Q 01/05

Which species of the Southern Ocean has the greatest known wingspan of any living bird, reaching 3.7 metres?

A) Black-browed albatross

B) Wandering albatross

C) Sooty albatross

D) Grey-headed albatross

Answer · why

B) Wandering albatross

The wandering albatross can glide for hours without a single wingbeat, covering about 22 metres for every metre it sinks.

Q 02/05

In 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', which weapon does the sailor use to shoot the albatross that guided his ship?

A) Crossbow

B) Harpoon

C) Musket

D) Blunderbuss

Answer · why

A) Crossbow

A crossbow brings down the bird that had led the ship out of the ice, and the angry crew then hang its body around the mariner's neck.

Q 03/05

What name was given to the Laysan albatross, banded in 1956, that is the oldest known wild bird in the world?

A) Patience

B) Grace

C) Wisdom

D) Fortune

Answer · why

C) Wisdom

Wisdom was already an adult when a biologist first tagged her, and she was still laying eggs past the age of 70.

Q 04/05

Which San Francisco Bay island bears the Spanish word for pelican that sailors probably turned into 'albatross'?

A) Angel Island

B) Yerba Buena

C) Treasure Island

D) Alcatraz

Answer · why

D) Alcatraz

Alcatraz comes from an old Spanish word for pelican, and seafarers seem to have bent the same word into a new bird name, nudged by the Latin for white...

Q 05/05

On remote Gough Island, which introduced animals eat Tristan albatross chicks alive on the nest?

A) Norway rats

B) House mice

C) Feral cats

D) Stoats

Answer · why

B) House mice

House mice on Gough have grown unusually large, and the chicks, though far bigger, do not know how to defend themselves.