Mexico
4. Aerial Acrobats–watching a hummingbird in flight is an incredible treat.  They are masters of amazingly quick starts and stops in any direction. Hummingbirds can even fly short distances upside down, a maneuver they often employ when being attacked by another bird.  Their wings sweep in a figure 8 motion (shown in slow motion) while flying.
5.  Tiny But Tough–These tiny little birds establish territories and will fight to keep others away. Hummingbirds will sometimes attack larger birds — even hawks or crows!  And they are oh so bossy. Hummingbirds and make deep-throated guttural sounds mixed in with mouse-like chirps, squeaks and twitters.
6. Micro Parents–As “micro” birds, they use micro fibers in nesting.  They make their nests from plant fibers, plant down, delicate mosses and even spider webs.  Hummingbirds also lay the smallest eggs of all birds. They measure less than 1/2 inch long.
7. Brainiacs–A hummingbird’s brain is 4 percent of its body weight, but is proportionately the largest in the bird kingdom.   Hummers have terrific memories and can remember where they found food from the previous year.
8. Fast Lane Livers–Hummingbirds are metabolic race cars. A hummingbird’s heart beats up to 1,260 times per minute and they take 250 breaths per minute.
9. Hungry, Oh So Hungry!– Hummingbirds eat every 10 minutes or so throughout the day.  They are such active eaters that one may visit as many as 1,000 flowers daily.  A hummingbird must consume approximately 1/2 of its weight in sugar daily.  In some circumstances, a “hummer” can starve to death in a couple of hours.   To make it through the night, they go into a suspended state called torpor – a state in which their metabolic rate is only one-fifteenth that of normal sleep.
10. Living Color–A hummingbird’s color does not really come from pigment.  Instead it comes from iridescent qualities in its feathers.  The light is reflected and a hummer’s bright colors wink on and off, depending on the light source and the angle of the observer.  This allows birds to flash colors when it wants to show off or hide them.

During Garden for Wildlife Month, you may want to attract hummers and have them scooting around the yard. Here is a fine guide on how to make your own nectar, and NWF has some hummingbird-friendly feeders and bird baths. And you can always consider certifying your yard as an NWF habitat online. 

Tornado damage: Photo FEMA

But even as these interviews were occurring, you could see tears on their faces.  They began the interviews with seeming calm.  As they went on, however, their voices began to shake and they welled-up.  Soon they could hardly finish their sentences and could only shake their heads, speechless. This happened over and over as media interviewers traveled about in the aftermath of the twisters. These victims and thousands of people throughout these stricken areas have become text book examples of people in the early throes of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).   And yet, the stunning shock they felt and the piercing pain of their loss and uprooting will largely be glossed over as efforts quickly shift to rebuilding their communities. The problem is, without proper treatment, the PTSD and other related mental problems will only get worse.  Violent weather is becoming a known by-product of climate change and even if climate change is not to blame for this year’s early onset tornado season, it demonstrates what a few degree temperature increase will produce in the years ahead.

A new NWF report says that the damage inflicted by “global weirding” and related violent weather does not stop with loss of property and businesses. The report finds that, in coming decades, 200 million Americans will be figuratively and literally smacked in the face with climate change’s many violent manifestations just like the people we recently witnessed breaking down on National television.

Climate scientists now say that warming trends will trigger significant increases in violent weather, more intense and longer heat waves, larger and more frequent floods, massive wildfires, agonizing crop failures, worrisome water shortages, pest infestations, military conflicts and more.   These will cause mass psychological misery on scale never before seen.  By examining this often overlooked subject, coauthor Lise Van Susteren, MD and I hoped to reveal the human dimension of global warming and how it will have millions of people coping with fear, trauma and loss. Examples include:

Summer heat waves: the physical distress arising from prolonged heat waves is well known.  A 2003 wave heat spell killed 70,000 people in Europe. But psychological distress and aggression also triggered by rising temperatures.  

Coastal and river flooding: these weather and climate related events are especially likely to force people from their homes as we saw when 1 million people were evacuated along the Atlantic coast during 2011’s Hurricane Irene.  There is huge psychic injury from such displacement which could, with rising seas, someday become permanent in low lying areas.   

