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CONTRIB­UTORS

avid Wanczyk David Wanczyk noticed his first comma splice at the age of two, and he's been editing ever since. Following a controversial tenure as editor o f his high-school newspaper, David studied film edit ing w/ith the guy who cut Prince's "Purple Rain" video. A l l o f this made him well-suited to w r i t e (and re-write) this issue's feature on 10 Perfert Moments i n the History of Editing (page 65). an article that has the distinction of covering both Virgil and Bugs Bunny David teaches writing at Ohio University i n Athens, where he lives with his wife and fellow disceraer. Megan.

W h e n she's not w o r k ­i n g o n her first-person comparison o f health care i n the United K i n g d o m vs. the United States, Erica Rex can be f o u n d chasing hens around her garden i n West Midlands county. England. Erica w r i t e s about science, health , and cl imate for The New York Times, The Times (U.K.). and Scientific American. But i n her article on page 39, Erica concentrates on her baff lement w i t h the soggy island n a t i o n she n o w calls h o m e .

Brian ^y^cMahon As an advert is ing c o p y w r i t e r i n Ohio, Brian M c M a h o n gets to spend his days mak­i n g s t u f f u p . However, w h i l e researching Death Valley for his story o n page 32, Brian discov­ered t h a i some things are j u s t too strange t o i n v e n t — l i k e the Vegas casino that's keeping an endangered species of fish alive i n the desert, and the shockingly dark behavior o f the road-

Karl Shaw W h e n i t comes t o put­t i n g together really fascinating lists about really bizarre topics, Karl Shaw reigns supreme. His books include 5 People Who Died During Sex (2007). Curing Hiccups With Small Fires: A Miscellany of Great British Eccentrics (2010). and the forthcoming 10 Ways to Recycle a Corpse (2011). Perhaps not coinciden-tally, Karl recently took an interest i n the r u l ­i n g habits o f notorious leaders, w h i c h he writes about on page 28. It's based on the research Karl d i d for the latest addit ion to his canon. The Little Book of Loony Diaators (2011).

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MAY-JUNE 2011 mental floss.com 7

D 10 LIVING THINCfS THRIVING IN DEATH VALLEY

by Brian McMahon

There's a reason it's called Death Valley. This vast expanse of the Mojave Desert gets less than 2 inches of rain per year, the daytime temperatures can reach upwards of 120 degrees, and the landscape is so salt-laden and windswept that it's nearly impossible for anything to take root. But there's more life in Death Valley than you'd imagine. Here are io stubborn plants and animals that refuse to retire to greener pastures.

32 mentaUloss MAY-JUNE 2011

i-<aaiiffiSiiii The Plant That Outshmes the Sun

The Rat with a Drinking Problem

Like many Deatli Valley residents, the kangaroo rat lives for the n i g h t l i f e . It spends most o f its day napping underground, only venturing out after sunset. Of course, tak-•2g advantage of the cool nightt ime temps is a common tr ick among desert mammals. What's not common is how t h e kangaroo rat has adapted to deal w i t h the scarcity of water: I t never drinks the stuff! Special organs inside its nose a l l o w i t to absorb moisture directly from the air, and h i g h l y efficient kidneys keep its b o d y hydrated. I n fact, t h e kangaroo rat is so w e l l adapted to the d r y cl imate that even after l i v i n g i n captivity for years, i t w i l l s t i l l refuse water.

It's no secret that Death Valley is a tr icky place for plants t o take r o o t . The earth there is so salty that i t w o u l d k i l l most vegetation. But the Desert Hol ly has developed a clever technique for dealing w i t h the unfr iendly soil . The l o w - g r o w i n g shrub soaks up the salt i n the g r o u n d along wnth any moisture , and t h e n , d u r i n g b l o o m i n g season f r o m January to Apri l , i t excretes the sodium deposits onto its leaves. As a result, the plant turns from green to silver—a color change that helps i t reflect the scalding sunlight instead of absorbing i t .

The Fish That Got Lucky in Las Vegas

Despite its bone-dry landscape. Death Valley is home t o thousands of pupf ish . The color­f u l , sardine-hke fish live i n isolated waterholes only a f e w feet wide. But h o w did all those aquatic animals get lured i n t o the desert? The pupf ish are actually stragglers f r o m the ice age 10,000 years ago, back w h e n the valley was a large glacial lake. As the glaciers melted, schools o f pupf ish became trapped i n the waterholes and evolved i n t o several distinct species. Today, the w a t e r i n the small ponds can be as w a r m as a bath (around 90 degrees F), and the salt concentrations can exceed twice t h a t o f seawater. The conditions

aren't ideal , but the pupfish survive b y d r i n k i n g copi­ous amounts of w a t e r and eff iciently excreting the salt t h r o u g h their digestive tracts .

Life for the pupf ish has become even more di f f icult i n recent years. Beginning i n the 1960s, farmers near Death Valley started p u m p i n g the desert's groundwater for i r r i ­g a t i o n , w h i c h depleted the waterholes and caused serious declines i n pupf ish populations. One particular species, the Devils Hole pupf ish , came close to ext inct ion i n 2006 w h e n its numbers dipped b e l o w 40. But then an unhkely savior emerged: the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino i n Las Vegas. The casino relocated several pupf ish to its swank aquariums, successfully reviv ing the species before its luck dr i ed o u t .

Pupfish are stragglers

from the ice age, when the

valley was a glacial lake.

