Q 01/05

Which former US president's 1914 book cast piranhas as vicious killers after a trip to Brazil?

A) Theodore Roosevelt

B) William Howard Taft

C) Woodrow Wilson

D) Grover Cleveland

Answer · why

A) Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt watched a school strip a cow to the bone within minutes. Local guides had staged the show, penning the fish in and starving them fi...

Q 02/05

Research on red-bellied piranhas found that they gather in shoals mainly for which purpose?

A) Hunting as a pack

B) Self-defense

C) Finding mates

D) Keeping warm

Answer · why

B) Self-defense

Self-defense is the point: a shoal shields each fish from cormorants and caimans. Scientists who expected cooperative hunters found shy fish hiding in...

Q 03/05

CT scans confirmed that piranhas shed and regrow their interlocking teeth in which unusual pattern?

A) One tooth at a time

B) Front teeth first

C) Upper jaw, then lower

D) One side at once

Answer · why

D) One side at once

One side at once is how the teeth go, because they lock together like one long blade. Replacements grow underneath first, so a piranha is never left t...

Q 04/05

Which blockbuster director's first feature was Piranha II: The Spawning, which he largely disowned?

A) Ridley Scott

B) Peter Jackson

C) James Cameron

D) Sam Raimi

Answer · why

C) James Cameron

James Cameron took over after the first director was fired, and the fish in his sequel can fly. He prefers to call The Terminator his first film.

Q 05/05

Red-bellied piranhas, which mostly eat weak, dying or dead animals, are likened to which birds?

A) Crows

B) Vultures

C) Gulls

D) Magpies

Answer · why

B) Vultures

Vultures do the same clean-up job on land. Far from being relentless hunters, these piranhas are generally timid scavengers that pick off what is alre...