Post storm distress: Photo: FEMA

Severe drought: the unrelenting day by day despair of watching and waiting for water that doesn’t come will have a singularly damaging impact on the psyche of the people who have depended on Mother Nature’s rainfall for their livelihood. Texas has recently experienced a drought (with accompanying wildfires) the likes of which has not been seen in more than 50 years.

Increased large-scale wildfires: raging wildfires are dangerous and have a particularly savage effect on our psyches by devastating landscapes, wiping out homes and possessions, incinerating wildlife and clogging the air with pollutants that sicken people locally and can travel hundreds of miles to sicken people at a distance. Persistent psychological stress is common, with anxiety reactions recurring from unavoidable re-exposure to the odors, smoke and ash.

New disease threats: higher temperatures favor the formation of ozone which triggers asthma attacks. Anyone who has asthma and parents of children with asthma are familiar with the fears this illness engenders. People die from untreated asthma. Many other fears linked to disease are harder to “nail down.” As malaria and dengue fever and other infectious diseases march northward due to warmer temperatures, inchoate fears of threat and vulnerability drift into people’s consciousness.

The report, funded by the Robert Wood John Foundation, aims to fill a gap in public understanding of the profound mental health implications of the climate threat. It summarizes an extensive body of research showing how people will react to global warming’s many impacts including: widespread experiences of stress, anxiety and depression and even full blown psychotic episodes. 

Tragically, certain segments of American society, such as children, the elderly, low income Americans, and those with preexisting mental health conditions will be particularly hard hit.  And, people living in disaster-prone areas such as along coasts and rivers, in heat-prone urban centers, or places where the economy depends on predictable climate conditions will likewise experience great hardship.  Existing mental health services will be stretched far beyond their current capacity. It calls upon mental health professionals to use their unique skills to help people work through a range of potentially severe psychological responses to global warming’s many approaching human horrors.

Download: The Psychological Effects of Global Warming — And why the U.S. Mental Health Care System is not adequately prepared

Extra-Large Wildlife

Blue whales reach lengths of 110 feet (with females being bigger than males), making them the largest animals to ever live! They are also one of the loudest animals on Earth, songs can reach nearly 200 dB (louder than a jet engine!) and travel for hundreds of miles across the ocean.

For another animal with impressive length, here is a video of a 49 foot long python, being held in captivity in Indonesia. Over the centuries there have been many tales of giant snakes. This 983 pounder tells us the tales were mostly true. In recent years, pythons have become an extra-large threat to the Florida Everglades ecosystem, where pet owners have released the non-native species into the wild.

Similar tales of exotic wild creatures at sea may have been spawned by such as this 2,000 pound, nine foot long loggerhead turtle that, sadly, only came to view because it snagged in buoy cable. NWF and colleague organizations took many needed steps during the 2010 BP Gulf oil disaster to protect loggerheads and other turtle species.

We all know that giraffes are our tallest land animal and that some have reached heights in excess of 20 feet, but the world’s tallest subspecies of giraffe, the Rothschild, is now in danger of extinction.

Scientists exploring Madagascar reported the discovery of what is thought to be the world's smallest chameleon, Brookesia micra, a leaf chameleon. Photo by Glaw, F., et al., PLoS ONE

Extra-Small Wildlife

By contrast, the smallest of reptile was recently discovered in Madagascar: Brookesia micra. It is a tiny leaf chameleon that measures an inch when fully grown.  Recent efforts to inventory wild species in tropical forests are finding hundreds of previously undocumented species, including this little guy who lives in leaf litter and only comes out at night.

Speedy Birds

There are many record-breaking speedsters in the animal kingdom. The Peregrine falcon gets the nod for being able to dive at speeds close to 150 mph, but Siberia’s spine-tailed swift wins the overall prize for flying across the sky at 106 mph.

And while cheetahs are the fastest land animal, able to run at 70 mph, the ostrich is the fastest land bird, having been clocked at about 45 mph.

