The Mighty Mississippi River Watershed

According to National Geographic, the Mississippi River is the 4th largest river, behind the Amazon, Nile, & Yangtze Rivers. Notable in and of itself, but when you consider the whole watershed, which reaches from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachian Mountains and runs through 31 states, it's bigger than you think!

To help you visualize it, Nat Geo's website has an animated map created by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio which brings all the branches, streams, and tributaries of the Mississippi River to life. You can click the above link to see the map from its original home at National Geographic (where there's more information on its creation), or watch it here.



Five sites to lead you to some more mighty Mississippi fun facts:

• 10 Awe Inspiring Facts About The Mighty Mississippi River
• The Great River Road: Canada to the Gulf
• JustFunFacts.com's Interesting Facts about the Mississippi River
• Science For Kids: The Mississippi River
• History Channel: 10 Things You Didn't Know About the Mississippi River

Video posted from https://www.facebook.com/usfws/videos/10156005451350775/?v=10156005451350775, map image from https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/watersheds/basins/mississippi/aboutmississippi.html