26Jacksonville City
If you draw a line directly south from Jacksonville, Florida, the entire continent of South America is east of that line.
27. One of the most dangerous trees in the world, the manchineel, is found in Florida and the Caribbean. Its sap is so poisonous and acidic that merest contact with human skin causes a breakout of blisters, and blindness can occur if it touches a person’s eyes.
28. Disney World in Orlando is its own city. It was built between two counties. Disney petitioned the Florida State legislature to let the company govern its own land, essentially making Disney World a separate city.
29. In 1987, the city of Hialeah in Florida passed an ordinance making it illegal to kill any animals in an attempt to curtail the practices of a Santeria church. This law however exempted slaughterhouses, pest control, and the feeding of live rabbits to greyhounds.
30. In the early 80s, The Mutiny Hotel in Miami was a cocaine-fueled hotspot in the city where CIA partied side by side with notorious drug traffickers, celebrities, and politicians.
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31Indian Snake Catchers
In 2017, Florida officials had to bring in 2 Irula tribesmen from India to catch the invasive Burmese pythons in Florida. About 1000 hunters before them were able to catch just 106 snakes. The duo who were brought in caught 27 snakes in just 4 weeks, including a 16 feet long female.
32. Give Kids the World Village is a totally free resort in Kissimmee (Orlando) for children facing life-threatening illnesses and their families. It was founded by Henri Landwirth, a childhood Holocaust survivor.
33. The area code for Brevard County in Florida which is home to the Kennedy Space Center is 321. This code was given deliberately in reference to the countdown heard before every space launch.
34. The strongest magnet ever built resides at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. It is 22-feet tall, weighs 34 tons and has a strength of 45 Tesla.
35. The city of Boca Raton in Florida doesn’t translate to “Rat’s Mouth.” An investigation of old Spanish maritime dictionaries shows, “a shallow inlet of sharp-pointed rocks which scrape a ship’s cables.”
36Florida's Bald Eagles
Florida is second to Alaska for the highest number of breeding pairs of Bald Eagles in the US. Hawaii is the only state where you can’t find Bald Eagles.
37. Panama City, Florida was named after the original Panama City (Panama) basically as a scam to "spur more real estate in the county."
38. Despite being Florida's official state gemstone, moonstone does not naturally occur in Florida.
39. 100% of Florida’s orange trees are infected with a deadly fungus and face extinction.
40. Florida Everglades is the only place on earth where crocodiles and alligators co-exist.