My favorite speedster may be the Gentoo penguin which can swim at about 25 mph through Antarctic seas. These penguins need their speed and smart maneuvering to keep from becoming food the large predators such as orcas. This two minute video, called Happy Gentoo, shows how this all works for a worn out but clever penguin being chased by a pod of orcas. It has a surprise ending you may like. By breaking a record, the little guy avoids becoming a statistic.

Big Leapers

The highest land-based leaper seems to be the cougar, which can jump straight up over 20 feet. The highest ocean leaper seems be a toss-up between orcas and sharks which can get themselves some 20 feet above the waves.

Southern cricket frogs are one of the best jumpers in the amphibian world, reaching heights of over 60 times their body length (that’s like a person jumping up a 38 story building!).

Eastern Hercules Beetle

Longest Commutes

The arctic tern seems to win in the “longest commute” category with its annual 21,000 mile round trip from pole to pole and the North American caribou does a 5,000 mile round trip on land.

Hercules! Hercules!

Last but not least, rhinoceros beetles–sometimes called Hercules beetles because they possess strength of a herculean proportions–can lift objects 850 times their weight. That would be equivalent to a human lifting 9 fully grown male elephants!

Protect Record-Breaking Wildlife

You can help wildlife – adopt your own record-breaking animal today! >>

Bar-headed geese migrate over Himalyas - Photo: Dan Rhoads, Migrations.

But some creatures have made more extreme adaptations than seem physically possible.  Here are a few examples.

The bar-headed goose migrates over the Himalayan mountain range – the world’s highest. To do this, they achieve heights higher than Mount Everest which is just shy of 30,000 feet. When these geese are flying nearly 6 miles up, they are in what mountain climbers calls the “dead zone” because the oxygen is impossibly thin and the temperatures are 40 degrees below zero. The good news is, however, that the geese can take advantage of the jet stream and a 100 mile per hour tail wind. A special mix of hemoglobin in their blood and an extraordinary tolerance for pain lets them complete the thousand mile trip in fine fashion.

Another high altitude adaptation is by sheer accident. Small spiders and aphids can get swept up from ground level in a windstorm and end up being carried four miles up where they can float, frozen solid, half way around the globe. A rainstorm or some other weather occurrence will eventually carry them back to earth where many will revive!

Some sizable animals are well adapted to the cold including whales, seals and penguins. But one surprising cold water dweller is the 12 foot long bluefin tuna. The bluefin spawns in the tropical waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean but its large size and calorie needs force it into colder waters where food fish are more abundant than in warmer regions. Their blood vessels are specially adapted to let them easily make this hot-to-cold transition.

There are amazing adaptations in desert environments too. The sand grouse of African deserts have an uncanny ability to find thousands of seeds in the sand, each day, that are blown in from distant places during storms. They also fly long distances from their nests to reach drinking water.  The males of the species have specially adapted breast feathers that soak up water at the watering spot so they can carry it miles back to the nest and offer a vital drink to their thirsty young hatchlings.

Big ears seem to make a difference in the desert too and it is not just for better hearing. Desert hedgehogs, foxes and rabbits have large ears that act as panels for the cooling of their blood and bodies. The American jackrabbit is a prime example. Its ear-to-body ratio is amazingly efficient at cooling these animals living in ground temperatures sometimes in excess of 130 degrees.

The dorcas gazelle wins the prize for desert adaptation. It does not drink water at all. It gets all of its moisture by ingesting desert plants and it does not urinate. Instead it discharges small dry uric acid “pellets.”

Many close-to-ground environments are dangerously hot. This can be a problem for birds called plovers that, worldwide, lay their eggs directly on sandy beaches and dune areas. The crab plovers of the Persian Gulf lay their eggs on sand that gets so hot it would literally cook them. But these birds have adapted to the hot surface and dig deep holes where the cooler sand at the bottom is better suited to egg hatching.

Flamingos are well adapted to both heat and the exploitation of quite toxic salt lake sites. They feed on specialized algae that grow in salt (soda) lakes and they nest by building small islands in the middle of waters so caustic that predators will not venture into them. They build these nesting mounds high enough that the wind will not blow toxic salt-laden mist onto the eggs.

