Are you considering and researching the best field attraction visit for your students? What exactly are you searching for? Something that’s explicitly outdoor and interesting? Something that can compel awe with a craving for more? Or is it something that will ultimately help to reinforce a significant aspect of what they have been or will be learning in class?
Whatever it is, they are all critical points of consideration, but finding all such desired result in one place can be difficult. But, the good news is, the natural life at Wild Florida has everything that will give your students the best and first-hand experience in learning and adventure; including an airboat ride in Orlando.
In this article, we will be exploring the Top 15 Facts Your Students Can Learn On An Airboat Ride in Florida. This article will help you to showcase your teaching and interactive skills to your school management, parents, guardians and or any other person who might be wondering and asking: “what is the practical significant of this trip to what you have been teaching in the classroom?”
The Wild Florida Everglades is the one and the only natural environment in the world where you can see crocodiles and alligators coexisting side by side. Surprised? Of course, I too once thought it was impossible, but it’s reality. Yes! It is true that the natural abode of alligators is fresh water, but have you forgotten so soon that crocodiles can live in both fresh and salty waters?
That’s the unique reality with Wide Florida and the Everglades—a place where the fresh water from the Bay of Florida meet and converge with the salt water coming from the Gulf of Mexico—all in the Everglades; making a perfect and wonderful habitation for both creatures.
Do you know that the Wild Florida Everglades is home to an amazing species of wildlife numbering over 400? Perhaps, the weirdest or funniest thing you might have seen in your surrounding could probably be your dog rolling in the mud or a big lizard galvanizing like a king. But, you and your class are bound to witness the funniest, weirdest and ridiculously crazy species of different animals and birds residing in the Everglades.
An airboat ride in Orlando will take you across the tall and daring sawgrass that characterize Wild Florida’s Everglades. Look closely and you will see incredible tiny ridges spread across the length of the blades. These are very sharp ridges that are capable of giving you some nasty but memorable cuts you can take home in remembrance of your wild adventure.
Have you seen an alligator jump before? Oh, you have but only on TV. Now, you have the chance to witness a real alligator jump, and you can only get such footage in the Everglades. It will surprise you and your students to know that an alligator, even when in a resting position, can leap up to 6 feet into the air. They are not limited to jumping out from water, but are also capable of jumping and climbing tree branches to hunt down their prey.
Do you know that out of every 3 Florida’s residents, 1 depends mightily on the Everglades as a primary source of water? The Everglades is a gently-flowing river covering over 2 million acres of land in Sothern Florida. Proper treatment and best storage practice and transportation annually, allows the Everglades to provide fresh and clean drinking water to a population of over 8 million Floridians.
Most times, the Everglades have suffered from a misguided and ill-informed description, with some describing it as a forested wetland or swamp. This is one of the reasons why some people find it difficult to believe it especially when they later came to discover it’s actually a slow-flowing river. The name “Everglades” is derived from “river of grass” in the sense that its fresh water moves slowly through blades of sawgrass and down the lowland.
Have you seen a bald eagle before? Well, you and your class will get to see a breeding pair of bald eagles that reside in Wild Florida. There are well over 1000 thousand species of breeding eagles, making Florida the second largest habitation of this endangered species. There is nothing more fascinating than seeing the American national bird in its natural habitat.
The swamps and wetlands of the Florida Everglades constitute an excellent breeding ground for animals that are historically not part of Florida’s natural habitation. Although there are species of animals whose presence doesn’t constitute a threat to the Everglade ecosystem, there are others like the Cuban tree frog and Burmese python that are regarded as invasive species due to their ever increasing population that has taken over most of the area.
Do you know that the alligator is an opportunist hunter and are more afraid of humans than humans are of them? Normally, an alligator’s diet consists of muskrat, fish or deer, as the case may be. When on the back of an airboat ride in Florida, the captain manning your airboat might advise you to stay calm immediately you spot a gator hiding out in the swamp—they will quickly swim away once they are scared.
Take an airboat ride in Orlando and get quickly to the Everglades to witness some bone cracking and tearing events by the king of the Everglades—the American alligator--known to have one of the most powerful bites ever. A single bite of the American alligator generates 16,460 newtons of solid bite at a go; a sharp contrast with humans who can only produce 860 newtons per bite. This is one unique fact that is good for your students to learn.
Most people confuse crocodiles for alligators, and so have not been able to tell the exact or approximate size of the American alligator. Let your class measure and learn the real size of the American gator which can grow to 8.2 feet for the average female and 11.2 for the average male.
In the Everglades, sex and the birthing of new offspring by the different species of animals is mostly determine by temperature and the sex chromosomes. For alligators and other reptiles, sex offspring are determined by the degree of the temperature at which their eggs are incubated.
One of Florida’s most seen birds is the great Blue Heron which are very friendly and comfortable around humans. They are seen most times begging food from humans or simply stealing it from other animals. They are easy to spot because of their unique blue body features.
Another popular urban animal in Florida is the American Raccoon. Their black facial and black ring marks make them easy to locate. You can find them digging through the trash cans or right in the woods.
Out of the 5 million American alligators spread across the southern-eastern plain in the US, over 1.2 million call Florida’s Everglades home. Due to the warm temperature, lakes and different types of food available in Florida every year; it became the perfect environment for alligators to thrive.
So are you ready to lead your class and embark on a journey to wild Florida? Call us today and let us give you the best information that will aid and speedup your preparation. Click here and let us help you book an airboat ride in Florida.