Across
- 2. Often, female ______ throw away their young to lessen weight and get away from predators quicker. This also doubles as a distraction for the mother as the predator would be eating the offspring first. Best escape plan ever!
- 6. There are no mosquitoes in this country. That must be nice!
- 7. This word comes from the old English words meaning lump of land or lump of rock.
- 11. Talk about arrested development, the Greenland_______ the longest-living vertebrate animal on the planet at 21 feet long and 2,200 pounds (one of the world's largest predators) doesn't reach sexual maturity until 150 years of age.
- 12. These little bastards can survive any of the following: 300 degrees Fahrenheit (149 Celsius), -458 degrees F (-272 C), the vacuum of space, pressure six times stronger than the ocean floor, and more than a decade without food.
- 13. The human ______ has eight different muscles.
- 17. These mammals have wrinkles on their noses unique to each, just like our fingerprints. They are called "nose prints," and conservationists use photos and sketches to keep track of them.
- 18. Due to unique feathers that break turbulence into smaller mini-currents, these are able to fly silently.
- 20. These idiots use facial expressions to communicate with each other. Researchers have identified 17 discrete facial movements.
- 22. Most plants reproduce by mixing the genetic matter of two or more plants. But that's not true of this plant. To reproduce, it drops its own branch, which will form its own root system and become its own plant, but with identical DNA to the parent plant (Two words).
- 23. This is the worlds fastest growing plant - rate of 35 inches in a day!
- 26. These make better lawnmowers than goats because they only eat the top of grass (versus pulling it out by the roots) and they have soft pads on their feet.
- 27. One type of these now covers less than 3% of the planet, yet they are home to more than half our planet’s terrestrial animal species.
- 28. Honduran white ______ sleep in groups in side leaf tents.
- 30. This crustacean has the most powerful punch in the animal kingdom. It can accelerate as quickly as a .22-caliber bullet. Scientists must keep them in thick plastic tanks because their punches can break glass.
- 31. India, they are called a "Peru."
- 32. This is the first nonhuman mammal with a proven ability to keep a beat. In fact, a female named Ronan was trained to do it so well that she could transfer the skill to a song with a different beat that she'd not heard before.
- 33. These can flap their wings 200 times every second.
- 34. Some female species of this insect will pretend they died mid-flight to avoid sexual advances.
- 38. This tasty term is what you call it when a guinea pig is excited and runs and hops around widely.
- 40. The psychological phenomenon of seeing objects in clouds is called ________.
- 41. This natural disaster is most likely to occur between 3 pm and 9 pm, but can occur at any time.
- 42. This is estimated to be between 3,000 and 5,000 Kelvins (4,940 to 8,540 degrees Fahrenheit); is made mostly of iron; creates a magnetic field and spins 2/3s of a second faster than the earth.
- 43. Two male species of this bird "propose" to females by giving them a pebble which they then use to build their nests--but only if the female accepts the pebble.
Down
- 1. If a this "thing" gets split into pieces, each piece can survive and regrow itself — but only if it contains part of its central disc.
- 3. There is actually a word that describes the smell of rain To be more precise, this is the name of an oil that’s released from the earth into the air when the humidity increases before rain begins to fall.
- 4. These mammals don't usually eat their prey at the kill site but instead drag their prey into cover to feed. If it has to leave its kill, it will cover it by raking leaves, dirt, grass and even rocks over the carcass.
- 5. This animals shell IS actually bullet proof.
- 7. The ability by this creature to match its environment does not rely on sight, but rather on the cells in its body called chromatophores.
- 8. This is what it's called when Bonny does number 9.
- 9. During a study conducted in 1908, ethologists discovered that these little assholes can pick complex locks in fewer than 10 attempts.
- 10. Fossils found in Kenya, Ethiopia and Chad, suggests that 4 distinct ______ species coexisted at the same time about 3 million years ago.
- 14. Most species of these can jump up to 20 times their height.
- 15. These creatures actually call each other by name. They let out a unique whistle to identify each other and will respond if they hear their own call played back.
- 16. These sweet babies are blisteringly fast and can reach speeds up to 64 miles per hour in 3 seconds.
- 19. extinct
- 21. This rodent-rabbit thing was discovered in China in 1983 and only 29 lives ones have been spotted since. (Never heard of it but it's cute!)
- 24. Approximately 2,700 people per day (about 1 million per year) die as a result of a bite from this pest.
- 25. These white furred beasts have black skin.
- 29. In Turkey, this animal is called an "India."
- 35. These mammals eyes turn blue in winter to help them see at lower light levels. (They're golden-colored in summer.)
- 36. Twisters strike predominantly along Tornado Alley — a flat stretch of land from western Texas to _________ (2 words). This region is a hotspot for tornadoes because the dry polar air from Canada meets the warm moist tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico.
- 37. This sea creature has three hearts. One pumps blood around the body, while the other two pump it to the gills.
- 39. It is estimated that there are 500,000 detectable __________ in the world each year. 100,000 of those can be felt, and 100 of them cause damage.
- 40. This planet hasn’t made a full orbit of the sun since its discovery because of its incredibly slow orbit. In fact, it takes 248.09 years to make one orbit around the sun which means it will make its first full orbit on March 23, 2178.