Tubeworms - Photo: NSF

Another bird, Temmick’s courser of Africa has learned to take advantage of areas that have been burned over by wild fires. It feeds on the insects that have been baked in the fire and it lays ash-colored eggs that blend in with the burnt environment it prefers.Perhaps the champions of all adapted species live at the bottom of the ocean and congregate around thermal vents that emit water as hot as 600 degrees. The vents are a fairly recent discovery and have shifted some theories about the origins of life itself. These vents support a wide range of unique fish, crabs, shrimp, mussels and huge tube worms that live in water that is often near 150 degrees. What makes these adaptations scientifically amazing is that the vent-supported food chain is not based on sunlight, which is the universal source of life elsewhere in the world. Instead these creatures feed on bacteria that derive their energy from the sulfides the vents emit. They have adapted to an entirely unique food web and demonstrate how life manages to thrive in nearly any environment.

Learn more about how you can celebrate EXTRA-ordinary species during this year’s National Wildlife Week, March 19-25.

Chimp with termite stick: Photo INHS

But, such “in the moment” uses of tools do not really capture the extraordinary and often surprising abilities of some animals to think ahead and use tools in innovative ways.

Nutcrackers, Alarms, Depth Testers, Floss, Nose Guards and More

Crows offer one such example. They have made a clever adaptation to modern society through the use of automobiles. While they surely don’t drive, they have figured out that the crushing weight of a car or truck can crack walnuts and other delicacies. Crows will place their prospective treats on the road and wait for a passing vehicle. They know exactly where the wheels are most likely to fall on the roadway!

Crows, considered by many to be among the brightest of creatures, have also been seen dropping stones into a water pitcher with a narrow neck in order to raise the water level sufficiently to take a drink.

Orangutans have made an adaptation that uses leaves to ward off predators. They don’t shake the leaves at the menace but, instead, make “whistles” from the leaves that make a shrill sound in an effort to scare the threat away.

As a safety measure, gorillas and other apes will approach a body of water with a stick specifically selected to test the depth of the water they would like to cross. They don’t swim so the stick becomes an important survival tool.

In Thailand, macaques (small apes) will use their stealth to pluck hair from the heads of tourists and others and use it to floss their teeth. Adult macaques have been seen applying this tooth cleaning method in elaborate slow motion as a way to teach this dental care to juveniles.

Herons use small shiny fish as lures, credit Jorja Feldman

Dolphins, often considered to be one of the most intelligent of all mammals have been seen pulling off pieces of sponge, wrapping it around their beaks and then using to forage along a sandy sea bottom for food.  The sponge protects their beaks from irritations and abrasions.

Perhaps the most elaborate “tool” user is the bowerbird of Australia.  It collects shiny objects such as bottle caps and pieces of glass to make an elaborate (and wholly attractive) nest that will lure a mate.  Many days will go into the preparation of the nest and only the finest shiny items will be selected.

These insights into how wild creatures innovate and think ahead can help us all to appreciate their extraordinary lives and abilities.

For more EXTRA-ordinary wildlife facts, check out the National Wildlife Week website >>

1. Make a home habitat — NWF can help you create and certify your own habitat at home in your yard or on your deck.  Learn about our Certified Wildlife Habitat program and get started today. Join 150,000 homes with their own certified wildlife sanctuaries.

2. Plant a Tree — NWF can supply your family or local scout group or school with tree planting kits that come complete with lesson plans about trees for kids of all ages. Order a Trees for Wildlife kit.

3. Become a wildlife watcher — Join NWF’s Wildlife Watch team!  Kids and adults across America help us keep track of and record wildlife sightings on line.  You don’t need to be an expert. Start recording species this week!

4. Read with Ranger Rick — Help kids read while they learn about wildlife. NWF offers award winning children’s magazines that are proven to improve their reading skills while getting them more interested an involved with wildlife. You can order these Parent’s Choice Foundation approved publications today: Ranger Rick, Big Backyard and Wild Animal Baby. Ranger Rick also comes with a free online educator’s guide.

