Strangest Animals in Every State Part 2

Nature 10 Minutes

Montana: Pronghorn

Often confused for an antelope, pronghorns with their distinctive backward-curving horns belong to a family of mammals all their own. After the cheetah, they are the second fastest land mammal in the world running more than 53 miles an hour according to National Geographic; even babies can outrun humans within a few days of being born. They can also go the distance if they cut down to half that speed. But despite long legs and the ability to achieve a running start, they rarely jump fences instead choosing to go underneath them. The pronghorn warning system is also guaranteed to make young children giggle: When frightened, the hairs on their behinds raises into a white patch that can be seen for miles.

Nebraska: Nine-banded armadillo

Of the 20 species of little-armored ones (the name’s Spanish translation), only the nine-banded armadillo, which can actually have anywhere from seven and 11 bands despite the name, is found in the United States. Once relegated to southeastern states, their range is continually expanding northward and now the bizarre beasts with ossified dermal scutes, keratinized epidermal scales, long sticky tongues, and hairy undersides are often spotted in the Cornhusker State. The insectivore cannot curl into a ball and roll away from danger despite popular belief. Only two types of armadillos can ball up according to The National Wildlife Federation. But it can jump three to four feet in the air, float across rivers by inflating its intestines, hold its breath for six minutes while running across riverbeds, and quickly dig a snug trench to lodge itself in when in danger.

Nevada: Cat-faced spider

Also known as a jewel spider, it belongs to a subset of spiders known as angulates, which can be identified by the presence of two pronounced bumps on the top of its abdomen. Those bumps form the ears of the feline face found on this eight-legged creepy crawler. Sitting with its head toward the ground is this spider’s preferred stance so most of the time the kitty appears upside down. Cat ladies have nothing to fear from this harmless-to-humans fellow.

New Hampshire: Buffalo treehopper

The buffalo treehopper is a tiny green plant jumper that earned its name because the pest appears to have horns and a tail that resemble those of a bison. But the tail is actually just the pointy end of the ridge on its back and the horns are the colored protuberances that come out of the widest part of its head.

New Jersey: Periodical cicada

These red-eyed freaks of nature emerge from living underground, subsisting on tree-root fluids, every 13 or 17 years through chimneys/turrets they build out of mud and immediately shed their skin. Harmless cicadas ascend synchronously in tremendous numbers in spring, often after a light rain. Males band together as a chorus to sing to potential mates and within a couple of months, eggs are laid and the adults disappear once again.

New Mexico: Gemsbok

These guys make the list simply because New Mexico is a strange place to find such a big wild herd. As their other name implies, the African oryx hail from another continent. According to Popular Mechanics, the gemsbok made their way out of Africa in 1969 when a group of 95 was transplanted from the savannahs of Southern Africa to the White Sands Missile Range and the surrounding area of New Mexico to give local hunters a big game target. That group thrived thanks to a lack of natural predators and now number more than 3,000.

New York: Seneca white deer

The Seneca Army Depot, a wildlife sanctuary and military museum built on a 7,000-acre former munitions and nuclear bomb storage facility in the Finger Lakes region, is home to the world’s largest herd of white deer. These ghost deer, a natural variation of the white-tailed species caused by a recessive gene, are not albinos. They are leucistic and therefore lack all pigmentation in their hair, but have normal noses and brown eyes. According to the depot’s non-profit organization’s website, the limited predators and controlled hunting on the defunct base allowed numbers to increase for more than 60 years.

North Carolina: Glass lizard

Abundant in the eastern part of the state, these guys are often mistaken for snakes. But glass lizards are actually legless (usually) lizards because of their head shape, movable eyelids, and external ear openings. Some have retained small stubby useless vestigial legs. The name refers to the tendency of their tails to easily break into several pieces like glass when they drop them to avoid being captured or eaten. It can take years for the tail to grow back and it is almost always smaller than its predecessor.

North Dakota: Spotted skunk

A unique fur pattern makes these skunks stand out in the crowd of sprayers. But the name is a bit of a misnomer as they only have one spot—on the forehead. They are however missing that traditional center white stripe and look more like a weasel. In many other ways, these skunks are like your average backyard intruder, especially when it comes to their defense mechanisms. First comes the warning. There’s front feet stomping, tail raising, hissing, and sometimes a handstand-like position which puts their shooter (aka their tushes) in the air. If that doesn’t work, two glands on the sides of the anus will release odorous oil through nipples.

