Q 01/05

Which Quentin Tarantino film shows hitman Vincent Vega wearing a UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs T-shirt?

A) Reservoir Dogs

B) Pulp Fiction

C) Jackie Brown

D) Kill Bill

Answer · why

B) Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction gave the mascot its biggest screen moment in 1994, eight years after UC Santa Cruz students voted the banana slug in.

Q 02/05

Which animal did UC Santa Cruz's chancellor back as mascot before students voted in the banana slug?

A) Sea otter

B) Elephant seal

C) Grey whale

D) Sea lion

Answer · why

D) Sea lion

Sea lion was the administration's choice in the early 1980s, but a 1986 student vote picked the slug, and the chancellor gave way once athletes agreed...

Q 03/05

What does a banana slug's slime do to the tongue of a predator that tries to take a bite?

A) Burns it

B) Numbs it

C) Stains it

D) Swells it

Answer · why

B) Numbs it

The slime numbs it, working like an anaesthetic on a moist surface, and its stickiness makes the slug harder to grip and swallow.

Q 04/05

Where on a banana slug's body would you find the two eyespots it uses to sense movement?

A) On its lower tentacles

B) Along the rim of its back

C) On its upper tentacles

D) Beside its mouth

Answer · why

C) On its upper tentacles

On its upper tentacles, right at the tips, sit the eyespots, while the shorter lower pair handles smell.

Q 05/05

Which California governor signed the bill that made the banana slug the official state slug?

A) Gavin Newsom

B) Jerry Brown

C) Pete Wilson

D) George Deukmejian

Answer · why

A) Gavin Newsom

Gavin Newsom signed it on September 27, 2024, the same date Santa Cruz's city council had named a day for the university's slug in 2011.