Jessica Crabtree

A beaver can hold its breath underwater for 45 minutes.

Vultures can fly for six hours without flapping their wings.

The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards.

A honeybee can reach speeds of 15 mph; a dragonfly can fly up to 36 mph.

There are more caribou in Alaska than there are people.

Male kangaroos are known as boomers and females are known as flyers. It is impossible for a kangaroo to walk backwards.

The starfish is the only animal that can turn its stomach inside-out.

Porcupines float in water.

Thanks to Snapple.com for these wildlife tidbits (yes, I’m a huge Snapple fan!) They print these “Real Facts” on the inside of the lids. See their website for more.

Photo from National Geographic.

Mexican wolves are the rarest species of wolf in North America. They are a subspecies of the gray wolf, or timber wolf, with the most obvious distinctions being the longer ears, rounder head, and short tail.

They traditionally ranged through the American Southwest and northern Mexico. The surge of human population that accompanied white settlement and development of the region led to the decline of natural prey populations. When the wolves turned to livestock as a food source, they were essentially hunted to extinction. By 1950 none were known to exist in the wild.

Today about 300 exist in captivity. Attempts have been made recently to reintroduce them into the wild, but they remain a highly endangered species.

Lobos of the Southwest: The Official Site of the Mexican Gray Wolf http://www.mexicanwolves.org/
A beautiful website about a truly beautiful animal.

(Click for full-size)

This photo from Wikimedia Commons is in my opinion one of the best wolf pictures ever. The composition is perfect and I think it does a wonderful job of capturing the animal’s persona. Wolves are a favorite icon and images of them are a dime a dozen – but every now and then you run across a genuinely stunning shot like this one. Thanks to April King for this great photo.

Click for larger view.
Image from Photos8.com – free stock photography
(yes, completely free – a highly recommended source!)

Photo from National Geographic.

The other definition of “taking the family out for fast food”…

Photo from National Geographic.

Courtesy of the National Wildlife Federation 2009 Photo Contest.

Image from National Geographic.

Image from National Geographic.

First released by the BBC as “A Farm for the Future” in 2009, this film produced by gifted wildlife filmmaker Rebecca Hosking takes a frank and forthright look at nature preservation, the energy crisis, and modern consumption.

Raised on her family’s wildlife-conscious farm in Devon, England, she explores the stark realities of our dependence on oil and its consequences for the near future. The film embarks on a journey to find whether alternative farming methods can combine efficient food production with nature conservation.

This is definitely one of the best documentaries I’ve seen. It is excellently researched and well-presented, and stands apart from others by going beyond mere alarm-raising and presenting practical, ingenious solutions from forward-thinking problem solvers. As a bonus, the cinematography of Britain’s rural wildlife and the stunning landscape of Wales’s Snowdonia region is breathtaking.

I strongly urge you to see this film – you will never think of the food you eat, our environment, or our modern lifestyle in the same way again.

The whole program runs around 50 minutes, which you can watch right here (thanks YouTube!)

Part 1

See the other four chapters: (continue reading…)