Does it Swim, Fly or Run? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Swims

The great white shark is a movie star since the film "Jaws" was released in 1975. Its size (15-20 feet) and weight (2.5 tons) make it the largest predator on earth, with up to 300 teeth, an acute sense of smell and speed up to 15 miles/hour. It is not a real man-eater though. Most of the attacks on humans (30 to 50 per year) aren't fatal and the shark releases the human prey after the first bite.

Answer: Flies

This is the bald eagle. Leucocephalus doesn't mean "bald" but, more correctly, "white headed". The symbol of the USA, with a majestic six to eight feet wingspan, it has been endangered for a while, due to hunting for sport or to protect fishing grounds. Besides, the bald eagle eats mostly fish, whose meat contained high levels of DDT. Since the pesticide was banned, the birds have thrived again, with thanks also to reintroduction programs.

Answer: Runs

The coyote's scientific name is Canis latrans, meaning "baying dog". The common name of coyote derives from an Atzec word. It's also called "prairie wolf" or "brush wolf", and is quite a small wolf actually (20-50 pounds). You can hear it howling to the moon from Alaska to Mexico. They hunt not only in packs, but also in pairs or alone. In the latter case, as you well know if you watch television cartoons, they hunt roadrunners. Unsuccessfully.

Answer: Runs

Nobody really runs like a cheetah, with its top speed of 71 miles/hour. Despite this, life is pretty hard for them. A typical female has to raise two, three or more cubs, hunting during the day to avoid to be robbed of the hard-earned prey (normally a small one) by lions and hyenas.

The cubs wait in hiding. If lions or other predators find them, they kill them. Mortality of cheetah's offspring is around 90%. It is better to be born a wildebeest, which is ugly, but safer, while cheetahs are beautiful.

Answer: Flies

Actually, the passenger pigeon USED to fly. This extinct member of the genus Columbidae (like doves) measured about 40 cm in length and was an endemic species of North America. It was hunted by natives, but when Europeans came to America, passenger pigeons "darkened the sky" and in the early nineteenth century there were still millions of them. They were hunted to extinction and the last one died in 1914, in Chicago. Its name was Martha.

Answer: Swims

The European eel leads a long and interesting life. It starts as a floating, dispersed egg in the Sargasso Sea, then becomes a leptocephalus that metamorphizes into a "glass eel". That moves into fresh water, or brackish coastal waters, and turns into a juvenile elver. This then develops into a mature yellow eel (in about 20 years) when it starts back to the ocean to spawn and die. That's if it doesn't end in a pan, since the eel is very tasty.

The travel is long, dangerous and hindered by pollution and climatic changes etc. That's why a smaller number of eels arrives, grown and safe, in Europe every year. The species is considered critically endangered. Most eels now are farmed.

Answer: Swims

This is the gilt-head bream. The fame of this fish (called "Orata" in Italy and "Dorada" in Spain) is due to its taste. The best, of course, are the "wild" ones, but the demand exceeds the fish caught, which is why the bream is largely cultivated in Mediterranean regions. The typical question in restaurants of Italy (my country) is: "Is the bream "di scoglio" (literally "from the sea rocks") or cultivated?".

The best recipes include "Orata al cartoccio" (wrapped in a cooking foil), "al sale" (in a salt crust), or in the oven with potatoes.

Answer: Flies

The ruby-throated hummingbird is a tiny bird that measures 3.5 inches maximum, with beautiful colors: green on the back and crown, white underparts and (in the male) red iridescent throat. The typical feature of hummingbirds is their ability to stop instantly when flying and adjust their position in every direction. The ruby throated hummingbird is very common in the Eastern United States, where it spends the warm season. During winter, it migrates to Florida, Mexico, and Central America.

Answer: Runs

Springboks run, alright, like many other animals. But they also pronk, and that is much less common. Pronking means to leap repeatedly in the air, with stiff legs and the back bowed. Allegedly, this behaviour is a sort of "catch me if you can" warning to all predators: if I can pronk, I am very difficult to capture. The name itself derives from Afrikaans, meaning "jumping goat". Curiously, the scientific name "Antidorcas" means "not a gazelle". The species is called "marsupialis" for a pocket-like skin flap on the back.

The springbok is the national animal of South Africa. Springboks is also the nickname of the South African national rugby union team.

Answer: Flies

What a dirty, disgusting life the housefly leads. It starts as an egg in decaying matter or faeces. When the larvae hatch, they're called maggots and they feed where they are, that means eating decaying matter or faeces. Then they crawl somewhere else and turn into pupae, then the adult flies emerge from the pupa and in 16/24 hours they are ready for sex.

When they find something good to eat, but too solid for their taste, they vomit on it. The enzymes in the vomit turn the food in something more liquid which can be lapped up. To determine if something is good to eat, for instance your lunch, they walk on it even if they have just walked on a pile of dung.