A Christmas quiz to test your nature knowledge
THIS week’s column features a Christmas quiz that is fairly or unfairly biased in favour of regular readers as the questions are picked from topics highlighted in this column over the past year. Twenty-three questions follow. Answers are at the foot of the column but casting an eye down for clues is strictly forbidden.
1. What was David Attenborough referring to when he talked about “the greatest threat to face humanity in thousands of years”?
2. What is a False Widow?
3. What city on the shore of the Caspian Sea in Iran is the wetlands convention named after?
4. What is a Green-veined White?
5. Which common native Irish tree has large, jet black, matt buds in winter?
6. In which coastal city is our National Biodiversity Data Centre located?
7. What kind of animal is a Humpback?
8. The Rook is a member of which family of wild birds?
9. What instrument is Antonie van Leeuwenhoek credited with inventing?
10. Name the migratory wading bird with a loud trilling call that passes through Ireland during May on migration.
11. What colour are the flowers of Three-cornered Garlic?
12. What farm building gives its name to a once-common native Irish owl?
13. What kind of fish is an Atlantic Bluefin?
14. How many legs do shrimps and prawns have?
15. Lichens are composed of two or three different organisms living together; true or false?
16. Can ants fly?
17. What umbrella term is used to cover all the fruits of forests?
18. There was an outbreak of haemorrhagic disease earlier this year. What animals were affected?
19. What is a Capercaillie?
20. Name the common straggling hedgerow plant that has large white, trumpet-shaped flowers in late summer and early autumn.
21. What was the name of the hurricane that threatened Ireland at the end of September but ran out of stream before it made landfall?
22. What is the seed head of a dandelion popularly known as?
23. The Grey Wolf was once found in Ireland; true or false? Answers. 1 Climate change. 2 A spider. 3 Ramsar. 4 A butterfly. 5 Ash. 6 Waterford. 7 A whale. 8 Crows. 9 The microscope. 10. The Whimbrel. 11 White. 12. Barn. 13 A tuna. 14 Ten. 15 True. 16 Yes. 17 Mast. 18 Rabbits and hares. 19 A large species of grouse, now extinct in Ireland. 20 Hedge Bindweed. 21 Lorenzo. 22 A Clock. 23 True.