DAVID’S NATURE FUN FACTS:

Not all Owls hoot! The Screech Owl, the most common type of Owl in North America does not hoot.

Common Crows are the smartest birds in most cities. Some people think that they are obnoxious! Crows can imitate other animals, hoot, and eat chipmunks and nuthatches. Great Horned Owls eat crows. No wonder crows dislike them.

It takes a flower to make a fruit... The fruit is the covering for the seed. Therefore the tomato is a fruit!! So why is it considered to be a vegetable?

People like Birds of Prey. The Chickadee is a "bird of prey". It eats other animals, namely insects.

The best name for Hawks, Owls, etc. is Raptor!! This means to grasp or kill with your feet.

There are many different types of snow, just ask an Eskimo. But generally, it takes about 1 inch of rain to make 10 inches of snow!!



Weasels turn white in winter because of the "photo-period", not the snow!! The amount of sunlight that strikes the earth at any one period of time is called the photoperiod. Skunks and Badgers are members of the weasel family. When they eat a Mouse, or a Rabbit, they are not mean, they're just hungry!!. These creatures are predators. Predators are not "bad" animals. How many people do you know that eat meat?!

Great Horned Owls weigh about 5 pounds, and the female is bigger than the male. They nest in the Midwest in January... even in cold weather!!! They sleep when they get the chance, and are more "crepuscular", active at dawn and dusk, rather than "nocturnal". Great Horned Owls eat skunks, etc. and can carry away 3 times their own weight! Most Raptors can carry only 1/2 to 1/3 their own weight.

Some people say "sit still", usually grownups, but they don't realize that it is impossible to sit still. In the Midwest we are moving (spinning) at about 800 miles per hour! At the equator the earth is spinning about 1000 miles per hour!!! And not only that, the earth is traveling around the sun at around 43,000 miles per hour. So if you are dizzy sometimes ... just think!!

A Rat, considered by some to be Unhuggable/Unlovable can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter and tread water for 3 days. So before you judge the Rat, think about the amazing things it can do.

Bats, Little Brown Bats eat primarily Mosquitoes, and can consume 500 in one hour... 6 hours of flight per night is up to 3,000 Mosquitoes. Big Brown Bats eat primarily Beetles... everyone loves "The Beetles". Silver Haired Bats (the only bat with black hair and silver tips) and Red Bats eat moths, whose Caterpillars eat corn and other crops.

Wisconsin is home to 8 species of Bats, all of whom eat insects.
Only 3 species of Bats eat blood and are called Vampire Bats. They live only in Central America and zoos. Vampire bats don't suck blood, they lick it. Also most adults could hold a Vampire Bat in their hands and close their hands and not see the Bat. They are tiny. The tiniest Bat in the world is the bumblebee bat.
In the US there are about 40 species of Bats. In the world there are close to 1000.
Bats do not get stuck in your hair unless you've got bugs in your hair!! Echolocation in bats is so sophisticated that they can detect a human hair. WOW!!!
Bats are mammals... related to humans.... "Hard backbone, hair on its skin, nurses from its mother, and its warm within!" (From "Mammal Song" written by Gerry Axelrod found on The Bat Chorus by David Stokes.)