Q 01/05

What did brain recordings reveal about how frigatebirds cope on ocean flights lasting many days?

A) They never sleep at all

B) They sleep while flying

C) They slow their heartbeat

D) They fast the whole time

Answer · why

B) They sleep while flying

They sleep while flying, but for only about 40 minutes a day, a fraction of what they get ashore, and sometimes with just one half of the brain at a t...

Q 02/05

What colour is the balloon-like throat sac a male frigatebird inflates to attract passing females?

A) Blue

B) Yellow

C) Red

D) Green

Answer · why

C) Red

Red is the colour, and the sac takes about 20 minutes to pump up. It deflates so slowly that a startled male may fly off with it still swollen.

Q 03/05

A great frigatebird tracked by satellite over the Indian Ocean stayed airborne for roughly how long?

A) Twelve hours

B) Two days

C) Two weeks

D) Two months

Answer · why

D) Two months

Two months aloft was the tally for a bird that rode rising air and barely flapped. Frigatebirds have also been tracked above 4,000 metres, in freezing...

Q 04/05

Why do frigatebirds never settle on the sea, unlike almost every other ocean-going bird?

A) Their bones are too heavy

B) Salt water blinds them

C) They are not waterproof

D) Sharks would snatch them

Answer · why

C) They are not waterproof

They are not waterproof: frigatebirds make very little preen oil, so their plumage would soon be sodden. They even bathe on the wing, dipping low to s...

Q 05/05

A frigatebird's air-filled skeleton is only about 5% of its weight, far less than which other part?

A) Its hooked bill

B) Its feathers

C) Its webbed feet

D) Its two eyes

Answer · why

B) Its feathers

Its feathers weigh more than its bones: plumage and flight muscles each make up about a quarter of the bird. That light frame lets it hang on rising a...