Win €100 with the Wild Ireland Big Nature Quiz

Win €100 with the Wild Ireland Big Nature Quiz

Match the books or films to the animals below

Identify the leaves above

Send your answers to iicompetitions@independent.ie to be in with a chance of the prize.

Section 1 - Irish Wildlife

1. The Burren in Co Clare is renowned for its rare alpine flowers – but what is the rocky formation in which they grow?

A: Granite

B: Sandstone

C: Limestone

2. When whale-watching in Cork, which types might you see?

A: Minke whale, fin whale, humpback whale

B: Sperm whale, killer whale, beluga whale

C: Blue whale, bowhead whale, narwhal

3. Sceilg Mhichíl became famous as the so-called “Star Wars Island” in the popular film series. But it’s also home to one of the world’s largest breeding populations of which of these birds?

A: Short-tailed albatross and little auk

B: Manx shearwater and storm petrel

C: Great white pelican and razorbill

4. Glenveagh National Park and the Phoenix Park are great places for spotting red deer. What was the name of the now-extinct animal which once roamed Ireland and was one of the largest types of deer in world history?

A: Giant Irish deer

B: Mega Irish deer

C: Supermassive Irish deer

5. Fungie the Dolphin was last seen at Dingle in 2020. How does the common bottle-nosed dolphin locate its prey?

A: Magnetoreception

B: Infrared vision

C: Echolocation

Section 2 – Identify these tree leaves

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Section 3 – Animal babies

Give the correct name for the young of these animals:

1. Otter

2. Eagle

3. Sea turtle

4. Swan

5. Badger

Section 4 – Flowers

1. What are perennial flowers?

A. They come back once every year

B. They come back several times a year

C. They bloom just once then die

2. Ireland has 98 species of bee – one managed and 97 wild. What are queen bees fed on?

A. Royal jam

B. Royal jelly

C. Royal marmalade

3. Which of these wildflowers blooms earliest every year?

A. Buttercup

B. Marsh cinquefoil

C. Snowdrop

4. The berries of the juniper plant can be used to make which alcoholic drink?

A. Vodka

B. Gin

C. Tequila

5. What is the Irish word for a daisy?

A. Nóinín

B. Lus Cholm Cille

C. Gliográn

Section 5 – match these animals to the book or film

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Spider

Pig

Bat

Donkey

Rabbit

Section 6 – True or false?

1. The Turritopsis dohrnii jellyfish is immortal,

in the sense that it never dies of old age.

2. Some species of lobster possess two

hearts, one much smaller than the other.

3. The Guinness Book of Records came about after an argument over the fastest game bird in Europe, during a hunt in Wexford Nature Reserve in 1951.

4. The U2 song Mysterious Ways was inspired by a dream Bono had while angling on the Dodder River on a hot summer afternoon.

5. The pistol shrimp, when it snaps its claws, creates a cavitation bubble in the water

with temperatures as high as the surface

of the sun.

Section 7 – Exotic animals

1. The seven “big cats” are snow leopard, leopard, cheetah, cougar, tiger, lion…and what else?

2. Which weighs more on average, crocodiles or alligators?

3. What is the fastest bird in the world?

4. The largest living thing on earth is a single mushroom in the US. Is a mushroom a plant?

5. What is unusual about a shark’s skeleton?

Section 8 – Anagrams

Unjumble the food and match to the animal:

Food:

A. cars no

B. nest sic

C. trance

D. grin her

E. others warm

Animals:

Bats

Badgers

Squirrels

Puffins

Wasps

Section 9 – Wildlife and literature

“I wandered lonely as a cloud/ That floats

on high o’er vales and hills…”

What flower is William Wordsworth about to see?

A. Roses

B. Daffodils

C. Orchids

In the famous novel, which horse is Black Beauty’s best friend?

A. Red Rum

B. White Lightning

C. Ginger

3. What fearsome beast caused The Gruffalo to turn and run away in fright?

A. Mouse

B. Pygmy shrew

C. Slug

4. Who were Fantastic Mr Fox’s human enemies?

A. Bish, Bash and Bosh

B. Bilbo, Baggins and Boyakasha

C. Boggis, Bunce and Bean

5. “The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea/ In a beautiful pea-green boat…” What was their honey

and money wrapped up in?

