- But speak up if you have an elephant as a pet at home because we all want to hear about that.
These weird Florida facts may surprise you, even if you live in the state. Let us know in the comments about any wild things you know were left off the list!
In case you have an elephant at home you think needs to be walked, you
should know that in some towns in Florida it’s illegal to tie an elephant to a parking meter. Did you know about this crazy law?
The ghost town of Ybor City in the Tampa suburb “Peru” vanished almost entirely after developmental and natural disasters. How crazy, a town that literally vanished.
Almost all Florida lakes are sinkhole-formed, meaning they’re technically not natural. This means there are no natural lakes in the geological sense in all of Florida.
Florida produces the majority of U.S. oranges but as the world’s largest state for citrus but they’ve got issues. Citrus greening disease is decimating the trees, making some groves appear more like dystopian wastelands.
Florida has its own Bigfoot-like creature they call the Skunk Ape. It’s reportedly been seen in the Everglades since the 1940s.
Dania Beach and other areas in Florida are actual islands of trash. Neighborhoods built on mangrove-filled landfill islands are still “standing” as we speak. This is one of the wildest weird Florida facts.
In Florida, it’s legal to wrestle alligators if you have a proper permit. Did you
know this was a tourist activity and would you be up for it?
The Everglades is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles coexist naturally. It’s basically a prehistoric swamp home.
In 1963, a 12-foot sinkhole in Winter Park swallowed part of a lake. This revealed underwater caves and ancient fossils, with some of them being as old as 15,000 years. Did you know the story of this weird world Atlantis?
Because Florida sits on limestone bedrock, it makes the state more prone to sudden sinkholes. Some Florida sinkholes have swallowed entire houses, lakes, land and more.
There’s a rare mosquito-borne virus called “Everglades virus” that circulates only in this state but thankfully, mostly among wild animals.
Bull sharks have been found in freshwater lakes in Florida because they can survive in both salt and freshwater. Did you know there could be sharks in a lake? Eek.
Mount Dora has a roundabout full of swans from the neighborhood. They roam freely, like little swan traffic cops. Is this is one of the wildest weird Florida facts?
While Cape Canaveral launches rockets from the space station, manatees and alligators also share waterways nearby. It creates a weird mix of technology and nature.
Did you know there’s a tiny patch of natural desert in Florida? It’s in the Florida Trail’s Ocala National Forest sandhills, and you’ll see cactus and scrub.
You can see a beach sunrise on the east coast of Florida and a beach sunset
on the west coast of Florida in the same day. The state is so unique that its peninsula shape allows for a quick drive coast-to-coast and all the sunrises and sunsets over the ocean you can get.
Certain Florida towns, like Ocoee, are famous for their rare white squirrels. These squirrels had a mutation that makes them ghostly white and ready for a photo shoot.
Some Florida lakes turn pink. Lake Okeechobee can have algae blooms that turn pink or red due to unusual microbial activity. This is one of the wildest weird Florida facts.
If it were independent from the United States, Florida would have the 57th largest economy in the world. (Even bigger than Austria or Norway.)
Florida is the only continental U.S. state that has coral reefs close to land. The
Florida Reef Tract stretches with over 300 miles of it.
Florida has more lightning strikes than any other U.S. state. Even the city of Tampa has the nickname “Lightning Capital of the World.”
What do you think of these weird Florida facts? Tell us about your favorite ones in the comments!