Q 01/05

Which icon of cowboy films is really an invasive plant that reached South Dakota from Russia in the 1870s?

A) Sagebrush

B) Tumbleweed

C) Mesquite

D) Prickly pear

Answer · why

B) Tumbleweed

Tumbleweed of the classic kind is Russian thistle, which arrived in contaminated flaxseed. The dry plant snaps off at the stem and scatters its seeds ...

Q 02/05

Baikonur Cosmodrome, launch site of Sputnik 1 and Yuri Gagarin, stands on the open steppe of which country?

A) Russia

B) Uzbekistan

C) Ukraine

D) Kazakhstan

Answer · why

D) Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan leases the spaceport to Russia. The name Baikonur was reportedly chosen in 1961 to mislead the West toward a small mining town some 320 km ...

Q 03/05

Which naturalist realised in Patagonia that a flightless bird his party had just eaten was a species he had long sought?

A) Charles Darwin

B) Alexander von Humboldt

C) Joseph Banks

D) Alfred Russel Wallace

Answer · why

A) Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin rescued the head, neck, legs and a wing from the leftovers of the bird, which the expedition's artist had shot. The species still carri...

Q 04/05

Burrowing owls of the American grasslands defend their underground nests by imitating which feared animal?

A) Mountain lion

B) Wolverine

C) Rattlesnake

D) Porcupine

Answer · why

C) Rattlesnake

Rattlesnake-like rattling and hissing comes from inside the burrow when the owl feels threatened, a bluff that works on predators that have learned to...

Q 05/05

Which pioneer vehicle of the American West was nicknamed the prairie schooner?

A) Stagecoach

B) Covered wagon

C) Horse-drawn sleigh

D) Mail coach

Answer · why

B) Covered wagon

Covered wagon tops of white canvas looked like a ship's sails crossing a sea of grass, though oxen, mules or horses did the hauling, not the wind.