Congrats to the Season 26 Amazing Race Winners!

Friday, May 15th was the season finale of CBS's The Amazing Race, Season 26. The first two episodes started on Wednesday, February 25th and Friday, February 26th then subsequent episodes followed a once-a-week schedule every Friday. There were not episodes on March 20th and 27th because of NCAA Men's Final Four basketball tournament (Indianapolis) on CBS. The Amazing Race's teams started and ended in the UNITED STATES. Castaic, California was the beginning destination and Dallas, Texas was the end. Teams traveled to FRANCE, GERMANY, JAPAN, MONACO, NAMIBIA, The NETHERLANDS, and PERU, and THAILAND. The winners, Tyler Adams and Laura Pierson, were on the "Team SoCal" team; Jelani and Jenny were "The Legal Team," Blair and Hayley were on the "Rx for Love" team, and Mike and Rochelle were members of the "Truck Stop Love" team.

  Placings in Episode 12 - Finale of Season 26
  1st - Tyler and Laura - WINNERS!!!
  2nd - Jelani and Jenny
  3rd - Blair and Hayley
  4th - Mike and Rochelle

Coastal Cities of Ghana

In GHANA, the Gold Coast of the Gulf of Guinea (part of the Atlantic Ocean) features several cities with relatively higher populations compared to the rest of Ghana. The Atlantic Ocean is south of Ghana, and therefore the cities in this post are along the southern extent of Ghana. Coastal cities with at least 100,000 residents are Accra (Ghana's capital), Cape Coast, Sekondi, Takoradi, Tema, and Teshie. Accra has about 2 million residents within the city and 4 million in the metropolitan area. Meanwhile, Sekondi and Takoradi are considered to be a combined city called Sekondi-Takoradi. This city with a current population around 445,000 has grown rapidly; the population a couple decades ago was less than 100,000. From west to east, smaller cities with more than 10,000 and currently less than 50,000 residents include Axim, Elmina, Winneba, and Keta. Finally, cities and towns with even smaller populations include Bonyeri, Dixcove, Saltpond, Senya Beraku, Teshi, Ada, and Anloga. All cities in this post belong in the Western, Central, Greater Accra, and Volta regions.

Gambaga Scarp, West Africa

Gambaga Scarp is a physical landform feature located at the border of two regions in GHANA, a multilingual and English-speaking country in West Africa. A forested region of multiple cliffs along the Volta River basin, Gambaga Scarp horizontally stretches about 75 miles and 120 kilometers along the southern border of Upper East province and northeast border of Northern province. It also extends eastward to Tandjouaré prefecture (Savanes region) in northwestern TOGO.

The satellite image above — from randmcnally.com/maps and attributed to MapBox and OpenStreetMap — shows just a section of Gambaga Scarp near the border between Ghana and Togo. Crops such as yams and grain are grown and livestock are raised in the area with the help of a relatively cool microclimate. The region of cliffs is generally located over 1,000 feet and 300 meters in elevation. Various cities and small towns dot the area surrounding Gambaga Scarp. They include Bolgatanga, Gambaga, Nakpanduri, Nalerigu, Namasu, and Zarantinga in Ghana and Doré and Nano in Togo.

Czech Republic Endangered Species

As of May 18th, 2015, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for the CZECH REPUBLIC in Central Europe lists only 5 critically endangered species and 18 endangered species. Fortunately, the Czech Republic does not have any extinct species on the IUCN Red List. The five critically endangered species are the European Eel, European Mink, Slender-billed Curlew, Sociable Lapwing, and Spengler's Freshwater Mussel. Some endangered species include the Danube Salmon, Freshwater Pearl Mussel, Hungarian Thorn hawthorn tree, Saker Falcon, and Yellow-breasted Bunting.

Czech Republic post (links opens in new tab/window)

Cyprus Endangered Species

As of May 17th, 2015, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for CYPRUS in the Mediterranean Sea lists 13 critically endangered species and 20 endangered species. Fortunately, Cyprus does not have any extinct species on the IUCN Red List. Cyprus' endangered species are the Akamas Centaury thistle plant, Angel Shark, Casey's Larkspur delphinium, European Eel, Kythrean Sage, Mediterranean Monk Seal, Pallid Squill plant, Slender-billed Curlew bird, Sociable Lapwing bird, Troodos Rockcress plant, Erysimum kykkoticum plant, Glaphyra bassettii longhorn beetle, and Propomacrus cypriacus beetle. The longhorn beetle is found only in a maximum 100 square kilometer (~39 sq. mile) range in western Cyprus, while the Propomacrus beetle is only found in a 10 sq. kilometer (3.9 sq. mile) area. Even more limited in geographic distribution is the Erysimum kykkoticum plant, which lives in a 3-hectare (0.03 sq. kilometer or ~0.0116 sq. mile) area.

Cyprus post (links opens in new tab/window)

Cuba Extinct and Endangered Species

As of May 15th, 2015, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for CUBA in the Caribbean Sea and North America lists 11 extinct species since the IUCN began record-keeping, 1 species extinct in the wild, 67 critically endangered species, and 110 endangered species. Erythroxylum echinodendron coca plant is the single species that is extinct in the wild but still living in captivity. Some extinct species in Cuba include the Caribbean Monk Seal, Cuban Coney rodent, Cuban Macaw, Orientale Cave Rat, and Torre's Cave Rat. Some critically endangered species include the Bachman's Warbler, Cuban Crocodile, Cuban Great Funnel-eared Bat, Cuban Khaki Trope "dwarf boa," Cuban Kite, Elkhorn Coral, Hawksbill Turtle, Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Jamaican Petrel, and Zapata Rail.

