Q 01/05

How many living species of alligator are there?

A) One

B) Four

C) Seven

D) Two

Answer · why

D) Two

The American and the Chinese; several more are known only from fossils, the genus having first appeared about 37 million years ago.

Q 02/05

The word 'alligator' is an English mangling of a Spanish phrase meaning what?

A) The dragon

B) The lizard

C) The swamp beast

D) The biter

Answer · why

B) The lizard

Early Spanish settlers in Florida called it el lagarto; early English spellings included 'allagarta' and 'alagarto'.

Q 03/05

Alligators are native to only two countries: the United States and which other?

A) Brazil

B) Australia

C) India

D) China

Answer · why

D) China

The Chinese alligator, once called the muddy dragon, is confined to a few areas of Anhui province and is critically endangered.

Q 04/05

Southern Florida is the only place where alligators live alongside which other wild reptile?

A) Komodo dragons

B) Anacondas

C) Crocodiles

D) Gharials

Answer · why

C) Crocodiles

About 2,000 American crocodiles live in Florida, and they were downgraded from endangered to threatened in 2007.

Q 05/05

What determines whether an alligator egg hatches as a male or a female?

A) The mother's age

B) The size of the egg

C) The month it is laid

D) The nest temperature

Answer · why

D) The nest temperature

Nests of 30 °C or cooler produce all females and 34 °C or hotter all males, so a nest built on leaves runs hotter than one on wet marsh.