Q 01/05

How do marine iguanas get rid of the extra salt they swallow while feeding in the sea?

A) Sweating it out

B) Crying salty tears

C) Sneezing it out

D) Spitting it out

Answer · why

C) Sneezing it out

Sneezing it out clears the salt that glands at the nostrils filter from the blood. The spray often dries on the head as a crusty white wig.

Q 02/05

What can adult marine iguanas do to their own bodies to survive years when food runs short?

A) Shrink in length

B) Change their sex

C) Grow a fat hump

D) Sleep for months

Answer · why

A) Shrink in length

Shrink in length is the trick, by as much as a fifth, and researchers suspect the bones themselves shorten. The iguanas grow back once the seaweed ret...

Q 03/05

Which movie monster gives its name to a marine iguana subspecies from San Cristóbal Island?

A) King Kong

B) Mothra

C) The Kraken

D) Godzilla

Answer · why

D) Godzilla

Godzilla was a fitting choice: the designer of the 1998 Hollywood film modelled its monster on iguanas instead of the upright Japanese original.

Q 04/05

Which naturalist threw a marine iguana into the sea again and again in 1835, only to see it swim back?

A) Alexander von Humboldt

B) Charles Darwin

C) John James Audubon

D) Alfred Russel Wallace

Answer · why

B) Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin found the lizard came straight back to the spot where he stood every time. He guessed that instinct told it the shore was safer than th...

Q 05/05

Española's marine iguanas flush with bright colour when breeding, earning a nickname from which holiday?

A) Halloween

B) Mardi Gras

C) Christmas

D) Valentine's Day

Answer · why

C) Christmas

Christmas iguanas flush red and green, and the name fits twice over: the colours are brightest in the breeding season, which begins in December.