Cuba post (links opens in new tab/window)

Indiana Towns with Colors in their Names

The following towns in Indiana have a color in their name. White Rose in Greene County has two colors in its name, hence why it is listed twice! In Indiana, here are actually two towns each of Brownstown, Mount Auburn, and Roseburg.

Auburn (mainly used to describe hair color)
Auburn – DeKalb Co.
Mount Auburn – Shelby Co.
Mount Auburn – Wayne Co.

Black
Blackhawk – Vigo Co.

Blue
Blue Ridge – Shelby Co.
Blue River – Washington Co.

Brown
Brownsburg – Hendricks Co.
Brownstown – Crawford Co.
Brownstown – Jackson Co.
Browns Valley – Montgomery
Brownsville – Union Co.

Gray/Grey
Grayford – Jennings Co.
Graysville – Sullivan Co.

Gold
Goldsmith – Tipton Co.

Green
Bowling Green – Clay Co.
Etna Green – Kosciusko Co.
Green Center – Noble Co.
Green Hill – Warren Co.
Green Oak – Fulton Co.
Greenbrier – Orange Co.
Greencastle – Putnam Co.
Greendale – Dearborn Co.
Greene – Jay Co.
Greenfield – Hancock Co.
Greenfield Mills – LaGrange Co.
Greens Fork – Wayne Co.
Greensboro – Henry Co.
Greensburg – Decatur Co.
Greentown – Howard Co.
Greenville – Floyd Co.
Greenwood – Johnson Co.

Hazel (reddish brown)
Hazel (Mt. Pleasant) – Delaware Co.
Hazelrigg – Boone Co.
Hazelwood – Hendricks Co.

Laurel – Franklin Co.

Lime
Limedale – Putnam Co.

Olive
Mount Olive – Martin Co.

Orange
Orange – Fayette Co.
Orangeville – Orange Co.

Plum
Plummer – Greene Co.
Plum Tree – Huntington Co.

Red
Reddington – Jackson Co.
Redkey – Jay Co.

Rose
Rosebud – Washington Co.
Roseburg – Grant Co.
Roseburg – Union Co.
Rosedale – Parke Co.
Roseland – Saint Joseph Co.
Roselawn – Newton Co.
White Rose – Greene Co.

Silver
Silver Lake – Kosciusko Co.
Silverville – Lawrence Co.
Silverwood – Fountain Co.

Wheat
Wheatfield – Jasper Co.
Wheatland – Knox Co.

White
New Whiteland – Johnson Co.
White Cloud – Harrison Co.
White Rose – Greene Co.
Whitehall – Owen Co.
Whiteland – Johnson Co.
Whitestown – Boone Co.
Whitewater – Wayne Co.

Over 50,000 Page Views?

Stats in my Blogger dashboard say that the GeoFact of the Day Blog has recently reached the 50,000th blog visit mark! That's definitely a lot - and maybe even too much! The ClustrMaps at the bottom of the blog shows there were 6,000 visitors - definitely a big difference from Google's stat. Therefore, I'm guessing my visitor count is somewhere in between; regardless of how many page views there are, I greatly appreciate all the times you visited the GeoFact of the Day Blog!

United States Drought Update

The UNITED STATES Drought Monitor from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reveals that four states have droughts ranked "exceptional." As you probably know, much of California has a severe drought for quite awhile. The western portion of neighboring Nevada also has a exceptional drought. The final region with an exceptional drought is southern Oklahoma and northern Texas. To be specific, below is a list of counties in California, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Texas which are completely or partially part of an exceptional drought region.

California - at least 30 counties
Nevada - Carson City, Churchill, Douglas, Humboldt (extreme southeastern part), Lander, Lyon, Mineral, Nye (extreme western part), Pershing, Storey, and Washoe counties
Oklahoma - Comanche, Cotton, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Kiowa, and Tillman counties
Texas - Archer, Baylor, Childress, Clay (very tiny part of western Clay), Collingsworth, Cottle, Esmeralda, Foard, Hardeman, Jack, King, Knox, Palo Pinto, Stephens, Wichita, Wilbarger, and Young counties

Related to recent severe floods, Cotton and Tillman counties in Oklahoma currently have Flood Warnings, and severe weather is possible through some of the Oklahoma and Texas counties listed above.

Link to U.S. Drought Monitor website: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/ (link opens in new window or tab)

Croatia Extinct and Endangered Species

As of May 4th, 2015, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ for CROATIA in Southeastern Europe lists one extinct species (Telestes ukliva ray-finned fish), 30 critically endangered species, and 43 endangered species. Most critically endangered species in Croatia are aquatic animals. Ten of the thirty critically endangered species include the Adriatic Sturgeon, Angel Shark, Balearic Shearwater, Beluga sturgeon, Blue Skate, European Eel, European Mink, Mediterranean Monk Seal, Slender-billed Curlew, and Zaton Cave Water Snail.
Hence its name, the Zaton Cave Water Snail (Saxurinator labiatus) is found in - and only in - the Zaton Cave in southern Croatia. Threats to this water snail species include pollution from road run-off and untreated sewage as well as tourist development.

Croatia post (links opens in new tab/window)