Q 01/05

The leatherback is the largest living turtle. Roughly how heavy can it get?

A) About 100 kg

B) About 250 kg

C) About 500 kg

D) About 1,000 kg

Answer · why

C) About 500 kg

That also makes it the heaviest reptile outside the crocodilians; big individuals approach 2.7 metres in length.

Q 02/05

How many recognized species of sea turtles exist today?

A) 2

B) 7

C) 20

D) 60

Answer · why

B) 7

7 is the usual count, though some researchers make it eight by treating the Pacific's black turtle as a species of its own rather than a kind of green...

Q 03/05

What is the top section of a turtle's shell called?

A) Plastron

B) Gular

C) Scute

D) Carapace

Answer · why

D) Carapace

The carapace is the domed upper shell, fused to the turtle's backbone and skeleton, which is why a turtle can never crawl out of its shell.

Q 04/05

Bishop Tomás de Berlanga stumbled on the Galápagos and its giant tortoises in 1535 while drifting off course to where?

A) Peru

B) Mexico

C) Chile

D) Cuba

Answer · why

A) Peru

Peru was his destination: sailing from Panama to settle a quarrel between conquistadors, his ship was carried west by currents, and he reported tortoi...

Q 05/05

What determines the sex of most turtle hatchlings?

A) Incubation temperature

B) Egg size

C) Chromosomes from the father

D) Nest depth

Answer · why

A) Incubation temperature

Incubation temperature decides it: warmer sand hatches mostly females and cooler sand males, so a warming climate could tip whole nesting beaches towa...