Alaska Facts

Alaska law prohibits hunters from shooting a moose on the same day they've spotted it from an airplane.

The University of Alaska stretches over 4 time zones.

Alaska is the only state that can be typed on one row of keys on a QWERTY keyboard.

Every year, Alaska experiences tens of thousands of earthquakes, with approximately 33,000 of magnitude 1 or higher. This makes it the most seismically active state in the United States.

Eskimo ice cream is neither icy, or creamy!

The tallest wave ever recorded was the 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami, reaching a height of 1,720 feet (524 meters).

At their closest point, the Russian and U.S. borders are less than two miles apart.

Elephants, lions, and camels roamed Alaska 12,000 years ago.

In 1974, prankster Porky Bickar was so into April Fools, he flew hundreds of tires into a dormant volcano in Alaska and set them on fire - fooling the local populace and coast guard into thinking the volcano was active.

There's a pizza company in Alaska called 'Airport Pizza' that delivers by plane to remote villages. Based in Nome, they fly pizzas to communities with no road access, with delivery sometimes included for bulk orders to nearby villages.

Patsy Ann was a bull terrier, deaf from birth. She still knew which Juneau dock a ship would use, long before it came into sight. In 1934, Juneau's mayor named her the city's official greeter. One day a newspaper printed the wrong dock. The crowd gathered there, but Patsy Ann walked to the correct one instead. The ship proved her right. Her bronze statue still greets every cruise ship today.

When a child in Igiugig, Alaska needed emergency evacuation and the runway lights failed, a neighbor made 32 phone calls. Within minutes, the entire village showed up in their pajamas, drove every vehicle to the airstrip, and lined them along the runway with headlights blazing. The medevac pilot landed safely. The child made it to Anchorage.

Stubbs the cat served as honorary mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska, for more than 20 years. The role was ceremonial - the town has no real government. But that didn't stop up to 40 tourists a day from coming just to meet him. Each afternoon he walked next door for catnip water served in a margarita glass. He died in July 2017 at age 20, still in office.

Togo was 12 years old in 1925. That's ancient for a sled dog. Diphtheria threatened to kill children across Nome, Alaska. Musher Leonhard Seppala and Togo ran the serum relay's longest, most dangerous leg. It covered over 260 miles, including a deadly crossing of the frozen Norton Sound. Balto ran the final 55 miles into town. He got the parade, the movie, and the Central Park statue. Togo got almost nothing.

Walmart ran a 2012 Facebook contest to send Pitbull to whichever store got the most likes. The internet hijacked it under #ExilePitbull and voted for a tiny Walmart in Kodiak, Alaska - an island of 6,000 people only reachable by boat or plane. The store racked up 70,000 likes. Pitbull flew up, performed at the Coast Guard base, and got the key to the city. Then he paid to fly the prank's organizer up there with him.