It's been well established that some fungi on Earth are extremophiles in wildly inhospitable conditions. Astronauts have even discovered flourishing fungi in space. How does a fungus survive off-world? We'll… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
Kristen Holder
Follow me on:
Kristen Holder is a writer at A-Z Animals primarily covering topics related to history, travel, pets, and obscure scientific issues. Kristen has been writing professionally for 3 years, and she holds a Bachelor's Degree from the University of California, Riverside, which she obtained in 2009.
After living in California, Washington, and Arizona, she is now a permanent resident of Iowa. Kristen loves to dote on her 3 cats, and she spends her free time coming up with adventures that allow her to explore her new home.
The salmon migration, also called a salmon run, is an annual event where various salmon species return from the ocean to their freshwater spawning locations. Why do salmon migrate? The… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
There are around 1800 migrating bird species on the planet, and a sizeable portion of these species live in the Americas. This means they traverse the American continents on journeys… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
Most cultures have a way of explaining the existence of the Sun. In some cultures, this understanding is achieved through anthropomorphic representation and association. What real-world animals are associated with… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
Antarctica is inhospitable and freezing cold, and the presence of ice on most of the continent leaves less than 1 percent of the continent open to plant growth. However, this… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
Understanding the atmospheres of distant planets is not an easy task, but it’s still something that astronomers do so they can better understand the universe. In 2015, a planet was… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
In the Appalachian mountains, a special brand of folklore has developed because of the unique and isolating environments produced by the mountain range that stretches down the eastern United States.… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
Originally, the terms Western and Eastern Worlds were used as descriptive directions before Europeans realized the Americas existed. This evolved into political and cultural concepts that still exist today. As… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
While a lot of people think evolution happened in a straight line, it didn’t. The path from a single-celled organism to human beings is a complicated bush full of twists… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
There are more than 7000 languages on Earth, however, most of the population only speaks a bit over 20 of them. As globalization continues, languages will continue to streamline and… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
Daylight Savings Time (DST) is the period between Spring and Fall when the clocks are set forward 1 hour. When this happens, afternoon light becomes longer and mornings become darker.… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
If English is your first language, certain languages will be much harder to learn than others. While the difficulty of language acquisition is a personal experience, it is possible to… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
Today, most museums make part of their collection available to the public. However, this wasn’t always the case. What are the 12 oldest museums in the world both past and… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
In Southern California, tall mountains loom above the eastern portion of the state. Towering over the surrounding desert, one of the tallest mountains is in the San Jacinto Mountains. Just… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
In the United States, the Interstate Highway System is a series of roadways with each road passing through multiple states. These roads form a grid that allows easy vehicular access… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
Rivers make great natural boundaries, but they aren’t as static as they seem. What happens when rivers change? Why is Iowa’s Carter Lake in Nebraska? Where Is the City of… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
It may seem strange, but it’s not an unreasonable ask; do hummingbirds attack humans? Hummingbirds seem like cute little birds to most people, but don’t let their appearance fool you!… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
Heatwaves are becoming a lot more common than they were in the past with 2023 breaking temperature records across the world. The summer of 2023 was the hottest ever recorded… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
In 2009, the term king tide was coined in Australia. What is a king tide? Their causes, frequency, and more are discussed now. What Exactly Is a King Tide? The… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
High-end grocery stores stock lots of cheeses with price tags that tower over the usual blocks of cheddar, swiss, and mozzarella in most American refrigerators. What cheeses cost the most?… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
Historically, pigeons were commonly raised as a food source. The term squab refers to a young pigeon ready for human consumption, but can you eat pigeon eggs? We’ll go over… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
No language has an unwavering set of rules, and anomalies in word usage often arise. This is especially common if words are borrowed from other languages. So, is it cacti… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
There is a huge push by native cultures to begin the process of renaming the Pacific Northwest. Should the waters and volcanoes regain indigenous names? Controversy is rife around the… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