Ohio: Lamprey

They wwaaaant to suck your blood. Well, maybe not your blood per se, but these aquatic vampires attach jawless disc-shaped mouths to fish in streams and rivers and feast on their blood. According to Ohio’s Division Of Wildlife, seven species including the non-native sea lamprey are found in Buckeye State waters. Sea lampreys also use their gnarly mouths to suction cup and move stones to form a breeding pit. Pits are made and used by the whole community of parasites.

Oklahoma: Ringtail

If you are lucky enough to catch a glimpse of these timid and tiny (usually weighing only a pound or two and are 24 inches in length) nocturnal animals, it’s likely you’ll mistake them for a really pretty housecat, an escaped zoo lemur thanks to oversized eyes and a long ringed tail of 14 to 16 black-and-white stripes, or for a fox because of their pointy muzzle and whiskers. But they are relatives of coatis and raccoons. They are great climbers. According to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, having the ability to rotate their back paws 180 degrees allows them to ascend walls, trees, cliffs, and even cacti. Their ears have also adapted to move independently so ringtails can listen to what’s happening in front and behind them simultaneously.

Oregon: Porcupine

Generally found in the eastern half of the state and occasionally west of the Cascade Mountains according to OregonLive.com, it is best not to mess with porcupines. Covered in up to 30,000 sharp, barbed quills they use for defense, studies show the large, slow rodents are intelligent, able to learn, and have long memories, especially of mistreatment according to National Geographic. If rattling their quills doesn’t scare off predators, they will ram backward into them as the quills cannot be shot out of the body. They do however grow back over time. They don’t ask for trouble and are herbivores, but have been seen chewing on animal bones to sharpen their teeth and intake minerals like salt and calcium to stay healthy.

Pennsylvania: American paddlefish

Don’t call it a comeback. The paddlefish has been here for years—since the Paleozoic era (300 to 400 million years ago) to be precise. Fossil evidence of this long-snouted filter-feeding fish is millions of years old. The paddle, which is longer than the rest of its head and flat on the top and bottom, might be a touch organ or it may help stabilize the fish when its jaw is extended. Strangely, young paddlefish do not have the trademark rostrum. They also have teeth while the adult versions, which can weigh more than 200 pounds, do not.

Rhode Island: Northern snakehead

National Geographic warns about the perils of ignoring this aggressive invasive fish with reptilian coloring, razor-sharp teeth that can tear human flesh, ravenous appetites, and an ability to be amphibious. That’s right, these bad boys cannot only survive on land for three days using a primitive lung above their gills, they can walk on it by rhythmically swinging their muscular bodies and fins back and forth. Also a problem: snakeheads reach sexual maturity by two or three, mate up to five times a year, and can release 15,000 eggs at once.

South Carolina: Sheepshead fish

Sheepshead fish, which can be found in waters from Massachusetts to Brazil, look like a genetic experiment gone wrong thanks to its human teeth. A Scientific American blog post explains that fully-grown convict fish—a nickname inspired by the distinctive black bars running down their silvery bodies—have well-defined incisors at the front of their jaw, multiple rows of molars, and strong grinders at the back. As with humans, this unique combination of choppers allows them to bite into armored prey like clams, crabs, and barnacles.

South Dakota: Least weasel

These guys are pretty darn cute, but they are also cutthroat hunters with huge appetites according to World Atlas. Their wee bodies—usually five to seven inches in length with an inch-long tail —transform when on the hunt for voles and mice. They can narrow their bodies to follow prey into a tiny burrow or hole the size of a wedding ring. Their coats also change color seasonally—brown in summer and white to match the winter snow—to provide better camouflage. Once they find a target, they swiftly latch onto the back of its head and bite through its skull with its very sharp teeth.

Tennessee: Cave salamander

The Tennessee cave salamander, a slimy pale pink creature with a pale belly and bright red feathery external gills, was designated the state amphibian in 1995. On the threatened list, they live in streams found inside caves and sinkholes, according to Tennessee Watchable Wildlife.

