The Spectacular Wildlife Quiz Show!!

[NAU Wildlife Society Admin]

Come one, come all!
Care to test each others knowledge about wildlife, fieldmarkings, etc., or do you have an unanswerable question plagueing your mind, then step right up and post here to let the fun begin!!

[Whiskey Jack]

I have a quick quiz question for all you trackers out there..............What is the main difference between the track of a big dog (i.e. Wolf, Coyote...etc.) and a big cat (i.e. Mountain Lion, Bobcat...etc.), and size doesn't count since a track can grow in size if its been on the ground for a while.

Good luck!!

[Kitfox]

Oooh I think I know this one! Heh...

The dogs have claw marks, but the cats don't, right? *is hopeful*

o.o

[Stinger]

Nice one Kit! Here is some added info that I read from a tracking book I own. Cat prints are more asymetrical than a dogs, meaning the toes point in a different direction than the heel pad! Cats also have 5 toes on their front paws though the fifth usually does not register because is so high up. However, in snow or soft mud it may, so if you may see the front tracks with 5 and the back with only four.

On the cat/dog note, here is a simple one: How do you tell the difference between a cat's or a dog's kill?

[Stinger]

Here is one that should be easy and has to do with Thanksgiving: What bird and who wanted it to be the national bird instead of the Bald Eagle?

Here is another: Between the Ringneck Pheasant, the Chukar, and the Spruce Grouse which one is native to the North American continent? And a bonus point/beer if you know where the 2 that are not native come from?

Good Luck!!

[Kitfox]

Stinger said:

Here is one that should be easy and has to do with Thanksgiving: What bird and who wanted it to be the national bird instead of the Bald Eagle?

Couldn't be the turkey could it? ;-)

And Stinger, sounds like you have the same tracking book that I read in the library a few weeks back. The note on the claws was all I could remember from it, but the extra information you've written rings a bell now. =)

[Whiskey Jack]

You guys are good! Man, it's nice to know there are other folks out there that read tracking books, for fun even!

Stinger said:

Between the Ringneck Pheasant, the Chukar, and the Spruce Grouse which one is native to the North American continent? And a bonus point/beer if you know where the 2 that are not native come from?
Good Luck!!

And since I already owe you a beer Stinger, I figure I should even it up a bit and try to answer your question there. My Ornithology class is finely paying off!!
The Spruce Grouse would defenitly be the native (and there is also a different form of the same species found in the Northern Rockies that is sometimes called Franklin's Grouse.). Now for the beer round, the Chukar (named for the sound it makes) is native to the middle East and Southern Asia, and the Ring-necked Pheasant is found all over Asia too. Did you guys know about the Green Pheasant? It's also an exotic game species and it can be found along the East Coast.

And as for the kill one.....I know I have seen a talk on this, but for the life of me I cannot remember! Hell, I even talked to the old Wolf Biologist for USDA about this subject (he was the guy that would have to determine types of livestock kills) and I still can't remember! You got me on that one. But here is an intersting fact for you all from a recent scientific paper........many livestock were being killed in Wyoming in recent years, and the blame was placed squarely on the newly revived Grey Wolf population that inhabited those parts. A biologist decided to test wolf feces from numerous packs to see which wolves had livestock meat in their diet. It turns out that only 2 wolves out of many, many wolves tested, were responsibile for all the kills, and the other wolves had nothing to do with it. I wish more wolf-haters would read this study and see that it is not wolves that kill livestock, it is a wolf that does it repeatedly, and these encounters are extremely rare if you look at the wolf population as a whole.

[Whiskey Jack]

Allright, here is my quiz question for the day: How did the Brown Tree Snake, a massivley destructive invasive species, shut down an entire city in Guam? (Kind of a specific question, but the answer is crazy!)

[Stinger]

The kill answer that I know of is this: cats cover their kills!

The Brown Tree snake, Boiga irregularis, shuts down cities in Guam by scaling power lines and transformers causing power outages. Over 1200 of them!! It has also virtually wiped out all native bird species on the island! 12 species unique to the island have disappeared as a direct result of the snake!

Now I as most of you know I love snakes but that sucks! Of course the snake would not have been there if it were not from man!

[Stinger]

Here is one that has to do with elk, since we saw a bunch on Friday;
What is another name for elk and what does it mean and in what language?

[Kitfox]

That's very interestin about the snakes. You learn something new every day.

I'm afraid I don't have answers to any of your questions, but I do have a couple of trivia of my own.

Q. Why do ducks have flat feet?

A. For stamping out forest fires.


Q. Why do elephants have flat feet?

A. For stamping out burning ducks.

:mallard:

[Stinger]

The answer to the elk question is:
The other name = wapiti, it is a Shawnee word meaning "pale rump"

In a fairly simple answer; How does "eyeshine" work and why are nocturanal animals better at seeing in the dark than diurnal (us)?

[Whiskey Jack]

Nice jokes Kit! All I know are lame birder jokes....

Well...this is taken from the mouth of Sparrowhawk when I asked her the question: "I think it is the tapetum lucidum in the eye that reflects light back in nocturnal animals and birds. Its something that helps them see better at night with small ammounts of light, but it also produces a shine when too much light is put onto it."
So there you go folks.....I cheated and had to ask someone smarter than me.

Allright...here is a thought question: A rabbit hears a coyote one night, but the coyote sounds so far away. Thus, the rabbit feels it is safe to come out and forage. Suddenly the coyote is upon it. How did the coyote trick the rabbit into thinking it was far away?

Also, on those lines of communication....
When is it not safe for a baby squirell to poke its head out of the cavity nest when it hears it's mother calling for it?

[Stinger]

Well done Sparrow!! Dont feel bad Crow, I had to cheat a little on your Brown snake/Guam question.

Now, how did that sneaky coyote trick that rabbit? My initial guess is that the coyote has figured out how to "throw" it's call, maybe using caynons to get an echo!? Just a guess though, whatever the answer is, it is pretty dang cool!!

I am also thinking that the baby squirell does not want to come out of its den when it hears its moms call when that call is actually being made by a predator ie a hawk!? I know some animals are able to duplicate calls to sound like other animals to throw predators/prey off!

[Kitfox]

I don't really know, but Stinger's answers are good. Another possibility for the first one is that maybe there are two coyotes. One is far away and one is close.