SUMTER COUNTY, FLORIDA

 

Sumter County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population is 129,752. It has the oldest median age (68.3 years) of any US county and the highest percentage of residents aged 65 and older—at 55.6% in 2014-2018. Sumter County was created in 1853. It was named for General Thomas Sumter, a general in the American Revolutionary War. The county in the past, and to this day by some, is nicknamed "Hog County" most likely because it is home to a large population of wild hogs.

NUTTY NARROWS BRIDGE

The Nutty Narrows Bridge is a squirrel bridge that crosses Olympia Way between 18th Avenue and Maple Street in Longview, Washington. The Nutty Narrows was named by a local councilwoman after the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. It was built in 1963 at a cost of $1,000. Before the bridge was built, squirrels had to avoid speeding traffic by running across the street to eat a nutty feast at an office building and back again to a park with large trees. Designed to look like a mini-suspension, the 60-foot long span is made of aluminum piping covered with a retired firehouse. It is world’s narrowest bridge and also the world’s narrowest animal crossing.

A close-up of the bridge deck with sign

By Avi - Squirrel Bridge - Closeup, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7836304

U.S. SHARK INJURIES VS. BITE INJURIES IN NEW YORK CITY

ANNA CREEK STATION - WORLD'S LARGEST WORKING CATTLE RANCH

Anna Creek Station is the world’s largest working cattle station. It is located in the Australian state of South Australia. Anna Creek station has an area of 9,142 square miles, which is slightly larger than Israel. It is over seven times the size of the United States’ biggest ranch, King Ranch in Texas. Once there was a large workforce of stockmen at Anna Creek, who mustered the cattle on horses. Today, light aircraft are used for spotting animals which are rounded up by stockmen riding motorbikes.

WILD PIGS

Ø  Considered the 6^th smartest animal in the world
Ø  IQ of a 5-year-old human
Ø  Do not sweat
Ø  Extremely poor eyesight
Ø  Hearing similar to humans but don’t hear well while foraging
Ø  Incredible sense of smell, better than dogs
Ø  Piglets gain about 10 pounds a month until maturity. Boars continue gaining weight while sows fluctuate due to pregnancies.
Ø  Boars and Sows disperse, sounders (herd of wild swine) made up of females and their young
Ø  Young males form bachelor groups
Ø  When pigs are foraging all their heads will be to the ground feeding compared to deer herds which typically have one or more sentries

10 HIGHEST KENTUCKY DERBY PAYOFFS

RARE TRIPLE DEAD-HEAT AT ARLINGTON PARK, IL ON MAY 20, 1990

10 FASTEST KENTUCKY DERBY WINNERS

MAN O' WAR'S ONLY LOSS

Man o’ War (March 29, 1917 – November 1, 1947) was an American Thoroughbred who is widely considered one of the greatest racehorses of all time. During his career just after World War I, he won 20 of 21 races. Man o’ War’s only loss came at Saratoga Race Course, where he had a poor start and was beaten by a colt; ---wait for it---named UPSET.

ALL THOROUGHBRED RACE HORSES HAVE THE SAME BIRTHDAY

Every Thoroughbred horse in the Northern Hemisphere has the same birthday. No matter what month a Thoroughbred is born, its birthday falls on January 1. (The universal birthday is August 1 in the Southern Hemisphere). This makes it easier to keep track of Thoroughbred horses’ bloodlines and also makes it easier for racing purposes.

BRACKEN CAVE - SUMMER HOME TO LARGEST COLONY OF BATS IN THE WORLD

Bracken Cave is the summer home to the largest colony of bats in the world. An estimated 20 million Mexican Free-tailed Bats roost in the cave from March to October making it the largest known concentration of mammals. The cave is located in southern Comal County, Texas, outside the city of San Antonio. The 100-foot-wide crescent shaped opening to the cave lies at the bottom of a sinkhole, formed when the roof of the cave collapsed.

BAT BOMBS

Bat bombs were an experimental World War II weapon developed by the United States. The bomb consisted of a bomb-shaped casing with over a thousand compartments, each containing a hibernating Mexican free-tailed bat with a small, timed incendiary bomb attached. Dropped from a bomber at dawn, the casings would deploy a parachute in mid-flight and open to release the bats, which would then disperse and roost in eaves and attics in a 20–40-mile radius. The incendiaries, which were set on timers, would then ignite and start fires in inaccessible places in the largely wood and paper constructions of the Japanese cities that were the weapon's intended target. The bat bomb was conceived by a Pennsylvania dentist named Lytle S. Adams, a friend of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Adams submitted it to the White House in January 1942, where it was subsequently approved by President Roosevelt on the advice of Donald Griffin. By March 1943, a suitable species had been selected. The project was considered serious enough that Louis Fieser, the inventor of military napalm, designed 0.6-ounce and one-ounce incendiary devices to be carried by the bats. A series of tests to answer various operational questions were conducted. In one incident, the Carlsbad Army Airfield Auxiliary Air Base near Carlsbad, New Mexico, was set on fire on May 15, 1943, when armed bats were accidentally released. The bats roosted under a fuel tank and incinerated the test range. More tests were scheduled for mid-1944 but the program was cancelled by Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King when he heard that it would likely not be combat ready until mid-1945.

BAT BOMB CANNISTER

Errant bats from the experimental bat bomb set fire to the Carlsbad Army Airfield Auxiliary Air Based in New Mexico

WHAT DO SMOKEY BEAR AND POTUS HAVE IN COMMON?

The only 2 individuals to have their own zip code are Smokey Bear (aka Smokey the Bear) and the President of the United States.

Smokey Bear is an American advertising icon created by the U.S. Forest Service. In the longest-running public service advertising campaign in United States history, the Ad Council, the United States Forest Service (USFS), and the National Association of State Foresters (NASF) employ Smokey Bear to educate the public about the dangers of unplanned human-caused wildfires. The living symbol of Smokey Bear was a five-pound, three-month-old American black bear cub who was found in the spring of 1950 after the Capitan Gap fire, a wildfire that burned in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico. Smokey had climbed a tree to escape the blaze, but his paws and hind legs had been burned. Local crews who had come from New Mexico and Texas to fight the blaze removed the cub from the tree. Smokey Bear lived at the National Zoo for 26 years. During that time, he received millions of visitors as well as so many letters addressed to him (more than 13,000 a week) that in 1964 the United States Postal Service gave him his own ZIP code (20252). He developed a love for peanut butter sandwiches, in addition to his daily diet of bluefish and trout.

THE GREEN MONKEY - MOST EXPENSIVE HORSE

The Green Monkey (February 4, 2004 – May 2018) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. A descendant of both Northern Dancer and Secretariat, the Green Monkey was sold in 2006 as two-year old colt for the highest price ever paid (current to 2018) at auction for a thoroughbred - $16,000,000.

The colt’s new owners gave him the name because of their connections with the Green Monkey golf course in Barbados, named after the island’s green monkeys. The Green Monkey was officially retired February 12, 2008 after failing to break his maiden (win) in three career starts. The Green Monkey was not a success as a stallion. His best progeny include 2015 Panama Triple Crown winner Monkey Business, and North American black-type winners Kinz Funky Munky and Green Doctor. The Green Monkey was euthanized in May 2018 due to laminitis.