Tarantulas are the Arizona’s largest spiders. Although their bite can be painful, it is not life-threatening. Female tarantulas can grow up to 4 inches across. Males are considerably smaller. What may surprise you is their longevity. Female tarantulas can live for 20 years or more.
“Dust Devil” is the common name for the tornado like plumes of dust you often see spinning in the Arizona deserts on hot days. Typically the wind speed in these little twisters is only about 25 mph. The worst damage they do is to spread dust and trash along their path. Occasionally they can pack quite a wallop. The wind speed in some dust devils has been measure at 100mph and they have been reported to have torn the roofs off of buildings.
Florida calls itself the Sunshine State, but that honor really belongs to Arizona. Of the US cities with the most sunny days, Yuma and Phoenix, Arizona are numbers 1 and 2. On the average, Yuma enjoys 242 sunny days each and Phoenix has 211. Tucson, Arizona is number 7 with 193 sunny days in a typical year. Even Flagstaff, Arizona, located in the cool mountain pines is in the top 30. The first time a Florida city makes the list is Apachicola, which ranks 52nd.
Almost all Arizona summer lawns consist of Bermuda grass. It is one of the few grasses able to withstand our searing summertime temperatures and arid conditions. However, despite what most think, this resilient grass did not come from the balmy island of Bermuda. Bermuda grass came from Africa. According to sources, it was first introduced in America back in 1751, years before the United State was even formed. Back then it was often used in the southeastern US as a forage grass. Later it became popular on lawns, golf courses and parks.
One of the features of Bermuda grass is it’s ability to spread. You can plant a few sprigs of it in an area and soon have a complete lawn. How fast does Bermuda grass propagate . One study determined that a single square meter, if provided with water and suitable soil, and allowed to spread, would cover an area equal to 50% of the land mass of the entire world within one year.
You’ve been bitten by a venomous Gila Monster and it retains its vice-like grip on hour hand. How do you get it off? The jaws of this creature are incredibly strong. Trying to pull the jaws open or pry it off is often unsuccessful. The longer you leave it on, the more damage it will do.
There are several old-wives tales that you some suggest. For example, some say that it will release itself if it hears the sound of thunder. Walking around with a venous creature attached to your hand, waiting for the next rainstorm does not side like much fun. There is another tale says that all you have to do is wait until sunset. The creature will let go when it sees the setting sun. Both of these old wives-tales are just that, old-wives tales, and will not work.
Expert recommendations I have found include the following:
The best advice is to not get bit in the first place. Gila Monsters cannot bite you unless you get close to it. If you find one of the creatures, observe it from a safe distance.
Where is the world’s largest rose bush. Right here in Arizona. It is located in Tombstone, the “Town Too Tough to Die.” The rose bush “Too Tough to Die” is of a variety known as Lady Banks’ rose.
It was believed to have been planted in 1885 by Mary Gee, a boarding house owner, and continues to thrive today. It covers 8,000 square feet and the trunk has a circumference of 13 feet.
It is located at the Rose Tree Museum and Books in Tombstone, Arizona (520-457-3326).
We all know the Grand Canyon is big. That is obvious just by looking at it. However, few people really understand how big it is. The Grand Canyon is about 18 miles across at its widest part and averages between 4,000 and 6,000 feet deep. To put that in perspective, recall that a mile is 5,280 feet. Its length is also truly amazing. It is over 280 miles long. The National Park that encompasses much of the canyon covers 1.2 million acres. Compare that to Yosemite National Park is only about 760,000 acres in size.
The largest fish caught in Arizona, according to official records kept by the Arizona Fish and Game Department was a flathead catfish which was 53 inches long. It was caught at Roosevelt lake in 2006. The record fish, measured by weight, weighed in at a whopping 74 pounds. It was also a flathead catfish. It was caught at Laguna Dam in 1998.
When one thinks about volcanoes in the US, states in the Northwest, like Washington or Alaska, come to mind. However, Arizona might be the next location of America’s next big eruption.
The San Francisco Volcano Field is an 1800 square mile area, with Flagstaff near its center. Almost 600 volcanic cinder cones are located within the area. The most recent eruption was only 900 years ago, which is a”blink of an eye” in geologic time. Scientists expect more eruptions to occur in the area.
Sunset Crater, one of the more prominent, and best preserved, of these, is a National Park. If you haven’t been there, it’s well worth a visit.
Source: Volcanoes of Northern Arizona by Wendell Duffield.
When threaten by a predator,Horned lizards can squirt a stream of blood from their eyes. This it done to try to startle and distract the predator, so that the lizard can attempt to make an escape. What is amazing is that it can shoot this blood as much as six feet.
Some people mistakenly call these critters horned toads or horny toads, and falsely believe them to be some species of toads. They are not toad but true lizards.
Image courtesy of National Park Service
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