Trivia for Rainy Days.

This is what Robertson looked like today -
well, the view from my back deck, anyway.

The Power Stanchion
(barely visible beyond the tree)
is about 300 metres away.

 Here is a link to the same view taken on a hazy summer's afternoon.

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For the record, we had  rain on 19 days out of 29 in February 2012.

We got a total of 289.5 mm of rain.

That number is well over the 

Bureau's Long term Mean figure for February of 165.9 mm.

And today's rain, which is looking likely to cause 

minor flooding in the Nepean River,

will of course, appear in the rainfall figures for March.

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With the prospect of more rain over the next few days, perhaps you might like to text your brain against some Nature Trivia questions (with a few linguistic tricks thrown in). These are some of the questions I asked the local Robertson Trivia enthusiasts.

Our little group rotates the role of Quiz Master, so it is just as well that I don't get to ask all the questions. These were a combination of Nature Trivia and Linguistic origins and meanings. I also asked a second round of more traditional (normal) Trivia questions. 

These Questions might have been sponsored by Williams the Shoemen – but not all of them.

1.      Where would you find a Bigfoot and what is its “native name” (Mythical Creature)

2.     Where would you hope to find a Yeti? (Mythical Creature)

3.     What is the linguistic difference between a Megapode and a Macropod and give an example of each group.

4.     What does the name Gastropod mean? And give example.

5.     What is a Podiatrist?  (define)

6.     For variety, what is Paediatrics? (define)

7.     Back to the "pods": What is a Tetrapod  (Biology)(give example)

8.    What is a Hexapod? (Biology - give example)

9.     Spiders have 8 legs – are they Octopods? 

10.What is an Octopod? (Biology – Define and give example) Octopus, Squid, Cuttlefish.

11.  What is a Cephalopod? (Biology – Define and give example)

12. What is a Decapod? (give example)

For variety we will go to the low numbers.

13. What is a Bipod? (mechanical)

14. What is a Biped? (biological)

15. What is a Monopod? (define or give example) Mechanical device

16. Who or what is a Monopod?  literature  and Mythology.

17. What is an Arthropod? (Biology) (define the significant feature, as mentioned in the name)

18.How many feet does a Millipede have? (estimate range of numbers of legs – between X and Y )

19. How many feet does a Centipede have? (range) -  15 and 30 pairs of legs in total and not 50.

20.  Spiders, do not have true blood. What colour is the circulatory fluid. Blue.  

21. Supplementary Question: (Free Drink or Cake Questions)

a.      The British arachnologist W.S. Bristowe established that an English meadow in late summer could support a population of around how many spiders per hectare. 100 000, b 1 million, c 5 million, 50 million? 

b.      What is the linguistic origin and meaning of the name “Fox”

The Modern English word "fox" is Old English, referring to the bushy tail.

It comes from the Proto-Germanic word fukh – compare German Fuchs, Gothic fauho, Old Norse foa and Dutch vos.  It corresponds to the Proto-Indo-European word puk - meaning "tail of it" (compare Sanskrit puccha, also "tail").  The bushy tail is also the source of the word for fox in Welsh: llwynog, from llwyn, "bush, grove". Lithuanian: uodegis, from uodega, "tail", Portuguese: raposa, from rabo, "tail”.

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ANSWERS ARE BELOW.

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Nature Trivia Answers

1)      Bigfoot: USA ,,, Sasquatch

2)     Yeti: Himalayas.

3)     A – Megapode = large foot (Greek: mega = large, poda = foot) (example) Brush Turkey, Mallee Fowl  (Mound-builders)

       B – Macropod = Macro (Latin) and Poda (foot (Greek) e.g., Kangaroos and Wallabies.

4)     Gastropod means Stomach + Foot.  Example - Snail

5)     Podiatrist is a Doctor specialising in a branch of medicine devoted to the study of, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle, and lower leg.

6)     Paediatrics  (Nothing to do with “pods”) A medical specialisation - deals with the care of infants and children and the treatment of their diseases.

7)     Tetrapods (Greek,  ("four-footed") corresponds to Latin quadruped. vertebrate animals having four limbs. Amphibians, sauropsids and mammals are tetrapods. 

8)    Hexapoda (from the Greek for six legs) constitutes the largest (in terms of number of species) grouping of arthropods and includes the insects as well as three much smaller groups of wingless arthropods: Collembola, Protura, and Diplura  Hexapods are named for their most distinctive feature: a consolidated thorax with three pairs of legs

9)     Spiders have 8 legs – but they are not Octopods?  No – they have 8 jointed legs and so are in the class of Arthropods?

10) Octopods – Marine creatures with 8 legs – (example) Octopus, Squid, Cuttlefish.

11)  A Cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural "head-feet"). These exclusively marine animals are characterized by a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles modified from the primitive molluscan foot.  octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish; and Nautilus and Allonautilus (shelled)

12)            The Decapods or Decapoda (literally "ten-footed") are an order of crustaceans including many familiar groups, such as crayfish, crabs, lobsters, prawns and shrimp

13) Bipod - 2 legged support - gun support, etc.

14) Biped. Hominids, dinosaurs, birds, hopping mice, etc, Kangaroos and Gerboas, (famous for hopping on two back feet).

15)  Monopod, also called a unipod, is a single staff or pole used to help support cameras, video cameras, binoculars, rifles or other precision instruments in the field.

16) Monopod (Greek Mythological creatures), mentioned by CS Lewis in Chronicles of Narnia. Humans said to have only one leg. This myth then developed to the idea that they rested on their backs during the heat of the day, with the large foot held high over the head, like an umbrella. Image available on this site. The myth supposedly developed from stories of Indian Yogis standing on one foot, with other foot bent back. Quite how they then supposedly took to lying on their back with the foot in the air, is not clear (to me).

17) Arthropod. (define the significant feature, as mentioned in the name) Jointed legs (arthro – “joint”)

18) Millipede (estimate range of numbers of legs – between X and Y ) Common species have between 36 and 400 legs. One reported to have 750.

19) Centipede (range) - 15 and 30 pairs of legs in total and not 50 (pairs).

20) Spiders, do not have true blood. What colour is the circulatory fluid? Blue.   Haemolymph, is pumped through arteries by a heart into spaces called sinuses surrounding their internal organs. The haemolymph contains hemocyanin, a respiratory protein similar in function to hemoglobin. Hemocyanin contains two copper atoms, tinting the haemolymph with a faint blue color.

Supplementary Question: (Free Drink or Cake Questions)

a)    The British arachnologist W.S. Bristowe established that an English meadow in late summer could support a population of around how many spiders per hectare?  a 100 000, b 1 million, c 5 million, d 50 million?  
      Answer: C five million   

Incidentally: The weight of insects consumed by English spiders each year easily exceeds the weight of the entire human population of England.   

b)     What is the linguistic origin and meaning of the name “Fox”
      The Modern English word "fox" is Old English, and comes from the Proto-Germanic word fukh – compare German Fuchs, Gothic fauho, Old Norse foa and Dutch vos.                         It corresponds to the Proto-Indo-European word puk- meaning "tail of it" (compare Sanskrit puccha, also "tail").  The bushy tail is also the source of the word for fox in Welsh: llwynog, from llwyn, "bush, grove". Lithuanian: uodegis, from uodega, "tail", Portuguese: raposa, from rabo, "tail"