Texas: Jaguarundi

Despite its name, the jaguarundi’s closet relative is the mountain lion. It does not share either’s ferocious reputation mostly because the rodent hunter is only 30 inches from nose to tail. They are also born with spots like a leopard but lose them with age. The mini cat that looks more like a weasel than a cougar is common in Central and South America, where it was used as a Pied Piper on small village rat populations, but the Gulf Coast of the Lone Star State is the only place they are found in the states, according to Big Cat Rescue. The often-solitary animals occasionally forage and travel in pairs, communicating with 13 distinct recorded vocalizations.

Utah: Gila monster

These black and ivory, pimply relatives of Komodo dragons have small hidden beady eyes and look like they are missing lips. Fortunately for humans, they spend 95 percent of their time underground and lumber around slowly when they do emerge because they are incredibly venomous. When they bite, poison secreted by their salivary glands is propelled through their teeth by chewing and capillary action into their victim. Pioneers used to believe their breath was toxic, but in an ironic twist of fate, peptides found in their venom have been shown to inhibit lung cancer growth and treat diabetes, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill research.

Vermont: Marten

These mink-like, housecat-sized omnivores were long considered extirpated from the boreal forests of the Green Mountain State despite an attempt to reintroduce them from 1989 and 1991. But Vermont’s Department of Fish and Wildlife started reporting new sightings of the shy guys in 2014. They average 21 to 26 inches long with a third of that length coming from their bushy tails. As agile climbers, they spend lots of time in trees hunting for squirrels and chipmunks, nesting, and birthing their annual litters. It can rotate its hind legs to descend trees headfirst.

Virginia: Assassin bug

This is the kind of insect nightmares are made of—narrow heads, wide abdomens that generally flare upward, “butts” that tip into the air, black bodies with bright red markings, and a terrifying fang that can inflict an intense bite on humans. They earned their names because they move nimbly and rapidly when on the hunt. Powerful front legs pin down insects while a strong beak emerges from its hiding place under the head and repeatedly stabs it like a serial killer. Once dead, it sucks out the insect’s insides.

Washington: Geoduck

The largest intertidal and biggest burrowing clam in the world (as well as one of the longest-living animals) makes its home in the chilly coastal substrates and silts of the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. The valves stay open in adult geoducks because the body and siphons are too large to retract. This defining feature inspired the Chinese to refer to them as elephant trunk clams. It can stretch its neck 24 inches from its body. Geoducks, considered a delicacy in culinary circles, position themselves about 3 feet in the sand and then hang there for 100 years.

West Virginia: Puss caterpillar

Looks can kill in the case of these wooly slugs. It may look furry and soft, but the long brown silky hairs of the puss caterpillar hide hollow poisonous spines that can cause intense pain, swelling, itchy rash, anxiety, fever, muscle cramps, swollen glands, and vomiting, according to the University of Michigan. This makes them the most poisonous caterpillars in the United States.

Wisconsin: Craspedacusta sowerbii

Warning: You might never look at lakes in the same way again after reading about this globular creature Popular Mechanics reports has been sighted numerous time in the fresh waters of America’s Dairyland despite being indigenous to China. But you can exhale as the one-inch Craspedacusta sowerbii, a freshwater jellyfish or hydra relative, has stingers far too small to pierce human skin. If you want to witness them, the best time is August or September in calm shallow waters although inexplicably their numbers vary wildly from season to season.


Wyoming: Wolverine

No, Hugh Jackman doesn’t finish out the list. We’re talking about the largest terrestrial member of the Mustelid family with its broad head, beady eyes, and minor underbite. These beasts are survivors adapted to take on polar vortexes with no need to hibernate thanks to their dark oily fur that withstands frost. Wide feet act like natural snowshoes and upper molars at the backs of their mouths are rotated 90 degrees to allow them to rip meat from frozen-solid carrion. They also have the energy to travel some 15 miles a day in search of food and females practice embryonic diapause, a delayed implantation of the embryo to the uterus months after breeding. Interestingly, when their bundles of joy finally make an appearance, they are pure white.

