July is in full swing! The days are long and lazy, the evenings are warm, and the air is buzzing with the sounds of summer. It’s the perfect time to be outside, and if you look closely, you’ll realize we’re surrounded by some of the most incredible athletes, engineers, and communicators on the planet.
This month, let’s pull back the curtain on a few of our wild neighbours and discover the amazing “fun facts” that make them so extraordinary.
The Hummingbird: The Marathon Flyer
That tiny jewel of a bird zipping around your flowers is more impressive than you can imagine. A Rufous Hummingbird, which we see here on the west coast, migrates all the way from Mexico to Alaska and back every year. If you scaled that journey up to human size, it would be like circling the Earth 13 times!
Fun Fact: A hummingbird’s heart beats up to 1,260 times per minute during flight. To survive, it has to eat about half its body weight in nectar and insects every single day.
The Beaver: The Ecosystem Engineer
The beaver isn’t just a Canadian icon; it’s a master architect. When a beaver builds a dam, it’s not just creating a safe, watery home for its family. The pond that forms behind the dam creates a brand new, thriving wetland habitat that can support hundreds of other species, from dragonflies and frogs to moose and songbirds.
Fun Fact: Beaver teeth are fortified with iron, which makes them incredibly strong and gives them their distinctive orange colour. Their teeth also never stop growing, so they have to keep chewing on wood to keep them filed down.
The Firefly: The Living Lantern
Is there anything more magical than watching fireflies (or lightning bugs) light up a field on a warm July evening? That enchanting glow is the result of a chemical reaction inside their bodies called bioluminescence. It’s almost 100% efficient, meaning nearly all the energy is released as light, not heat.
Fun Fact: Each species of firefly has its own unique flashing pattern. The blinking lights are a silent, secret code used by males and females to find each other in the dark. It’s a language of light.
The Dragonfly: The Apex Predator of the Sky
Dragonflies have been around since before the dinosaurs, and they are some of the most skilled fliers on Earth. They can fly straight up, down, backward, and even hover like a helicopter. Their huge compound eyes give them nearly 360-degree vision.
Fun Fact: A dragonfly is an incredibly successful hunter. It catches its prey (like mosquitoes and other small insects) mid-air with a success rate of over 95%. For comparison, a lion’s success rate is only around 25%.
This summer, as you’re out enjoying the season, take a moment to look for these amazing creatures. Every flash, flutter, and splash tells a story of incredible adaptation and survival.