Natural history

1. The great white shark is a fierce predator of fishes and other sea creatures such as whales, porpoises and turtles. True/false?
2. How big are vampire bats which live in Mexico and South America?
3. How many species of insect are there in the world today?
4. Name the carnivorous plant that floats in freshwater which has a series of bubble like bladders on it to trap prey?
5. What is the difference between horns and antlers?
6. What is a goose barnacle?
7. Which animal produces the biggest baby?
8. What is a mouth breeder?
9. Which animal is the biggest of the primates?
10. What results in yellow colouring in a chameleon?
11. Which lizards feed on ants?
12. What are newts?
13. What is the ‘breeding dress’ of the great crested newt?
14. How much time does a frog take in developing from an egg to an adult frog?
15. What is strange about the midwife male toad?
16. What are the different stages a butterfly goes through from egg to butterfly called?

[Answers]

1. True. The great white shark which can grow to a length of 25 feet also attacks humans and is labelled as a ‘man-eater'.

2. Vampire bats are extremely small and light, measuring only 7cm (2 1/4 in) or less.

3. Over one million have been identified and named. There could be over three million other species yet to be discovered.

4. The bladder wart.

5. Horns are composed of a bony central core attached to the skull and covered with a horny sheath. The horny sheath is grown by a layer of tissue covering the bony core. The antlers grow from a bony core on the skull, covered with skin. This is richly supplied with nerves and blood vessels. The bony core produces the branching antlers and these remain covered with skin.

6. A goose barnacle is a tiny marine animal related to shrimp and crabs.

7. The blue whale. When a baby blue whale is born it weighs over 3,000 kg (3 tonnes) about the same weight as a fully grown hippopotamus.

8. A mouth breeder is a kind of fish which has the unusual habit of keeping all its young inside its mouth when there are signs of danger. The little ones rush into the open mouth and the adult carries them around to safety and releases them only when the danger or threat is passed.

9. The gorillas.

10. Excitement results in yellow colouring and spots in a chameleon.

11. The horned lizard.

12. Newts are amphibians and they look like lizards. They begin their life in water like tadpoles and live on land when they become adults.

13. The crests which help the male animal to attract female newts during the breeding season are called the ‘breeding dress.’

14. A frog takes 11 to 12 weeks to develop into an adult frog.

15. The midwife male toad is considered strange because it carries the string of eggs around its hind legs till they are hatched.

16. The butterfly passes through many stages to become a butterfly from an egg. It is called metamorphosis. Eggs change into caterpillars, then caterpillars develop into cocoons. There is constant change inside the cocoons and finally they break and butterflies come out.