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 assertions about the Gray whale are true?

It performs the longest seasonal migrations between breeding and feeding grounds

It has a higher than average number of parasites

Its scientific name is Eschrichtius robustus

Females are larger than males

2.

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

It is the most acrobatic of all baleen whales (Mysticeti)

It only inhabits the Northern Hemisphere

It has unusually long, very distinctive flippers (pectoral fins)

Its songs (only males sing) are well known for their complexity and variety

3.

Which of the following animals are not cetaceans?

Dugong

Manatee

Sperm whale

Beluga

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 Hector's dolphin is:

One of the smallest of all cetaceans

A dolphin that can only be found in New Zealand waters

A highly endangered species

A close relative of the Hector's beaked whale

6.

Resident Orcas in British Columbia are:

Fish eaters

Marine mammal eaters

Omnivorous

Filter feeders

7.

The so-called melon in Odontoceti plays a crucial role in:

Focusing the sounds used in echolocation

Excreting

Feeding

Mating

8.

Balaena mysticetus is the scientific name for:

Bowhead whale

Humpback whale

It is a synonym with Mysticeti

Great Misty whale

9.

Strandings of cetaceans can be caused by:

Military sonar systems

Infections and other diseases

Local changes of the Earth's magnetic field

Ancestral desire of cetaceans to come back to land

10.

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