!! -- Explore the State. Share your Photos. Imagine Our Florida -- !!

Built to serve as an "Eco-Insta" we invite you to share your photos of plants, animals, insects, landscapes, ecosystems and more with the Get Outside Discovery Center web application.

Exploring the Get Outside Discovery Center
1. Open the app http://bit.ly/IOF-Get-Outside-App
2. Close the Splash Screen by clicking "Ok"
3. Navigate the Map using the tools provided
4. Click on points in the map to view what was found there
5. Share the discovery with your friends and family

Sharing in the Get Outside Discovery Center
1. Get Outside to your backyard, local park, wildlife refuge, etc..
2. Take Photos of Florida with your phone or camera.
3. Open the Submission Form http://bit.ly/IOF-Get-Outside-Submit
4. Enter as much information as possible and about where you took the photo (you can use the locate me button on your smartphone device if you'd like)
5. Share the discovery and the app with your friends and family

These beautiful butterflies are another reason to plant Native Milkweed.
Watch for our next Tuesday Trivia post for your chance to win a packet of native milkweed seeds.
From our friends at the Cuplet Fern Chapter

----- O2B Kids ------

IOF Directors Andy, Dan, and Nancy had so much fun teaching the after school kids at O2B Kids about gopher tortoises, the ecosystems they make their homes in, and the friends they share their burrow with.

The children learned about the animals in a Longleaf pine forest and what they eat for dinner. They learned about the interdependence between the forest and the bears. Of course, they learned the importance of poop!

Slow Mama was the star of the show. She did a wonderful job meeting 112 kids and their teachers while showing the kids how they can coexist with gopher tortoises and other wild animals.

Connect. Respect. Coexist.

--- World Frog Day ---

The Little Grass Frog (Pseudacris ocularis), is the smallest of frogs, they are 1/2 an inch long. They range in color from light beige to dark brown and tan. They have dark eye strips extending along the side of the body, and thin white strips above the lip and below the eye. They have tiny pads with slightly webbed toes. Despite its size, The Little Grass Frog can jump 20 times their body length.

The Little Grass Frog will lay between 1 to 25 creamy brown eggs on vegetation or submerged debris. The eggs hatch in less than 2 days. The metamorphosis happens in 10 days from tadpole to frog.

This frog can be found in wet prairies and flooded grassy meadows. They are active during the day climbing among the grasses.

The Little Grass Frog has a high pitched chirp which is difficult to hear. If you hear the chirping it is usually at night when the humidity is high or during rain and is coming from grassy areas.
To hear the Little Grass Frog call go to:
https://srelherp.uga.edu/anurans/sounds/pseocu.mp3

--- Agatized Coral ---
Agatized Coral (Cnidaria anthozoa) is Florida's state stone. The Florida legislature designated it the state stone in 1979.
Coral is the limy outside skeleton of tiny ocean animals called polyps. Agatized Coral, AKA Fossilized Coral, is formed when agate, a form of chalcedony replaces the minerals in coral. This process takes 20-30 million years and is known as pseudomorphing.
These fossils are from the Oligocene-Miocene period. Agatized Coral is between 38-25 million years old. These fossils are found in a variety of colors, from white, pink, gray, brown, black, yellow and red. Trace minerals in the agate create these colors. They are found in ancient ocean beds, where silica-rich groundwater has percolated through the limestone around them. This may give the fossil a banded stone look.
Agatized Coral is most often found in the Tampa Bay area, the Withlacoochee/Suwannee River, and the Econfina River. Most Agatized Coral found in Florida lived in the vast Eocene seas which covered the state when Florida was part of the continental shelf.
Agatized Coral was used by the first inhabitants of Florida to make spearheads, containers, tools, knives. Remains have been found in archaeological sites dating back to 5000 B.C. The Agatized Coral is highly prized by collectors today

--- Tuesday Trivia ---
This is Florida's Official State Stone?
Do you know what it is?
Answered revealed this evening at 6:00pm