Discover the 5 most popular religions in the world and how old each is in this article! Scholars find that defining a belief system as a religion can be dubious,… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
While there is a wide array of daffodil cultivars, this flower is one of the few that doesn’t have different interpretations based on its colors. The variance in how people… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
The most isolated place on Earth is in the Pacific Ocean. Where is it, and does anything ever happen out there? We’ll discover the most remote spot in the Pacific… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
The number of migrating salmon entering some freshwater rivers from the Pacific Ocean is dwindling. Are predatory animals causing this? Can we blame sea lions? Are they eating all of… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
The world seems divided into cat and dog lovers, but what if you could have the best of both worlds? We’ll review 10 dogs that look so much like cats… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
Edible paw paws (Asimina triloba) grow on trees, and they are North America’s largest fruit. However, they aren’t cultivated for mass distribution because they ripen quickly and bruise easily. Where… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
Though the Salton Sea is the biggest lake in California, it isn’t well known to most tourists. How did such a big body of water end up in the desert,… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
More than 250 thousand people in the USA are living their lives off of the grid, but is it illegal to live off-grid in the United States? It depends…living off-grid… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
In this article, we’ll go over 59 great Chinese cat names and their meanings. All of these names are commonly used in China! They aren’t randomly translated words, and they’re… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
Natural languages evolve gradually as cultures mix in their own pockets of the world. While it’s hard to pinpoint the exact beginning of a certain language because of its gradual… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
There are over 400 kinds of oak trees on Earth, and about 90 of those grow in the United States. They’re undeniably beautiful but they sometimes aren’t a good choice… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
There are all kinds of pet foods on the market, and most of them are made with products that are not allowed in human food. Does that mean that pet… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
Blue Buffalo dog foods are General Mills products produced by Blue Buffalo Pet Products, Inc. Originally, the brand started as a family recipe for a dog named Blue with cancer.… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
On Earth, all precipitation is water. However, that isn’t the case on other planets. We’ll discover why astronomers believe it rains diamonds on Neptune… yes, diamonds! Defining the Planet Neptune… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
Sub-Saharan countries in Africa are projected to increase in population faster than the rest of the world. Over a billion people are expected to become part of the African population… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
Most places in the United States expect uncomfortable temperatures in the summer. However, some states burn hotter than others. What’s one of the hottest places in the United States? Let’s… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
The Klamath River Basin in California and Oregon has been obstructed by different dams for over 100 years. The first dam was constructed in 1908, and the last was erected… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
Even though California has a reputation for being sunny, it is also prone to devastating floods. In 1862, a flood so bad turned the Central Valley into a lake. Most… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
In 1792, Hood Canal was named after a member of the Royal Navy named Admiral Lord Samuel Hood. Today, Hood Canal shares this namesake with Mount Hood and the Hood… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 months ago
While pigeon meat isn’t as popular as it once was, North Americans loved squab so much that they ate the passenger pigeon into extinction by the early twentieth century. However,… Read More
By Kristen Holder 8 months ago
There is hard proof that humans have augmented their nails for at least 7000 years. In Ancient Egypt, China, and India, women used henna to stain their fingernails, and our… Read More
By Kristen Holder 8 months ago
Iowa doesn’t have a reputation as a retirement state even with its affordability. Despite this, there are 8 secretly amazing places to retire in Iowa. We’ll check out these locales… Read More
By Kristen Holder 8 months ago
What are the 11 oldest languages in the world still used today? It depends on how you define a living language. The problem with dating today’s extant languages is that… Read More
By Kristen Holder 8 months ago
How smart are turtles? Everything we know about their intelligence is discussed in this article. Turtles are much different than humans. They spend a lot of time in the water,… Read More
By Kristen Holder 8 months ago
Every year, around 20 people are fatally struck by lightning in the United States. However, many more cows around the world are killed by lightning annually. How often does lightning… Read More
By Kristen Holder 8 months ago
More than 6 million Indigenous Americans live in the United States, and they account for around 2 percent of the American population. However, less than 15 percent of Native Americans… Read More
By Kristen Holder 8 months ago
People give flowers to others on many occasions. As a result, this means that some flowers are specifically associated with death. The death of an important individual is always an… Read More
By Kristen Holder 8 months ago
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more about us & read our affiliate disclosure.
A-Z-Animals.com is Copyright © 2008 - 2024 A-Z Animals