SOURCE: READER’S DIGEST

















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Published by pat frederick

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83 thoughts on “Strangest Animals in Every State Part 2”

    1. We’ve got the cold back with 21 this morning – low 60’s during the day until Tuesday, with a high of 50 & 40% chance of rain/snow, low of 14, high of 38 on Wednesday; then right back up again into the 50’s & 60’s.

      Liked by 1 person

  11. this was deliberate–and criminal. murder!

    not life without parole–i don’t wanna take care of this entitled thief. death penalty

    Like

  13. she had to submit something…LOL

    Like

  15. sleazy

    FTA

    Swalwell’s attendance raises questions about how a congressman known for facing financial struggles was able to afford tickets that cost at least $10,000 apiece. It could also fuel complaints that Swalwell has used campaign money to fund an elaborate lifestyle. In 2021, a conservative watchdog group accused Swalwell of illegally using campaign funds for personal expenses, citing $20,000 in payments for luxury hotel stays. In December, Swalwell’s campaign paid $1,700 for his stay at the Burj al Arab, a five-star hotel in Dubai.

    Swalwell may have used campaign money to pay a babysitter while he and his wife attended the Super Bowl. The campaign reimbursed Swalwell $540 on Feb. 12, a day after the game, for child care.

    Swalwell, who is perhaps best known for his relationship with a Chinese spy named Fang Fang, is Congress’s most prolific user of campaign money for babysitter expenses. He filed a request with the FEC in 2022 seeking approval to use campaign money to pay babysitters during his foreign trips for congressional business. Last year, an ethics watchdog accused Swalwell of misusing campaign funds after he spent $17,000 on babysitters in the months following the 2022 election.

    Whether Swalwell used campaign money to buy Super Bowl tickets remains unclear. His campaign and congressional office did not respond to requests for comment. But records show the campaign paid $21,626 to the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 6 for “event tickets” for an unspecified fundraising event. Swalwell’s campaign also reimbursed San Francisco 49ers co-owner Gideon Yu on Feb. 8 for $962 worth of “event tickets.”

    https://freebeacon.com/democrats/eric-swalwell-spent-campaign-money-at-super-bowl-50k-on-nfl-event-tickets/

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Benjamin Weingarten
    @bhweingarten

    Tony Bobulinski is taking the fight to Cassidy Hutchinson. A statement from his attorney @jbinnall reads as follows:

    We will see to it that Ms. Hutchinson soon gets her day in court to tell her story under oath in front of a jury. We are confident that when the facts are clearly presented, the truth will prevail. When Ms. Hutchinson loses – which we believe should happen quickly – Mr. Bobulinski looks forward to donating the money judgment, which should include the profit she gained from her book and media appearances, to a children’s hospital in need.
    Tony Bobulinski’s counsel delivers a letter calling for Cassidy Hutchinson to hold and preserve records in connection with a coming defamation suit against her.

    The letter notes in part:

    your client told a far-fetched tale that, when Mr. Bobulinski met with Mark Meadows in Rome, Georgia, at a Trump Campaign rally, Mr. Meadows, under suspicious circumstances, handed Mr. Bobulinski, “…what appeared to be a folded sheet of paper or a small envelope.” This is a bald-faced lie. No such exchange occurred; however, Ms. Hutchinson intended her statement to sensationalize and associate a defamatory implication that some type of unethical conduct occurred. Further, Ms. Hutchinson’s commentary on the meeting, which was simply an exchange of pleasantries during which no business or political discussions took place, associated a defamatory implication that the meeting involved nefarious dealings.

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1761032909434052768.html

    Liked by 1 person

  18. reading more about fani’s response to the cell phone filing. she is claiming that cellphone data like that is NOT accurate enough to determine where wade was. only that he was within 9 miles of the area–iirc

    didn’t the DOJ USE data caching or cell phone data and such to arrest hundreds of J6ers????

