Most of us associate a love of sweets with mammals. However, birds love a sugary treat as well as it provides a quick energy boost during their travels. A food… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
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.
Most of us associate a love of sweets with mammals. However, birds love a sugary treat as well as it provides a quick energy boost during their travels. A food… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
When a tropical storm in the Atlantic Ocean grows beyond a certain point, it becomes a hurricane. To make sense of these storms, a list of predetermined names is used… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
Naming your dog is a big task. Making a good name choice is important because you’ll hear the name daily for the rest of your dog’s life. Do you have… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
While the mention of March elicits ideas of spring sunshine and the first blooming trees, it’s also still a snowy time of year in some spots. Where can you see… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
Carbon is a common element in the universe that has a unique mass like all of the other elements on the Periodic Table. What is that mass, and how do… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
Dr. Carl Sagan once stated that the absence of evidence does not mean that evidence is absent. Thought processes like this give hope to people seeking to find things that… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
Goldfish (Carassius auratus) are cheap and proliferous which means that most people in the United States will own one at one point in their lives. Unfortunately, most people don’t know… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
There are an overwhelming number of cities in the world, and how a city is defined changes by country. In this article, a city is a population center with over… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
Pecans (Carya illinoinensis) are a familiar American staple, and most people living in the United States encounter them at least once per year in holiday pecan pies. What’s it going… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
Most people who haven’t been to the Midwest of the United States imagine a perfectly flat landscape covered in farms. While this is true in certain swaths of the Midwestern… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
Platypuses (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) are endemic Australian animals that are icons of the continent. They are often depicted as cute animals on merchandise like stuffed animals or posters, but are they… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
Roses are a popular bouquet flower, but did you know that their number can hold an individual significance? Let’s look at the meaning of the number of roses in a… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
In August 2023, devastating fires affected the island of Maui in Hawaii. Over 100 people died as a direct result of the blaze that swept through Lahaina on August 8.… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
Taylor Swift is a proud cat mom in her 30s who’s vocal about how much her feline clan means to her. She also reached billionaire status in 2023 and has… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 months ago
Not many animals can recognize their reflections in a mirror. Even humans don’t gain the ability to recognize themselves in reflections until they’re over a year old. Gorillas, dolphins, and… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 months ago
About eighteen different species of hummingbirds live in the United States, and lots of Americans look forward to seeing these little birds in their backyards. Are bird enthusiasts technically dinosaur… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 months ago
There is nothing more romantic than giving your partner flowers on an anniversary. While each anniversary has a corresponding flower, nothing says “I Love You,” quite like a bouquet of… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 months ago
Foodies and hunters know that there are many types of consumable meat outside of what’s normally available at the supermarket. Animals like pigeons, bears, kangaroos, alligators, and others all qualify… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 months ago
In 1999, a clay Aztec death whistle was discovered in a grave in the Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl Temple in the Tlatelolco archaeological site in Mexico City. A skeleton missing its head had… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 months ago
Crab-like animals have evolved into existence at least five unrelated times. It’s an intriguing enough phenomenon that scientists call it carcinization. Here’s why animals keep evolving into crabs, discussed in… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 months ago
The coldest natural place on Earth is Antarctica, where temperatures as low as -128.6 degrees Fahrenheit have been recorded. However, this isn’t even half as cold as things can get… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 months ago
People love to eat seafood, and various crab species are local specials around the world. Coconut crabs are famous for being huge, but are they edible? Can humans eat coconut… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 months ago
Sometimes, people see what are called earthquake lights when a major seismic event happens where they’re located. Scientists haven’t put their finger on exactly what they are, and it’s hard… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 months ago
Ice sheets are important to most ecosystems in the world because of their interconnectivity with the ocean. But what is an ice sheet? How many ice sheets are left today?… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 months ago
