Q 01/05

The word 'caribou' comes from a Mi'kmaq name that describes the animal doing what?

A) Swimming across rivers

B) Pawing away snow

C) Shedding its antlers

D) Running from wolves

Answer · why

B) Pawing away snow

Pawing away snow. Dictionaries trace the name through Canadian French to Mi'kmaq qalipu, 'snow-shoveller', for the way the animal scrapes down to its ...

Q 02/05

What makes reindeer unique among all deer species?

A) They never shed their antlers

B) They hibernate through winter

C) They alone live in herds

D) Females may grow antlers

Answer · why

D) Females may grow antlers

Females may grow antlers. A cow keeps hers right through the winter and drops them only in spring, around the time her calf is born.

Q 03/05

When do male reindeer usually lose their antlers?

A) In high midsummer

B) In the spring thaw

C) Late autumn or early winter

D) Just before the mating season

Answer · why

C) Late autumn or early winter

Late autumn or early winter. By then the antlers have done their job: bulls use them to spar over mates in the breeding season, drop them soon after a...

Q 04/05

Between summer and winter, the eyes of Arctic reindeer change from what colour to what?

A) Blue to red

B) Brown to green

C) Black to white

D) Gold to blue

Answer · why

D) Gold to blue

Gold to blue. The mirror-like layer at the back of the eye shifts colour with the seasons, a change thought to help the animals see through the long d...

Q 05/05

Reindeer can see which kind of light that humans cannot?

A) Infrared

B) Radio waves

C) Ultraviolet

D) X-rays

Answer · why

C) Ultraviolet

Ultraviolet. Things that vanish against snow in ordinary light, such as fur, urine and the plants they graze, stand out in sharp contrast to an eye th...