Q 01/05

Which monkey, the northernmost non-human primate on Earth, bathes in hot springs through snowy forest winters?

A) Rhesus macaque

B) Japanese macaque

C) Barbary macaque

D) Golden snub-nosed monkey

Answer · why

B) Japanese macaque

Japanese macaque troops live in the cool deciduous forests of central and northern Japan, where snow can lie for months. They have also been seen roll...

Q 02/05

Around 6,000 trees, nine-tenths of them oak, were felled to build which flagship of Admiral Nelson at Trafalgar?

A) HMS Victory

B) HMS Endeavour

C) HMS Bounty

D) Mary Rose

Answer · why

A) HMS Victory

HMS Victory needed 150 men to assemble her, and the rest of her timber was elm, pine and fir. She has sat in dry dock at Portsmouth since 1922 and rem...

Q 03/05

Which everyday painkiller grew out of salicin, a bitter compound found in the bark of willow trees?

A) Morphine

B) Ibuprofen

C) Aspirin

D) Paracetamol

Answer · why

C) Aspirin

Aspirin is a lab-made relative of salicin, and willow remedies appear on clay tablets from ancient Sumer. In the 1700s an English clergyman spent five...

Q 04/05

Which Christmas evergreen is really a parasite that taps water and nutrients from the branches of trees?

A) Holly

B) Spruce

C) Poinsettia

D) Mistletoe

Answer · why

D) Mistletoe

Mistletoe sinks a root-like organ called a haustorium into its host's bark. It still makes some food of its own by photosynthesis, so botanists call i...

Q 05/05

Which spirit must, by law, be stored in a brand-new container of charred oak?

A) Bourbon

B) Scotch

C) Dark rum

D) Brandy

Answer · why

A) Bourbon

Bourbon draws its colour and much of its flavour from caramelised sugars in the charred wood. Coopers favour the white oak of North America's eastern ...