One of the things that really gets my goat as a wildlife educator is that it seems that people know more about wildlife from other parts of the world than they do about the wildlife here in the good old USA. Lets see how you fare on this special patriotic quiz about the wildlife native to the US, and especially to Pennsylvania! Answers and scoring are on page_______.
1) Name the species of songbird in Pennsylvania that is Red, White and Blue.
2) What species of bird was Ben Franklin’s choice for our national symbol?
3) What is the largest rodent native to the United States?
4) What mammal has the same number of mammary glands (nipples) as there are stripes
in our flag? (That’s a toughie!)
5) What agency in Pennsylvania is responsible for protecting and regulating all species of
reptiles and amphibians?
6) Which is the smallest type of owl found in PA? The largest?
7) What kind of mammal can eat its own body weight in mosquitoes each night?
8) What is the only marsupial in the United States?
9) Which of these is not a rodent- porcupine, bat, vole, groundhog
10) Name the terms used for male, female and baby bears.
11) What state in the U.S. has the largest black bears?
12) What is the only member of the dog family that can and regularly does climb?
13) What is the state fish of PA?
14) What is the state bird of PA?
15) Name one of our two state insects.
16) How many species of bats live in PA? A) 3
17) How many species of owls can be seen in PA B) 8
18) How many species of rabbits and hares are native to PA? C) 9
19) How many kinds of turtles are native to PA? D) 2
20) Number of species of skunks in PA E) 14
1) The Eastern Bluebird
2) The Wild Turkey
3) The BEAVER. They can reach 40 pounds.
4) The opossum, strangely enough, has 13 nipples, arranged in a horseshoe shape!
5) The PA Fish and Boat Commission is responsible not only for all aquatic resources, but reptiles and amphibians as well. Go figure!
6) The Saw Whet is the smallest at about 6” in height, while the Great Horned Owl is the largest resident owl at 18 to 24 inches tall.
7) All native bats to PA can eat up to their own weight in insects each night. Considering that diseases that can be contracted by mosquitoes, we should truly embrace bats as our friends!
8) See number 4- the opossum!!!
9) Bats belong to the order Chiroptera. Rodents cannot fly, and have gnawing teeth that grow continuously.
10) Boars, Sows and cubs!
11) This is a quiz about PA animals, and we have the largest Black Bears in the U.S- with record bears weighing in at over 800 pounds!!!
12) Because they live in the woods, and the best escape is a vertical one, gray foxes climb very well.
13) The Brook Trout is our state fish.
14) The State bird of PA is the Ruffed Grouse.
15) The firefly and the lady bug are our state insects.
16) C 17) B 18) A 19) E 20) D (spotted and striped)
17-20 correct: You are a person well-versed in the outdoors of PA
13-16 correct: I bet you have had your share of mosquito bites!
9-12 correct: An armchair quarterback; a pretty good amateur
5-11 correct: There is so much to see and learn about in the Poconos-
You should spend some time enjoying one of the free
hikes or environmental programs offered in the are. We are
blessed with wildlife in abundance like few other places in the
Less than 5 correct: Doors open OUT as well as IN!!!
A few notes: We have several public live wildlife programs coming up at Bushkill Falls. We’d love to see you there. If you come, bring an old cell phone to recycle and they will donate a dollar to the PWRC all season. Our programs are at 1 and 2 pm on 7/13, 7/20, 7/26, 8/9, 8/17 and 8/24. Don’t forget your camera!!!