Discover the Vast Beauty: Top 11 Fun Facts About Plains You Never Knew!

1. A Symphony on the Plains

You might have heard that the Great Plains are as quiet as a church mouse, but you'd be surprised to find that it's more like attending a symphony conducted by Mother Nature herself: Contrary to popular belief, the Great Plains are home to a cacophony of sounds, including the ever-present wind, rustling of trees, nocturnal serenades of coyotes, and the lively conversations between squirrels and woodpeckers.
Source => news.ycombinator.com

2. Plains: Reality TV of Nature

Don't be fooled by their plain appearance: these landscapes are the total package, hiding more twists, turns, and excitement than the latest season of your favorite reality TV show! Plains can range from plateaus to open spaces, complete with hills, valleys, meadows, and forest clearings. These versatile expanses boast historic battle sites, agricultural hotspots, and serve as home to a smorgasbord of wildlife, making them integral to Earth's ecosystem. So don't "plainly" pass them by - stop to appreciate the wonders of Mother Nature's underrated superstar!
Source => quod.lib.umich.edu

Discover the ancient hunting techniques at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, where bison were stampeded off cliffs, leaving behind fascinating layers of bones and cultural deposits for us to explore today! 🦬🌄

=> Fun Facts about The-Great-Plains

3. Grasslands: Herbivore Party Central

When life gives you grasslands, make a smorgasbord of grazing opportunities: The plains, or grasslands, serve as vast green dining tables for herbivorous party animals like bison, zebras, giraffes, and ostriches, thanks to their abundance of grass and scarce shrubs and trees, while also being the perfect stage for their adaptation to extreme temperatures.
Source => virginiazoo.org

4. Chicken Frolics on Plains

Why did the chicken cross the plain? To frolic among the crops with its animal friends, of course: Plains provide exceptional agricultural conditions due to their flat terrain, numerous streams and rivers for irrigation, and higher crop yields than their plateau counterparts.
Source => homework.study.com

5. Floodplain Farmer's Buffets

What do floodplains and a farmer's buffet have in common? They're both overflowing with goodies: Floodplains not only act as natural flooding outlets for rivers, but their nutrient-packed silt and sediment make them extraordinarily fertile agricultural lands – perfect for a bountiful crop harvest.
Source => nationalgeographic.org

6. Ice Meets Fertile Avalanche Aftermath

Ice to meet you, fertile avalanche aftermath: Till plains are created when detached sheets of ice from glaciers melt in place and leave behind various sediments up to hundreds of feet thick, forming large, flat, or gently sloping lands with loam texture – which, incidentally, makes them perfect for agriculture and the breadbasket regions of countries like the United States.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

7. Mother Nature's Swampy Jam Session

If Mother Nature played in a band, the West Siberian Plain would be her favorite swampy jam session: Within this expansive wetland lies the Vasyugan Swamp, one of the globe's largest single raised bogs, spanning a whopping 51,600 square kilometers.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

8. Mountains Doing the Wave

Ever wondered why clouds have a hard time crossing mountains? They're just doing the wave: mountains can create their own weather phenomenon called mountain waves, causing unique cloud formations, turbulence, and even hazardous rotating eddies on the downwind side, providing pilots with thrills and chills.
Source => weather.gov

9. Grassland Animal Raves

Step aside, Noah's Ark: grasslands are where the real party animals are! From bison busting a move to pronghorn playing tag and deer dancing the night away, they just can't get enough of these wild grassy raves: In fact, grasslands support a greater diversity of large herbivorous mammals than any other terrestrial biome, making it a true hot spot for herbivore hobnobbing!
Source => ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

10. Wind Therapy for Deserts

It's not just us humans who need a little wind therapy after a long day of climbing mountains; even deserts love to chill on the other side: Rain shadows, created by mountains lifting the winds that flow over them, result in the formation of deserts on the leeward sides of mountain ranges due to orographic effects, such as the Mojave and Colorado Plateau deserts in the United States or the Thar desert in India.
Source => scientificamerican.com

11. Grasslands: Original Firestarters

Plains grasslands: the original firestarters! With a burning desire to keep woodpeckers feeling left out of the party, wildfires regularly swept across these grassy playgrounds: The fires cleared up litter, motivated native grasses to up their game, and formed a natural barrier against overeager cacti and woody plants. Frequent fire fostered sprawling grasslands, while bison munching habits helped create patchy, uneven burn patterns. Nowadays, we've taken a leaf out of nature's playbook, prescribing regular springtime fires like a benevolent arsonist to maintain these grassy havens.
Source => fs.usda.gov