    Liked by 1 person

  25. “Not a single mention anywhere in the media yesterday about this. In this photo taken on Feb. 23, 1945, U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi on the Japanese-controlled island of Iwo Jima. Strategically located 660 miles from Tokyo, the Pacific island became the site of one of the bloodiest, most famous battles of World War II against Japan.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. George

      @BehizyTweets

      BREAKING: South Carolina election officials say some voting machines aren’t connecting to the internet so they can’t use them until they do “They aren’t supposed to be connected to the internet!!” –

      @tiffanylloree

      Well said These people gaslighted us for years saying the machines CANNOT be connected to the internet, and now they’re admitting they can’t use them unless they are connected BAN THE MACHINES

      Like

  32. “Tucker Carlson Interviews Steve Kirsch” — This contextual information sets the stage for a recent dialogue between Tucker Carlson and Steve Kirsch, a notable critic of the COVID-19 vaccine and the founder of the COVID-19 Early Treatment Fund (CETF). Tucker Carlson presented the Silicon Valley entrepreneur with a query about the COVID shots that seemed to catch him off guard.”

    Transcript of 2 minute excerpt: (full interview requires payment)

    Carlson asked: “How can world governments kill more than 10 million people and leave some large undetermined number disabled for life — and not say a word about it? Not apologize? Not work to fix it? Not work to make the families whole? I mean, just leave it by the side of the road like a corpse and keep marching? I don’t understand that. How can that happen?”

    Kirsch replied: “Believe me, I’m surprised as well. You know, I can’t get an audience with anybody in the United States Congress. Except for Senator Ron Johnson. Like, I can’t have a dialogue. They won’t talk to me. Nobody wants to know. They don’t want to know the truth. It’s like autism in this country. You know, autism has been around for a very long time. And we’ve known from the statistics that vaccines cause autism. It’s the leading cause of autism. Now, can we even get a discussion about that?”

    Carlson quickly jumped in: “May I? May I ask you to pause that? I mean, the statement you just made is verboten. I mean, no person who wanted to say work at the Atlantic magazine or who takes the New York Times on a daily basis would ever say something like that because you’re not allowed to say that. Tell us why you say that?”

    Kirsch responded: “Because it’s true. I’ve collected my own data just independently to look at the connection between vaccines and autism. And it’s amazing. I had over 10,000 parents, tell me about their kids. And I said, hey, tell me about your kids. Tell me how many vaccines they got, and tell me if they have autism. Tell me if they have ADHD. You know, just tell me about your kids. Tell me about the medical conditions. And tell me about how many shots they get. And it’s a straight line. The more shots you get, the more likely you are to get autism. And it’s the same thing for ADHD. It’s the same thing for PANDAS. It’s the same thing for autoimmune diseases. I mean that it is basically the more shots you get, the less healthy the kids are.”

    Video: https://vigilantfox.substack.com/p/tucker-carlson-poses-an-unexpected

    Liked by 1 person

  33. “At CPAC, Trump decries Democrat border policies: ‘Want to destroy our country or they’re stupid’—Trump took the stage at CPAC on the same day as the South Carolina primary.”
    By Charlotte Hazard, Just The News
    Published: February 24, 2024 2:51pm

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Former President Donald Trump used his speech Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Convention to assail Democrat border policies amid growing dissatisfaction with illegal immigration, suggesting the policies were part of an effort to destroy America.

    “Either they want to destroy our country or they’re stupid,” Trump told a raucous crowd at a suburban Washington hotel. “And I don’t think they’re stupid because anybody that can cheat on elections like they do is not stupid.”

    Trump made his comments just hours after it was revealed that a Venezuelan man accused of killing a Georgia university student had illegally crossed into the country in 2022 and was given parole by the Biden administration a year later. Trump said some of the illegal immigrants crossing the southern border are prisoners who make U.S. criminals look “very nice” by comparison.

    “The only good thing is, they make our prisoners and our gang members seem look like very nice people by comparison,” he said. “All of the sudden we’re starting to like our prisoners and our horrible, violent criminals because they’re nicer than the people that are flowing in.”

    The Homeland Security Department revealed last month that the backlog of tracking and vetting illegal aliens inside the U.S. has nearly doubled under Biden to over six million while arrests of suspected terrorists and violent offenders have also exploded.

    “They’re [illegal migrants] coming from Asia. They’re coming from the Middle East. They’re coming from all over the world,” Trump said.”

    Liked by 1 person

  43. Liked by 1 person

  45. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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