5. Volunteer for Wildlife — You can become an official NWF Habitat volunteer! We call them Habitat Stewards and they take special training to learn how to help schools, homeowners, gardeners and others get more involved with gardening for wildlife. Learn more about how you can become and NWF Habitat Steward.

6. Help Support Wildlife Conservation — You can support wildlife during National Wildlife Week by donating or fundraising for conservation and education programs through our special Razoo page.

7. Green Your School — You can encourage your kid’s entire school to be greener. Our amazing Eco-schools USA program offers children of all ages the opportunity to learn about energy and water conservation, recycling and get more involved with outdoor learning and wildlife. You can also create wildlife habitat at your school or place of worship with NWF’s Schoolyard Habitat program.

8. Go on a Nature Outing — And if you want something even easier on National Wildlife Week, you can also help wildlife by getting the kids outdoors for a little fun time at a local park or nature center. Not sure if there is one near you?  Just plug your zip code into our Nature Find locator map and find great outdoor areas and events near you.

Celebrate National Wildlife Week

Our National Wildlife Week website celebrates extraordinary characteristics of 45 wildlife species and has posters, trading cards, lesson plans and more for kids and educators.

Readers are, of course, encouraged to support National Wildlife Federation’s work by making a much-needed contribution to our ongoing campaigns to protect wildlife across America.

Ute Children Learning Science of Phenology

They have different reasons, but the effect is the same – our kids are losing out on essential education concerning the greatest and farthest-reaching environmental threat of our time.

What’s worse is that it is a problem we “adults” are imposing on our kids for the entirety of their lives.  It is surely a fundamental American idea that our children deserve to have the knowledge and tools they will need to handle the risks and opportunities of an uncertain future.  Agreed?  Maybe not!

Defunding Climate Change in the Classroom

In a disturbing twist, the Obama Administration has eliminated or drastically cut back on the few federal programs that exist to provide K-12 students with specific education on climate change and the environment.

Using fiscal austerity as the rationale, the White House has, in its 2013 budget, cut out environmental education grants to schools, nature centers, zoos, aquariums, teacher training programs and more.  The costs of these programs are the equivalent of numerical “rounding errors” in the context of the immense federal budget.

The administration has, nonetheless, axed environmental education programming at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and has scaled back targeted climate change education grant programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF).   Thousands of teachers and millions of students will lose out on the professionally-developed and delivered educational programs these agencies support.  And, despite counter assertions by the White House, there is nothing truly available to replace them.

The sad irony is that the extreme right wing will applaud this move by the Obama Administration because it is what they have unsuccessfully sought to accomplish for nearly two decades.  The elimination of climate change and environmental education in the federal budget has been a basic pillar of climate skeptics and conservative group plans  from the beginning.  Recent revelations in the media about tactics of right wing conservative groups show efforts to increase skepticism through school programs about the validity of climate change science.   But, eliminating federal funding for climate education is an even greater victory for the extreme right wing.

Handicapping the Next Generation

And what of the kids, themselves?  The harsh reality of climate change will present truly unimagined levels risk and uncertainty for the next generation.  Today’s children are being saddled with a lifetime of abrupt changes and challenges including: sea level rise and flooding, dislocations, violent tornados and wildfires, diseases, water and food shortages, the conflicts of war and more.

You would think this to be a good time to pull out the stops and get the next generation prepared and ready, right?   Not really.  And here is why that is morally wrong and strategically shortsighted:

• The weather extremes, natural disasters, and other physical and economic problems associated with global warming will harm our vulnerable children most of all – this has been proven out in disasters, famines, war and every other major national disruption.
• The lack of school-based climate change education will leave our children without basic knowledge and skills on how to understand and handle climate related problems they will be forced to cope with as adults – we give them the mother of all problems but keep them in the dark on it.
• These cut backs will deprive U.S. children of a “leg up” on pursuing solutions to global warming — causing them to miss out on significant economic opportunities as the rest of the world develops innovative new, less green-house gas polluting, approaches to energy and economic development.

Just last year, the House of Representatives tried to eliminate these programs but, fortunately, the Senate restored them and even provided some small increases.

