Strange but True

Your guide to all the unusual, unique, and unbelievable stuff that goes on in nature.

Because its eyes are on the sides of its head, an eastern cottontail has a nearly 360-degree field of vision. If it were on a pitcher’s mound, it could see every base. But it does have a tiny blind spot: right in front of its twitchy, little nose.

You wouldn’t need a scuba tank if you had lungs like a river otter. To catch fish and crawdads, these air-breathing mammals can hold their breath and stay underwater for up to eight minutes.

American beavers discharge a sweet-smelling brown goo from their backsides. They use the goo to mark the boundaries of their home territories. Humans use it as an ingredient in some artificial vanilla flavorings.

In January, winter stoneflies crawl out of streams and trudge around in the cold to find a mate. Snow and ice can’t cool off the romance of these love bugs. Chemicals in their bodies keep them from turning into bugsicles.

Ducks have up to 12,000 muscles used to move feathers. A duck may fluff its feathers to trap heat, streamline its feathers to dive underwater, or raise its feathers to look big and strong to attract a mate.

Snuggle buddies and snow brrrrrds: When winter turns shivery, eastern bluebirds crowd into cavities and huddle together for warmth. Chickadees, on the other wing, like to sleep alone, relying on half-inch-thick coats of fluffy feathers to survive.

Super-sized snack attack: Although full-grown bobcats rarely weigh more than 40 pounds, the ferocious felines have, on rare occasions, been known to take down adult white-tailed deer, which can weigh over 100 pounds.