Q 01/05

Which animal, North America's fastest land mammal, lives in Bryce Canyon National Park?

A) Pronghorn

B) Elk

C) Mule deer

D) Bighorn sheep

Answer · why

A) Pronghorn

Pronghorn: it can reach 55 mph, a speed that possibly evolved to escape extinct predators such as the American cheetah.

Q 02/05

Despite its name, Bryce Canyon is technically not a canyon. What is it?

A) The collapsed caldera of an ancient volcano

B) A row of amphitheaters eroded into a plateau edge

C) A meteorite impact crater on the plateau

D) The dried bed of a prehistoric lake

Answer · why

B) A row of amphitheaters eroded into a plateau edge

No central stream carved it; headward erosion ate into the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, leaving bowl-shaped scoops full of spires.

Q 03/05

Bryce Canyon's pink and white rock was laid down about 50 million years ago in what?

A) A freshwater lake

B) A coral reef

C) A sand-dune desert

D) A volcanic ash field

Answer · why

A) A freshwater lake

A freshwater lake: geologists call it Lake Claron, and its purest limestone layers are white because they lack the mineral impurities that colour the ...

Q 04/05

Which famous Bryce hoodoo has a boulder-like caprock balanced atop a slender column?

A) Thor's Hammer

B) Tower Bridge

C) The Hunter

D) The Poodle

Answer · why

A) Thor's Hammer

Thor's Hammer: like most hoodoos, it still stands because its harder cap shields the softer column beneath from erosion.

Q 05/05

In Paiute legend, Bryce Canyon's hoodoos are Legend People turned to stone by which trickster?

A) Raven

B) Coyote

C) Spider Woman

D) Bear

Answer · why

B) Coyote

Coyote: the Southern Paiute say he turned the Legend People to stone as punishment for their bad deeds.