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.

Talking about evolution, the reason(s) why Cetaceans have almost completely lost their body hair since the time they were land mammals is (are):

Life in the ocean is so psychologically stressful

A fur is not as effective to keep a body warm in the water as it is on land

To increase streamlining

To avoid looking like seals and being hunted

2.

Which of the following baleen whales are unmistakable because of their typical V-shaped blow?

Gray whale

Right whale

Minke whale

Humpback whale

3.

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

4.

The Pilot whale has a higher than normal rate of:

Liver diseases

Twin births

Lactic acid formation when diving longer than 15 minutes

Stranding

5.

Which whale species is unique in having three ridges on the top of its head rather than only one?

Blue whale

Fin whale

Humpback whale

Bryde's whale

6.

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)

7.

Who is the current record holder for deep diving among Marine Mammals?

Blue whale

Sperm whale

Elephant Seal

Cuvier's beaked whale

8.

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)

9.

Which of the following species are known to sometimes kill other marine mammals?

Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)

False killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens)

Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)

Orca (Orcinus orca)

10.

The English name for Tursiops truncatus is:

Hector's dolphin

Northern Bottlenose whale

Common dolphin

None of the above