The Van Meter Visitor is a mysterious Iowan cryptid whose story began in the first decade of the twentieth century. Its legend endures today, and sightings or hoaxes still occur… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 months ago
Salmon undergo huge migrations to the sea as juveniles and back up into their home streams to spawn at the end of their lives. As they travel, their bodies change.… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 months ago
There are 4 migratory flyways for birds running north to south across North America. One of these flyways runs up the length of the East Coast. What is the Atlantic… Read More
By Kristen Holder 5 months ago
North America has four migratory bird flyways, one running down the continent's middle. These flyways are generally used to connect birds with their preferred northern nesting grounds and their southerly… Read More
By Kristen Holder 5 months ago
A lot of birds follow weather conditions that are ideal for their survival, so they travel south in the Fall and head back north in the Spring. As they do… Read More
By Kristen Holder 5 months ago
Antarctica is a polar continent at the bottom of the planet in the Southern Hemisphere. It is the coldest and driest continent on Earth, and its ice sheet is so… Read More
By Kristen Holder 5 months ago
The area that now makes up the State of New Jersey has a deep history going back thousands of years. Since the arrival of colonizers almost half a century ago,… Read More
By Kristen Holder 5 months ago
The Mongolian death worm is an elusive desert cryptid. It has captured the fascination of locals and the international community to the point that the Mongolian government has sponsored expeditions… Read More
By Kristen Holder 5 months ago
Most people know that animals that evolved in the world’s oceans eventually became land animals, but did you know that some land animals evolved back into species that live in… Read More
By Kristen Holder 5 months ago
Sculptures are 3-dimensional pieces of art viewed much differently than flat pieces like paintings. Throughout history, they’ve held a prominent role in public places and private collections, and as time… Read More
By Kristen Holder 5 months ago
Since the dawn of human consciousness, reverence has been shown to the dead members of many societies. As a result, many burial places exist as archaeological sites or active cemeteries.… Read More
By Kristen Holder 5 months ago
Any city or suburban dweller will inevitably come in visual contact with a poorly camouflaged cell tower. These conspicuous towers come in many shapes and sizes, but they are sometimes… Read More
By Kristen Holder 5 months ago
Sky islands refer to mountains tall enough to have a completely different ecosystem at higher elevations than the surrounding lowlands. The surrounding lowlands are almost always desert environments that contrast… Read More
By Kristen Holder 5 months ago
Scary Barbie is the nickname for 2012lwx, also known as ZTF20abrbeie, and it is a supermassive black hole that’s over seven and a half billion light years away from our… Read More
By Kristen Holder 5 months ago
Albino alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) are like normal green alligators except that they’re white. They behave the same, eat the same foods, and live in the same territories around the southeastern… Read More
By Kristen Holder 5 months ago
Hummingbirds are small, quick, and colorful birds that delight gardeners and homeowners. Because they’re so unique, it may be tempting to capture one or find one for sale. Do hummingbirds… Read More
By Kristen Holder 5 months ago
Pigeons occupy almost every large city on the planet. At least 400 million city pigeons live among human beings, and their numbers continue growing. Where do pigeons come from, and… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
The Bodhi Tree is a revered symbol in Buddhism. Today, bodhi trees still exist and hold a deep religious significance to many adherents. Let’s discover the Bodhi Tree and why… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
Anniversaries are special milestones in a marriage that are worth celebrating. As wedding milestones sail by, what it takes to remain married changes. Because of this, each wedding anniversary is… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
Every country on Earth uses some currency, and the use of currency to simplify trade has existed for thousands of years. Today, scholars believe that the shekel from Mesopotamia was… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
As humans, animals respond to seasonal changes and need suitable accommodations to survive different weather conditions. Fish are no exception. So, can koi survive the Winter? Six tips for keeping… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
In 1956, the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways was established in the United States. By 1992, around 45 thousand highway miles were finished, allowing unhindered… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
About 40 percent of Earth's surface is occupied by ocean deserts. However, this number is growing as climate change continues to progress. This article covers a few of these places,… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
Things live in almost every corner of the Earth, defying the odds and seeking an existence. What is an extremophile? Seventeen amazing living things defying the odds on Earth will… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
Earth is a dynamic place with a surface that sometimes shifts dramatically enough to cause shaking. This shaking occurs in many locations, including around glaciers and ice sheets. Are ice… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago
While the prevalence of acid rain on Earth has fallen over the last few decades due to the control of causative environmental pollution, it still happens. Sometimes, it occurs in… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 months ago