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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Compared to Homo sapiens, Neanderthals were:
(a) Half as short.
(b) Larger and sturdier.
(c) Twice as tall.
(d) Smaller and weaker.

2. What percentage of all existing water is fresh water?
(a) 17.
(b) 23.
(c) 10.
(d) 3.

3. The skeleton "Lucy" found in Ethiopia in 1974 is thought to come from the hominid species:
(a) Kenyanthropus platyops.
(b) Homo habilis.
(c) Sahelanthropus tchadensis.
(d) Australopithecines.

4. The last chapter of the book is a cautionary analysis of man's irresponsibility with regards to the:
(a) Pursuit of wealth.
(b) Extinction of animals.
(c) Polluting of the atmosphere.
(d) Waging of war against fellow humans.

5. Ice ages are caused by:
(a) Lunar eclipses.
(b) Unusually cool summers.
(c) Solar eclipses.
(d) Abnormally harsh winters.

6. By volume, how much of the Earth's habitable space is covered by water?
(a) 71.75 percent.
(b) 80.5 percent.
(c) 99.5 percent.
(d) 87.75 percent.

7. When entomologist Terry Erwin collected insect samples from 19 rain forest trees, how many different varieties of beetles did he find?
(a) 1,200.
(b) 600.
(c) 42.
(d) 150.

8. Compared to at sea level, oxygen at a few thousand feet above sea level is:
(a) Thinner.
(b) More plentiful.
(c) Purer.
(d) Heavier.

9. What was the HMS Beagle, and how was it related to Charles Darwin?
(a) A laboratory created for him by the king.
(b) A ship he travelled on, collecting specimens.
(c) A microscope given to him by his wife.
(d) A hot-air balloon he used to survey the land.

10. What did Carl Linnaeus bring order to through his method of classification?
(a) Naming bodies of water.
(b) The plant world.
(c) Naming features of the moon.
(d) The bacterial world.

11. Scientist Jean de Charpentier was a specialist on what?
(a) Tsunamis.
(b) Volcanoes.
(c) Evolution.
(d) Glaciers.

12. Bacteria take nitrogen from the air and form it into what?
(a) Nitric oxide.
(b) Water.
(c) Fluoride.
(d) Amino acids.

13. Approximately how many okapi live in the rain forests of Zaire?
(a) 400,000.
(b) 30,000.
(c) 1,340,000.
(d) 12,000.

14. At this time, how many plant and animal species are becoming extinct per week?
(a) 600 to 1,000.
(b) 1 to 2.
(c) 100 to 200.
(d) 50 to 80.

15. When oceanographer Jacques Piccard and a U.S. Navy sailor descended more than 35,000 feet to the deepest part of the world's oceans, what happened?
(a) The power went out in their ocean capsule.
(b) They saw the remains of a sunken ship.
(c) They startled a flat fish upon touching down.
(d) They were stranded there for days and nearly died.

Short Answer Questions

1. Bryson states that the first species to care for its weak and frail members was:

2. When the KT meteor that killed the dinosaurs hit Earth, what percentage of life on the planet perished?

3. How deep is Earth's atmosphere?

4. Gregor Mendel, who conducted research on transmittal of traits in pea plants, was a scientist and a:

5. If all of the ice in Antarctica were to melt, by how much would ocean levels rise?

(see the answer keys)

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