SAVEUS MOCK 1

Prairie dogs live in colonies made up of tight-knit family groups. What are these groups called?

• coteries
• clans
• factions
• tribes

Answer explanation

Prairie dogs are rodents in the squirrel family. The average coterie has one or two breeding males, several breeding females, and the females’ new pups. Males tend to jump from coterie to coterie—but the females stick together for life. Individuals in a coterie have specific activities throughout the day: foraging, grooming and interacting with others, maintaining underground burrows, and keeping a lookout for predators—warning the colony with bark-like whistles.

Which penguin species huddles together in the thousands, so that adult males can stay warm while incubating their egg? Hint: it’s the tallest penguin species.

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Answer explanation

After emperor penguins mate, the female lays a single egg in May or June. She passes it over to her mate to incubate and then spends about nine weeks at sea, feeding, while the male incubates the egg during the long dark southern winter months. He carefully balances the egg on his feet for 65-75 days to keep it warm in a specially adapted brood pouch, and off the snow surface, until the chick hatches. Male emperor penguins will not eat for up to four months, until the chick’s mother returns.

An orangutan mother will devote up to nine years to her offspring’s survival.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Young orangutans stay with their mother until they reach around seven to nine years old. They spend this time learning everything from her—what to eat (including hundreds of varieties of fruit), where to find food, and how to eat it, how to build a nest in the treetops, social behavior, and more. Because of this long learning curve, orangutans typically give birth to just one baby every seven to nine years.

African wild dogs communally care for pups as well as injured and sick pack members

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Young orangutans stay with their mother until they reach around seven to nine years old. They spend this time learning everything from her—what to eat (including hundreds of varieties of fruit), where to find food, and how to eat it, how to build a nest in the treetops, social behavior, and more. Because of this long learning curve, orangutans typically give birth to just one baby every seven to nine years.

Which of these marine mammals is most likely to travel in large pods of a dozen or more family members?

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Answer explanation

With their distinctive black-and-white coloring, orcas are one of the most recognizable cetaceans (the group of species that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises). They’re also the most widespread, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. They live in pods of multiple generations, swim close to each other, and hunt as a team, similar to wolf packs. They communicate with other pod members using particular calls, clicks, and whistles. In fact, each pod has a unique dialect of vocalizations that’s slightly different from that of other pods.

What do you call a group of lions?

• pride
• pack
• herd
• flock

Answer explanation

Lions are the most social cats. They live, hunt, and raise cubs cooperatively in groups called prides. A pride can include just a few lions or more than 30 and is made up of related female lions and their cubs, plus one or more adult males. Adolescent males leave a pride when they’re viewed by other males as competition and then form coalitions.

How do African wild dogs communally care for their pack members?

• They take turns providing food

• They build shelters for them

• They share the responsibility of caring for pups, injured, and sick members

• They ignore the members in need

What is the term used to describe a group of orangutans?

• Band

• Troop

• Family

• Clan

How do prairie dogs organize themselves within their colonies?

• By age

• By size

• Into tight-knit family groups called coteries

• By gender

What is the term used to describe a group of elephants?

• Herd

• Pack

• Pod

• Troop