Now, however, the prospects are made much worse with the withdrawal of Administration support.  The Obama White House has placed itself in practical alignment with the former Bush/Cheney Administration which consistently called for the elimination of climate change and environmental education in our schools and zeroed-out these programs with enthusiasm, repeatedly forcing public-interest education organizations into pitch battles on Capitol Hill to restore funding.

If climate change itself is the injury to the next generation, then failing to educate our kids with solid school-based programs has to be the unforgivable insult to their future prospects.

National Wildlife Federation and colleague organizations plan to challenge the Obama White House on this and seek reconsideration of these decisions in next year’s budget — we will be seeking allies to help overcome this strange new alignment of unusual bedfellows.  You game?

Kids Learning About Pika Habitat

The recent revelation that the Heartland Institute was pledged $100,000 in anonymous funds to develop a K-12 school curriculum to inject how controversial climate change science is is just one of these tactics.

It has been alleged, per a set of leaked internal documents, that the Institute, a free-market policy and advocacy organization, is again working to undermine K-12 climate change education. The leaked documents, which Heartland claims were illegally leaked and faked, are not needed to examine consistent tactics used by the extreme right to keep sound and needed climate change education out of America’s K-12 classrooms.

5 Tactics for Mis-Educating Kids About Climate Change

Here are five common tactics that extreme right organizations, such as Heartland, use to keep children from being equipped with the knowledge they will need to cope with the future problems we “adults” are imposing on them.

1. Create Controversy Where There is None

No matter how well-established a complex scientific subject is (human-caused climate change for example) it is still complex!  There will always be fringe theories, factual inconsistencies, and even whacky ideas that run counter the mainstream scientific view.  But, much as an attorney will strive to get a criminal off by planting “reasonable doubt” in a jury’s mind, the extreme right will seek to elevate these fringe theories and minor inconsistencies to the level of full credibility and parity.  These same groups have used this technique, for example, to say that the doctrine of creationism should be given equal time in American science classrooms with the science of evolution.

Though climate change science is settled within the scientific community,  the simple, loud assertion that it remains “uncertain” has a chilling effect on it being used in the classroom and there are thousands of teachers who become nervous about even teaching subjects perceived as controversial.  Moreover, state and school district curricula designers are likewise deterred from promoting climate change education due to the persistent and undeserved cloud of scietific controversy.  Planting seeds of doubt and treating a subject as controversial was a tried and true method used by the tobacco industry during prime smoking and health debates.

2.     Exploit the “Radical Media’s” Inherent Reasonableness

The American media loves to report stories that compare opposing viewpoints.  This is mostly thought of as balanced journalism.  It is taught in journalism schools, is considered professional rigor and is a door to exploitation by the extreme right.  Even when a subject is largely without serious scientific controversy, journalists will often find a contrarian and give his or her viewpoint equal time. We saw this practice in operation for many years with respect to smoking.  Each time a public health agency or university would issue a new study on how smoking contributed to cancer, the tobacco industry invariably appeared in the same article asserting that it was not yet proven that smoking caused cancer.  Climate change science suffers from a bad case of this problem.  Studies done that compare scientific literature to media reports show there is zero disagreement over climate change’s causes in peer reviewed scientific  literature but more than half of all news articles treat this same science as “in doubt.”  It is highly ironic that, for all of the extreme right’s whining about liberal radicalism in the media, it is so completely skilled at capitalizing on the tendency of journalists to want to present both sides of an issue even when there is no real issue.

3. Demonize the Nation’s Hardworking Educators

Principals and teachers are the extreme right’s favorite punching bags.  Instead of seeing America’s 3.5 million educators and school administrators as hard working Americans to whom we have safely entrusted the future of our children for the past two centuries, the right describes them as agenda-driven radicals bent on filling students’ minds with politically loaded dogma.  The alleged Heartland Institute documents say that “Principals and teachers are heavily biased toward the alarmist perspective.”  In reality, America’s principals and teachers are not alarmists.  They are reflective of American society and are made up of all kinds of people with all kinds of religious and political views.  What they share, however, is a desire to provide the most professionally delivered and helpful education possible to our children.  They are also highly responsive to community norms and parent comments and, as such, are not inclined to even teach subjects deemed controversial in that community.  It is true that schools do offer sex education and science teachers will indeed avoid treating creationism as a bonafide scientific subject, but this does not make them crazy radicals.  America’s educators are real people, working in real places and doing the very best they can for our kids.