A. A cashmere scarf

B. A five-pound note

C. A length of bubble-wrap

Send your answers to iicompetitions@independent.ie to be in with a chance of the prize

More than 60 wildfires rage across US west – including blaze bigger than Portland

More than 60 wildfires were burning across at least 10 states in the parched American west on Tuesday, with the largest, in Oregon, consuming an area nearly twice the size of Portland.

The fires have torched homes and forced thousands to evacuate from Alaska to Wyoming, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Arizona, Idaho and Montana accounted for more than half of the large active fires.

The fires erupted as the west was in the grip of the second bout of dangerously high temperatures in just a few weeks. A major drought, exacerbated by the climate crisis, is contributing to conditions that make fires even more dangerous, scientists say.

The National Weather Service says the heatwave appeared to have peaked in many areas, and excessive-heat warnings were largely expected to expire by Tuesday. However, they continued into Tuesday night in some California deserts, and many areas were still expected to see highs in the 80s and 90s.

00:57 Satellite imagery captures wildfires raging through Oregon – video

In northern California, a combined pair of lightning-ignited blazes dubbed the Beckwourth Complex is now 46% contained, according to an incident report. Firefighters spent days battling flames that were fueled by winds, hot weather and low humidity that sapped the moisture from vegetation. Evacuation orders were in place for more than 3,000 residents of remote northern areas and neighboring Nevada.

There were reports of burned homes, but damage was still being tallied. The blaze had consumed 140 sq miles (362 sq km) of land, including in Plumas national forest.

A fire that began on Sunday in the Sierra Nevada south of Yosemite national park exploded over 14 sq miles (36 sq km) and was just 10% contained.

The largest fire in the US lay across the California border in south-western Oregon. The Bootleg fire – which doubled and doubled again over the weekend – threatened some 2,000 homes, state fire officials said. It had burned at least seven homes and more than 40 other buildings.

00:49 ‘It’s a tornado’: firefighter captures blaze engulfing California town – video

Tim McCarley told KPTV-TV that he and his family were ordered to flee their home on Friday with flames just minutes behind them.

“They told us to get the hell out ’cause if not, you’re dead,” he said.

He described the blaze as “like a firenado” with flames leaping dozens of feet into the air and jumping around, catching trees “and then just explosions, boom, boom, boom, boom”.

The fire was burning in the Fremont-Winema national forest, near the Klamath county town of Sprague River. It had ravaged an area of about 240 sq miles (621 sq km), or nearly twice the size of Portland. Firefighters hadn’t managed to surround any of it as they struggled to build containment lines.

The fire drastically disrupted service on three transmission lines providing up to 5,500 megawatts of electricity to California, and California’s power grid operator has repeatedly asked for voluntary power conservation during evening hours.

Elsewhere, a forest fire started during lightning storms in southeast Washington grew to 86 sq miles (223 sq km). It was 20% contained on Monday.

Another fire west of Winthrop closed the scenic North Cascades Highway, the most northern route through the Cascade Range. The road provides access to North Cascades national park and the Ross Lake national recreation area.

In Idaho, the national guard has been mobilized to help fight twin lightning-sparked fires that have together charred nearly 24 sq miles (62 sq km) of dry timber in the remote, drought-stricken region.

In total, there are 67 active large fires in the US, which have burned more than 1,434 sq miles, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. More than 14,200 wildland firefighters, as well as support personnel, are assigned to fire incidents, the center says.

There has been a dramatic increase year-to-date in 2021 compared to 2020. From 1 January to 13 July of 2021, there have been 33,953 fires, compared with 27,770 in the same period of 2020, the center says.

The July heatwave follows an unusual June siege of broiling temperatures in the west and comes amid worsening drought conditions throughout the region.

Scientists say human-caused climate breakdown and decades of fire suppression that increases fuel loads have aggravated fire conditions across the region.

Arctic seabirds have a low tolerance to heat, McGill study suggests: what this means in a rapidly-warming climate

MONTREAL – A jet-black head with eyes to match, a tuxedo of black and white plumage — at first glance, the thick-billed murre might be mistaken for a penguin. But this chicken-sized seabird is a creature of its own, inhabiting the seas, skies, and shores of the arctic.

Like so many northern creatures, however, the murre is threatened by rising temperatures and shortened winters — and a new McGill study is helping uncover why.

