Strange but True

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

To get a girlfriend, eastern newts wiggle their tails and shuffle around underwater. During this courtship “dance,” males release perfumes into the water, which female newts find irresistible.

Peregrine falcons usually nest on cliff ledges. But thanks to a surplus of pigeons — one of the falcon’s favorite foods — peregrines also nest atop skyscrapers and utility towers in cities like St. Louis and KC.

The buzz on mosquitoes is that they’re nothing but bitey and bad. But that’s not entirely true. Mosquitoes transport pollen between flowers, helping plants make seeds. They’re also food for birds, bats, and other animals.

When judging Missouri’s longest leapers, mountain lions win the prize for bounciest — and pounciest — mammal. These rare visitors to the Show-Me State use powerful leg muscles to jump 20 feet straight up or 40 feet forward!

Snakes don’t have external ears, but that doesn’t mean they can’t hear. A snake’s jawbone connects to organs inside its head that are similar to our inner ears. When the jawbone feels vibrations, the snake’s inner ears hear a slightly muffled sound.

Diving beetles spend a lot of time underwater hunting for small fish, tadpoles, and aquatic insects to eat. To stay under longer, the air-breathing insects trap a bubble of air under their wings and use it to breathe while submerged.

A bat’s wings are made up of the same bones as those found in your hands. On a bat, a thin but tough scrap of skin stretches between the bones. To fly, bats wave their hands as if they’re saying “howdy!” over and over again.