Terra Magazine

How’s your frog IQ?

(correct answers at the end)

Presented by Andrew Blaustein at Corvallis Science Pub in February 2013

1. What was the name of the movie that starred Ray Milland and Sam Elliot where frogs were taking over the world?

The Amphibian Chronicles

Croak

Frogs

2. What U.S. president was extremely fond of frogs and collected frog figurines and frog letter openers?

Bill Clinton

Jimmy Carter

Harry Truman

3. Who was “Heket” (Heqat) of ancient Egypt?

A god in the shape of a bullfrog that controlled life along the river

The pharaoh who caused a plague of frogs to rain down on the people

The Egyptian frog goddess of fertility

A farmer who raised frogs as a delicacy for royalty

4. What newspaper broke these two stories on the front page: “The Watergate Scandal” & “Scientists detect mysterious declines in global populations of frogs”

The Washington Post

The National Enquirer

The Christian Science Monitor

The New York Times

5. Which president said, “Eighty percent of air pollution comes not from chimneys and auto exhaust pipes, but from plants and trees.”

George W. Bush

Ronald Reagan

Richard Nixon

Gerald Ford

6. What is the main cause for amphibian malformations—extra limbs-deformed limbs?

A virus associated with polluted water

UV radiation

Pesticides

A parasitic flatworm

7. True or false: As adults, some frog species are herbivorous — eat only plant material.

True, a half-dozen species eat only plants

False, all are carnivorous

8. The major cause for our loss in “biodiversity” is”

Habitat destruction

Loss of ozone in the upper atmosphere

Acidic precipitation

Overfishing

9. Spreading fungal diseases are killing populations of these two groups of vertebrates:

Black howler monkeys and newts

Hummingbirds and frogs

Salmon and salamanders

Bats and amphibians

10. Which U.S. president was responsible for the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency?

Lyndon Johnson

Richard Nixon

Gerald Ford

Jimmy Carter

Correct answers:

1. Frogs

2. Bill Clinton

3. The Egyptian frog goddess of fertility

4. The Washington Post

5. Ronald Reagan

6. A parasitic flatworm

7. False, all are carnivorous

8. Habitat destruction

9. Bats and amphibians

10. Richard Nixon