More formally known as Uria Iomvia, the thick-billed murre has adapted over time to the freezing cold, equipped with a high metabolism and a diet of fatty fish. But these adaptations may be backfiring as a result of rising temperatures, according to the study.

“Murres are […] poorly adapted for coping with warming temperatures, which is important as the Arctic continues to warm,” says Dr. Emily Choy, a postdoctoral Fellow in the Natural Resource Sciences Department at McGill University and the study’s lead author.

To observe the effects of increasing temperatures on arctic seabirds, Dr. Choy and a team of researchers travelled to northern Hudson Bay, where they scaled the cliffs of Coats Island, living in close proximity to a colony of 30,000 thick-billed murres.

Through their research, the team uncovered an alarming reality: the thick-billed murre, so accustomed to a frigid climate, displayed signs of heat stress at temperatures as low as 21 degrees Celsius.

Although the thick-billed murre is not currently considered an endangered species, these findings point to a precarious future — especially considering that temperatures in the arctic are rising faster than anywhere else on earth.

Two thick-billed murres watch over a group of chicks. (Douglas Noblet)

TURNING UP THE HEAT

To gauge the thick-billed murre’s heat tolerance, researchers used “flow-through respirometry,” a technique which involves placing the murre inside a chamber and measuring its oxygen levels. The chamber is gradually heated from the outside and the murre’s physiological response is recorded, after which the murre is returned to its nest.

“It’s a bit like hot yoga for birds,” says Dr. Choy. “We used respirometry to basically measure their breathing rate, the amount of oxygen they were consuming, but also their evaporative water loss, the amount of water they were losing.”

Dr. Emily Choy (right) and a colleague take notes above a cliff-side colony of thick-billed murres. Researchers were required to take a rock-climbing course in preparation for the study. (Douglas Noblet)

Through this technique, researchers concluded that murres have very little tolerance to rising temperatures. This is likely linked to their high energy demands, says Dr. Choy.

“Although they can dive up to 200 metres in a matter of minutes, they also spend four hours a day flying. And in birds, diving and flying are an energetic trade-off, [and it’s] very difficult to do both,” she says.

To tackle this challenge, the thick-billed murre has developed a speedy metabolism, allowing it to burn more energy and produce high levels of body heat.

“When the climate starts to warm, this is a big disadvantage in terms of trying to cool down,” says Dr. Choy.

Cooling off is especially difficult for the largest of the murres, the research suggests, some of which weigh up to one kilogram.

“Body size is believed to be an adaptation [to] living in the cold — you lose heat less easily. But it seems like, in terms of heat, that backfires.”

PARENTING PROBLEMS

The female thick-billed murre produces one chick per breeding season, laying her egg on a cliff’s edge. There, she and her mate take turns nesting in day-long shifts. They rarely abandon their posts, even as temperatures spike.

“Murres have a very exposed nest, they nest in full sun,” explains Dr. Choy. “That makes them very vulnerable to heat.”

Over the years, thick-billed murres have been reported to overheat and die while nesting — and if one parent dies, the chick is unlikely to survive.

“Usually when one parent is incubating the nest, the other is foraging and bringing back food for the other parent or for the chick, so it’s nearly impossible to incubate and raise a chick with one parent.”

A thick-billed murre feeds its hatchling. (Douglas Noblet)

To further complicate this issue, because thick-billed murres only lay one egg at a time, it may be difficult for the population to recover if it begins to dwindle.

“That’s why we have to be very careful in conserving the population and protecting them from stressors.”

A CANARY - OR MURRE - IN THE COAL MINE

With each passing decade, life on earth becomes hotter and hotter; just last month, an unprecedented heat wave took over parts of North America, with temperatures in Lytton, B.C. reaching a record-breaking 50 C. And while cold-adapted animals like the thick-billed murre are especially vulnerable to heat stress, they aren’t the only ones. With time, animals from warmer climates may be confronted with these issues too, says Choy.

“The arctic is considered an early-warning system for ecosystems in the south,” says Dr. Choy. “Thick-billed murres could be a canary in the coal mine […] particularly in regards to the heatwaves birds have been experiencing in the pacific coast.”

“This is the first study to look at the impact of heat stress on arctic seabirds,” she adds. “I think what we’re finding is that heat stress is an understudied but important factor of climate change.”