4. Play the Worried Parent Card

If you want to get American parents riled up, just tell them their kids are getting faulty information and flawed education at school.   This favorite tactic by the extreme right is used to keep climate change or environmental education of any sort out of the classroom.  It portays it as “junk science,” inaccurate, one-side or any of a dozen labels that translate to “bad education.”   Truth is the environmental education community and science educators are rigorous and careful about the integrity of their teaching and the materials they provide.  It has been a decades-long mission by environmental educators to have programs that are fair and accurate, scientifically sound and balanced.  This has been proven, even in Congressional inquiries.  What makes environmental education different from many classroom subjects, however, is a focus on skill development and that includes going beyond education on scientific principles and problems to having students actually learn about solutions.  Most people think of education on problem solving as an educational breakthrough but the extreme right wants parents to think of this as brainwashing radicalism.   The real question: is it kinder to hide information about environmental challenges from our children and keep them in the dark about climate change or to give them the tools to handle it as they takes the reins of society?

5. Paint with the Government Conspiracy Brush

When the extreme right gets really frustrated with a lack of traction for its campaigns to keep climate change and environmental education out of K-12 schools, it resorts to the old “loss of freedom” ploy and describes such educational efforts as signaling a government takeover.  It is always interesting how the concept of providing our youngsters with the tools they need to fend for themselves in an uncertain environmental future is somehow cast as a government conspiracy.  To most, developing self-help environmental skills is a very American idea steeped in the notion of free choice and individualism.

The Heartland Institute is not a lone participant in the extreme right’s war on climate change education and giving our kids a real understanding of what is happening and what can be done about it.  It is unfortunate, but noteworthy, that the Institute and other combatants in the war on k-12 and climate change and environmental education have such deep roots in funding from the fossil fuel industry.

Squidoo.com

2. Squirrels propel themselves in a number of creative ways.  They have been clocked at over 20 miles per hour (a radar gun was used, maybe by bored state trooper?).  And, many have witnessed their ungainly leaps onto swinging bird feeders outside the window.  They are also adept at moving through tree canopies by leaping from branch to branch and can do this for long distances through forests or down the neighborhood street.

3. The champion leapers of all time are flying squirrels which don’t actually fly but rather glide from a high point on one tree to a lower point on a nearby tree.  They glide on wing-like membranes that extend from their front to their rear legs.  Some, such as the flying squirrels of the southern U.S., can glide 90 meters (nearly the length of a football field).   The U.S. flying squirrel is tiny but there are giant flying squirrels in India nearly two feet long with beautiful red coats.

4. Squirrels are natural hoarders and like to bury little bits of food – seeds, nuts, bark – in caches that they can visit later for a snack.  They amaze scientists with their ability to remember where these food caches are.  Even more amazing is that the average squirrel will bury thousands of these during the year.

5. Some people ask about the difference, if any between chipmunks and ground squirrels.  Chipmunks and a species of striped ground squirrel are commonly mistaken for the same animal.  However they differ. The chipmunk has five dark brown lengthwise stripes from the head to its rump and runs with its tail straight up.  Some chipmunks may hibernate while others will continue to be active throughout the winter. The 13-lined ground squirrel has as many lines on its back from head to rump. They have been described as a “peanut with short legs.” They inhabit open grasslands where they feed on equal amounts of animal and plant foods.

6. Gray squirrels across the U.S. inhabit forests but can thrive in residential neighborhoods and are known for raiding bird feeders in winter and summer.  On rare occasions, when a squirrel’s usual food source is scarce, gray squirrels have been known to prey upon insects, frogs and even small rodents.

