Fun with Quizzes

Are you a Cetacean expert?

Instructions
To pass the test you must answer correctly at least 7 questions out of 10. For each question, one or more answers can be correct and you need to select all the correct options to score a point. Test evaluation is immediate and does not require you to provide any personal data.

1.

Which of the following cetacean species do not have a dorsal fin?

Gray whale

Beluga

Minke whale

Southern Right whale

2.

The Pilot whale has a higher than normal rate of:

Liver diseases

Twin births

Lactic acid formation when diving longer than 15 minutes

Stranding

3.

Balaena mysticetus is the scientific name for:

Bowhead whale

Humpback whale

It is a synonym with Mysticeti

Great Misty whale

4.

Which of the following assertions about the Sperm whale are true?

Its blow is unique in being projected forward and on the left

It belongs to the suborder Odontoceti

It can dive as deep as 2000 metres (6000 feet)

There is an organ in its head called Spermaceti, containing huge amounts of a waxy substance (which has nothing to do with sperm, though)

5.

The so-called baleen in toothless whales (Mysticeti) serve the purpose of:

Filtering the water and retain food

Filtering the oxygen contained in the water

Chewing preys

Increasing streamlining

6.

Herman Melville's white whale in the novel Moby Dick was actually:

A Great White Shark

A Whale Shark

A Sperm whale

A Blue whale

7.

Which of the following cetaceans belong to the Delphinidae family?

Orca

False killer whale

Cuvier's Beaked whale

Manatee

8.

Talking about the ability of some cetaceans to make sounds and process the echoes bouncing back:

Echolocating cetaceans can recognise a woman being pregnant and may be therefore particularly careful and cautious in her presence

Echolocating cetaceans can see air in our lungs and therefore understand we cannot breathe underwater

Being echolocated by a cetacean is a guarantee the animal will not bump into you by mistake

Echolocation is the use of sound (and relative echoes) to locate objects, estimate their distance, shape and density

9.

The number of blowholes in Odontoceti is:

Two

One or two, depending on the species

One

Always one, except the Sperm whale which has two

10.

In which place(s) are Orcas known to attack mother and calf Gray whale pairs?

Monterey Bay (CA, United States)

Kaikoura (New Zealand)

Portofino (Italy)

Peninsula Valdes (Argentina)