MAY-JUNE 2011 mentalflossxom 33

LIVING THINGS THRIVING IN DEATH VALLEY

The Bird You Don't Want Your Children to See

Death Valley is home to the most iconic o f desert b i r d s — t h e roadrunner. Thanks to its Looney Tunes fame, the b i r d has become quite a tourist attraction. At the Death Valley National Park Visitor Center, sightseers can view roadrunners f r o m large glass w i n d o w s , and park officials often shout "meep. meep!" as they approach. However, the roadrunners don't frequent the visitor's center for the at tent ion; they're looking for fresh meat. Unlike their cartoon counterpart , real-life roadrunners are skilled hunters that use their l ightning-quick speed to catch mice, insects, and snakes. They're also pretty sly Some of these clever creatures have figured out t h a t i f they wait by the visitor's center, sooner or later, a tasty b i r d w i l l accidentally fly into the glass w i n d o w s . The roadrunners then pounce on the stunned animal, r ipping i t apart and eating i t i n f ront o f the horr i f ied onlookers, T^smanian Devil-style.

The Tortoise You Can Scare to Death

The desert tortoise has a s imple s o l u t i o n for cop­i n g w i t h Death Valley's extreme heat: I t avoids i t . The s l o w - m o v i n g creature hibernates d u r i n g the w i n t e r and stays i n its b u r r o w for m u c h o f the summer, meaning t h a t i t spends more t h a n 90 percent o f its life i m m o b i l e . I n fact, the tortoise usually only surfaces after a good r a i n . T h e n , i t gets t o w o r k . The tortoise stocks up on w a t e r by eat ing plants and d i g g i n g trenches to collect r a i n . But t o stay hydrated t h r o u g h its extended

h i b e r n a t i o n , the repti le relies on something else—its h i g h l y sophisticat­ed bladder Unlike most animals, the tortoise's bladder acts as a h o l d i n g tank, a l l o w i n g i t to reabsorb w a t e r back i n t o its b o d y Incredibly, a desert tortoise can go a f u l l year w i t h o u t t a k i n g i n any freshwater at a l l . A n d because its bladder is so i m p o r t a n t t o a tortoise's s u r v i v a l , park rangers often remind visitors n ot t o stop and help the slow-movers across the road. Tortoises become so t e r r i f i e d w h e n people pick t h e m up t h a t they void their bladders, losing t h e i r precious w a t e r reserves.

Seeds of Greatness

Every so of ten . Death Valley reveals a rare and beaut i fu l display of hfe—a sea o f co lorful w i l d f l o w e r s , b lossoming by the m i l h o n s . The flow­ers seem t o emerge out o f nowhe re , but i n t r u t h , the seeds of these blooms are always h i d d e n on the des­ert floor, j u s t w a i t i n g for the r i g h t a m o u n t of sun­l i g h t and r a i n f a l l before s p r o u t i n g . The seeds are protected by a th ick , w a x y coating t h a t guards t h e m against the extreme heat. But w h e n the desert gets enough r a i n to w a s h a wa y the coating { w h i c h isn't often), the seeds sprout and the flowers b l o o m , t e m p o r a r i l y t r a n s f o r m i n g the barren landscape.

The tortoises become so terrified that they

void their bladders, losing their precious

water reserves.

34 mental floss MAY-JUNE2011

The Flower That Haunts

The Gravel Ghost w i l d f l o w e r lives its hfe w i t h the u t m o s t discretion. I t starts off as a patch o f grayish leaves that blends i n w i t h the surrounding landscape. Then i t sprouts a w i r y stalk about 3 f t . h i g h , w h i c h is also camouflaged against the barren scenery. But w h e n the bulb atop the stalk blooms, i t produces a v i b r a n t w h i t e flower that insects flock to poll inate. Sti l l , the stalk is so di f f icult to see t h a t i t creates the eerie appearance of a floating flower—hovering, ghost-like, above the desert floor

MAY-JUNE 2011 iTientaltloss.com 35

LIVING THINGS THRIVING IN DEATH VALLEY

8 The Bird with Legs You Never Wont to Eat

The turkey vulture p r i m a r i l y feasts on decomposing ani­mals, but that's not the most disgusting t h i n g about i t . To stay cool, the vulture makes use of a process k n o w n as urohydrosis, a fancy w a y of saying t h a t i t pees on its legs to keep from overheating. This serves t w o purposes: The evaporating urine cools the blood circulating t h r o u g h the vulture's legs, and also acts as a disinfectant, k i l h n g any germs the scavenger may have picked up f r o m its last meal. You k n o w you're a d i r t y animal w h e n peeing o n your o w n legs actually makes you cleaner.

Winning, by a Hare

The black-tailed jackrabbit m a y get teased for its oversize ears, but those trademark appendages help i t beat the heat i n Death Valley. The rabbit's 7-in.-long ears contain a w e a l t h of blood vessels t h a t dissipate heat and help the animal regulate its body temperature . But the jackrabbit's voracious appetite also plays i n t o its success against the harsh chmate. Like many desert creatures, the jackrab­bit gets its w a t e r f r o m the plants i t eats. The clever hare switches its grazing seasonally, w a i t i n g u n t i l the hot sum­mer months to consume the more water- f i l led cacti and grasses, often eating several t imes its body w e i g h t every day just t o remain hydrated.

10 The Lizard That Was Bom to Run

Like a w a t e r bug racing across a p o n d , the fringe-toed l izard ghdes w i t h gravity-defy­i n g grace over the loose sand of the des­

ert . Specially shaped scales o n its toes a l l o w the small reptile t o

scamper across the dunes and o u t r u n most preda­

tors . But speed isn't the hzard's only super­power; the l i g h t n i n g -fast reptile can also vanish i n an instant by

d i v i n g headfirst beneath the surface of the sand.

Thanks to special scales t h a t fold over its eyes, ears, and

nostri ls , the fringe-toed hzard can keep sand out o f its delicate parts w h i l e steering clear o f predators underground. "̂̂

36 mentaUloss MAY-JUNE 2011

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