7. Squirrels do not hibernate, although they have that reputation due to their hoarding behavior.  Tree squirrels have summer “cottages” made of leaves high in the trees and winter homes secreted away in tree holes and hollows in colder months.  The leafy nests they make in trees are called “dreys.”

8. Squirrels are mostly individualists but they have been known to gather together when there is a need.  Observers have noted squirrels teaming up, mobbing and driving off predators such as domestic cats.

UK red squirrel

10. Despite their many fascinating attributes, bird lovers often wish that squirrels would leave their feeders alone and tales of these clever rodents overcoming the best laid plans to keep they away from feeders are many.  Here is a terrific NWF article on the subject: Ten Tips for Outwitting Squirrels.

Fish and Wildlife Service

1. Origin of the Name

The bird really is named after the nation of Turkey.  Early European visitors to the Americas saw the creature and it reminded them of a bird familiar to them back home known as a “Turkey bird.”  It seems that the African guinea fowl made it to Europe in the Middle Ages via Turkey and the similarity to the American bird gave rise to the same name being applied.

2. Other Turkey Tags

Adult male turkeys are called toms and females are called hens. Very young birds are poults and adolescents are called jakes.

3. Patriotic Heads

The wild turkey’s bald head can change color in seconds with excitement or emotion. The birds’ heads can be red, (pink) white or blue.

4. Loud and Fast

Turkeys’ gobbles can be heard a mile or more away and they are fast on their feet with a top running speed of about 25 miles per hour or about the same as a human track star.

5. Quick from the Nest

A young poult is up, out of the nest and walking around searching for food within an incredibly rapid 24 hours.  Turkeys have been known to lay as many as 18 eggs in a clutch so maybe a fast exit is simply to beat the crowd.

6. Arboreal

Wild turkeys sleep in trees.  The birds are usually seen walking so many people are surprised they even fly.  Though they only fly for short distances, they are speedy and hit about 55 miles per hour when going full tilt.

7. Courting

Tom turkeys show courting behaviors much like the peacock with displays of their tails.  Males also use other of their birdlike “junk” to attract hens including a bright snood on top of their beaks and a wiggling wattle under their beaks.

8.  Five Subspecies

Wild turkeys include Eastern, Osceola, Rio Grande, Merriam’s and Gould’s subspecies. There are subtle plumage differences and different ranges that distinguish the birds.

9. A Turkey Group

A group of turkeys — has many awesome and unusual descriptive nouns, including a “crop”, “dole”, “gang”, “posse”, and “raffle.”

10. Viva Mexico

Domesticated turkeys took a circuitous route to America’s dinner tables.  Wild turkeys were first domesticated in Mexico and then exported to Europe only to come back here later.

11. Presidential Pardons

It is said that the first presidential pardon ever given was by Harry Truman in 1947 and it was given to a turkey.  It spurred an annual tradition of allowing two turkeys (one for the Prez and one for the Veep) to be spared each Thanksgiving. In looking into where these spared birds end up, it turns out that some have been taken to Frying Pan Farm Park in northern Virginia and more recently they have gone to Washington’s Mount Vernon.  The domesticated birds are not in terrific health so the spared birds usually die of natural causes in a year or so.   A domesticated bird weighs 25 or more pounds when fully grown but one bird in the UK was weighed in at 86 pounds (about the size of a large German shepherd). It seems turkeys have particularly weak hearts.  A farm near an air station saw their birds drop over when a sonic boom from a passing jet reached them.

12. Back from the Brink

America’s turkeys almost went extinct in 1930 from loss of forest habitat and over hunting.  Recovery efforts, including those by NWF and the Wild Turkey Federation, have been successful over the past 80 years and there are now an estimated 7 million wild turkeys in North and Central America.

As you celebrate Thanksgiving this year and have either turkey or even tofurkey (for non meat eaters), reflect on the rich traditions and interesting attributes of turkeys, their interactions with people, efforts to save them and keep an eye peeled for wattle and snood.

Do you want to help conserve wildlife and wild places? NWF has just launched a new online feature called “Choose Your Cause.” Just click on the cause you care about most and enjoy inspiring stories from folks on-the-ground who are working tirelessly to protect the wildlife and wild places we all love.