In the 1930s, the Red imported fire ants were accidentally brought from South America to North America. Since then, they have spread to most of the Southern United States, including Florida. They are more aggressive than most native ant species and have a painful sting.
A lot of non-native snakes have been released in the wild. In 2010 the state created a hunting season for Burmese, Indian and African rock pythons, green anacondas, and Nile monitor lizards.
The capital of Florida is Tallahassee, and Jacksonville is the state's largest city. Tallahassee is in the part of Florida called the panhandle, or the narrow part in the northwest. There are other big cities in Florida, like Tampa, Orlando and Miami.
Orlando is home to many amusement and theme parks, like Walt Disney World Resort, Sea World, and Universal Studios. Millions of tourists visit Orlando each year. There is also Busch Gardens in Tampa, which is another tourist attraction.
The oldest city in Florida is St. Augustine, which was founded by the Spanish in 1565.
The Kennedy Space Center is on Merritt Island, near Cape Canaveral, on Florida's Space Coast.
Florida has eleven state universities. They are Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida State University, New College of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida. The University of Central Florida has the most students. There are 28 private universities in Florida.
Mario
Mario is a hero who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom in most games. In the "Mario" games, he tries to stop the evil Bowser from taking Princess Peach away. He is being helped by his brother Luigi in most games. He also has other enemies like Donkey Kong, Waluigi, and Wario, although they are friends in other games.
Mario is one of the most famous video game characters of all time. Over 200 million copies of "Mario" games have been sold. In the 1990s a sequel game called Super Mario's Wacky Worlds was planned which was based onm ade historical locations including Ancient Greece and Egypt but got cancelled.
Mario first appeared in the arcade game "Donkey Kong" as a carpenter named Jumpman. In Japan, he was called "Mr. Video". Later, he was named "Mario", after Mario Segale, who was a lot like Mario. Mario Segale was the owner of the land where Nintendo of America's office was built.
Mario later appeared with his younger brother Luigi in an arcade game called "Mario Bros." When the Nintendo Entertainment System was out in shops, "Super Mario Bros." was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System the same year as the game console itself, and has often thought to be one of the best games on it next to "Super Mario Bros. 3" and Legend Of Zelda.
Back then, games were hard to make and Nintendo could not make Mario move without making his arms "disappear". Changing his clothes fixed it. They also did not have the space to give him a mouth or ears, and they could not make hair, so Mario had a moustache, sideburns, and a cap so it would not look like he was bald. Mario's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, said that he gave Mario a cap because he has a hard time drawing hair. Mario is currently voiced by Charles Martinet, who also voices Luigi, Wario and Waluigi, respectively, and other characters like Toadsworth.
Mario is Nintendo's mascot (the face of the company). Mario's rival was Sega's mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, who was first seen in 1991. The two mascots were trying to get more people to buy their games for years until 2001 when "Sonic Adventure 2: Battle" was released on a Nintendo machine since Sega games started to be released on game machines that were not made by Sega. Mario and Sonic appeared together in a sports game, "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games", and again in "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" as well as "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U". To this day, Mario and Sonic continue to appear together in Nintendo’s spinoff titles such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Mario was first seen as "Jumpman" in "Donkey Kong" in 1981. He was first named "Mario" in the arcade game "Donkey Kong Junior" in 1982, the only game where he is a villain. His twin brother Luigi was first seen in 1983 in "Mario Bros." He was next seen in "Super Mario Bros." for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), which would quickly be one of the most famous games on the console.
By 2007, more than 200 million copies of Mario games had been sold all over the world. The game that was best sold was "Super Mario Bros. 3". Mario was also seen in some Game & Watch games. Mario has appeared in almost every type of video game, like platform, puzzle, racing, sports, fighting, role-playing and educational games.
Mario has been seen in many games, and is seen in games that are not Mario games as well, like "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!" where he is a referee. He is also a character you can play as in the "Super Smash Bros." series. Mario has even appeared as a secret character which any player can play as in GameCube version of "NBA Street V3" and "SSX on Tour", which are both from Electronic Arts. In some games, he only makes very small appearances: in both "" and "", a picture of Mario can be seen, and in "" small Mario and Yoshi statues can be seen.
After the Game & Watch game "Mario Bombs Away", the first "Mario" non-platformer game, "Dr. Mario", was sold in 1990. There are two educational "Mario" games that have been made. They are called "Mario Paint", was sold in 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and "Mario Pinball Land" for the Game Boy Advance. "" was released in 1996 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the first "Mario" role-playing game. Since then, other Mario role-playing games have been released, such as "Paper Mario" for the Nintendo 64; and "" for the Game Boy Advance. Both of these games were made into their own series later on.
There have been more series based on the original "Mario" series. The "Mario Kart" series' first game was "Super Mario Kart" for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The "Mario Kart" series is the most successful racing video game series of all time. The "Mario Kart" series is a type of "Mario" sports game. There have been other "Mario" sports games like "Mario Golf" and "Mario Tennis", and the baseball and soccer games "Mario Superstar Baseball" and "Super Mario Strikers". In 1999, the "Mario Party" series started on the Nintendo 64.
There has been a few TV shows and a movie for the "Mario" series. The name of the first TV show is "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!" and the movie is called "Super Mario Bros.". The TV show starred "Captain" Lou Albano as Mario, and the movie starred Bob Hoskins as Mario. There have also been "Mario" toys sold in some places.
Mario was first a 2D character but since technology has changed, Nintendo has remade Mario in 3D. He is a plumber who lives in the land of Mushroom Kingdom. He is the older, shorter brother of Luigi, and they are both plumbers. In the television series, Mario and Luigi are from Brooklyn, although "" says he was born in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Mario's looks have changed over the years although he has several staple features. He is a short, stubby man wearing a hat with an "M" on it, brown hair, black moustache, a very large nose, white gloves, and denim overalls. In most appearances, Mario wears a red hat and shirt with blue overalls. However, in the original "Super Mario Bros." video game, Mario wears a brown shirt and red overalls.