Another Life: Do you know a heron from a harlequin?

Answers are at the end of the questions

1 Which attendant at the Christmas manger arrived in Ireland just 200 years ago?

2 Redwings are often here by Christmas. Are they finches, thrushes or buntings?

3 "Reindeer moss" grows on the bogs. What sort of plant is it really?

4 You put cloves in party punch. Are they flowers, buds or berries?

5 This warm autumn kept which social insects working past their time?

6 Hamlet knew "a hawk from a handsaw". Was a handsaw a bittern, crane or heron?

7 Which new and sleepy rodent was found in Ireland this year?

8 Common, soprano and Nathusius's: all kinds of which Irish bat?

9 Which kind of sucker-mouthed river fish moves stones around to make a nest?

10 According to one famous scientist, God must have had what kind of fondness for beetles?

11 The inner bark of which tree in Sri Lanka is used as a fragrant Christmas spice?

12 Which scientist gave us the theory of Earth as "Gaia"?

13 Phenology studies nature's calendar. "Phrenology" studied which part of the human anatomy?

14 What is the new term for boosting the numbers of Europe's bears, boars and beavers?

15 Doubling carbon dioxide in the air will give us bigger dandelions: true or false?

16 Which insect hangs in the air "like a jewelled Higgs boson"?

17 What is the Latin term for "the spirit of a place"?

18 The regular cutting of useful poles from a tree is called what?

19 Which Irish wayside plant was once called "parsley of Alexandria"?

20 In Pangur Bán a monk was praising which animal companion?

21 Which rare tern nests on Rockabill, off Co Dublin?

22 Ireland is being colonised by which big, fierce and greedy ladybird?

23 Máire fhada, Joany an scrugaill, Sile Rága, Nóra na bportach: folk names for which bird?

24 Most striped snails of the sand dunes spiral to the right, or dextrally. What is the term for left-handed snails?

25 What is the correct name of the west's "giant rhubarb"?

26 Anhingas, or "water turkeys", are Florida's equivalent of which Irish birds?

27 The appearance of Craspedacusta sowerbyi swimming in Lough Derg and Lough Erne last summer startled anglers and biologists alike. It is a freshwater branch of which common ocean family?

28 Ireland has a native oyster. Which ocean did the others come from?

29 What did Victorian naturalists smear on tree trunks to catch night-flying moths?

30 Apart from road traffic, what is the main predator of hedgehogs?

31 "Oak apples" and "Robin's pincushions" are both forms of which plant growth engineered by insects?

32 Cuttlefish and squid are both cephalopods. Name their clever relative.

33 Who first devised the descriptive naming of plants by two words in Latin?

34 Which animal makes a noise called gekkering?

35 Entomology studies insects. What are the subjects of etymology and ethnology?

36 A whirring song at dusk gets which small migrant bird mistaken for a corncrake or nightjar?

37 REM sleep is when birds and mammals dream. What does REM stand for?

38 What happens in a hibernaculum?

39 Muntjac are new aliens in Ireland – which sort of animal?

40 Without strong measures to check global warming, sea-level scientists expect what ocean rise this century: (a) 30-50cm; (b) 70-120cm; (c) 200-300cm?

ANSWERS
1 Donkey. 2 Thrushes. 3 Lichen. 4 Buds. 5 Wasps. 6 Heron. 7 Dormouse. 8 Pipistrelle. 9 Lamprey. 10 Inordinate. 11 Cinnamon. 12 James Lovelock. 13 Cranium. 14 Rewilding. 15 True. 16 Hoverfly. 17 Genius loci. 18 Pollarding. 19 Alexanders. 20 His cat. 21 Roseate. 22 Harlequin. 23 Heron. 24 Sinistral. 25 Gunnera. 26 Cormorants. 27 Jellyfish. 28 Pacific. 29 Treacle. 30 Badger. 31 Gall. 32 Octopus. 33 Linnaeus. 34 Fox. 35 Words and human tribes. 36 Grasshopper warbler. 37 Rapid eye movement. 38 Hibernation. 39 Deer. 40 (b).