The pioneer people of Salt Lake City, Utah, had watched the summer sun of 1884 bring forth a good crop. They needed the food to get through the coming winter.
But out of nowhere an all-consuming mass of crickets swept across the fields. The pioneers fought them in every way they knew, but the crickets kept on eating.
Suddenly, a flock of seagulls arrived to feast on the crickets, gorging themselves until all the marauders were consumed. Fortunately, enough of the crop was left to sustain the people through the winter.
The people of Salt Lake erected a monument to their unexpected saviors and passed a law prohibiting anyone from killing a seagull.
Ounce for ounce, the tiny shrew is the most ferocious of all mammals. This tiny creature kills and eats twice its weight in food every day.
Scientists at the U.S. Air Force Missile Devel-opment Center at Holloman, New Mexico, constructed a train that traveled so fast that no human could ride in it. The rocket-powered sled attained a speed of 3,090 m.p.h. on a 6.62-mile-long rail track.
That St. Patrick drove all snakes from Ireland is certainly a legend, but the truth is there are no native snakes on the island.
Other islands without native serpents include Crete, New Zealand, Malta, Iceland, and Hawaii. On July 26, 1955, Ted Allen set a world's record for horseshoe pitching by throwing 72 consecutive ringers.
