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Tuesday Trivia Answer - Think Green

If you answered, C) Emerald tree boa, you are correct.The green tree python and emerald tree boa are a great example of parallel evolution. The green tree python looks and acts much like its South American relative, the emerald tree boa. However, the resemblance in appearance and behavior are nearly all the two have in common. Boas bear live young, while python species are oviparous. This means that they lay eggs that hatch outside of the body.

Green tree pythons spend much of their time coiled around branches, situated so that their head lies right in the middle of their coils, similar to a saddle laying over a branch. The vivid emerald green coloration and disruptive pattern of spots and stripes provides camouflage for these highly arboreal snakes as they rest or move through the dense vegetation in the trees.

When resting, they are virtually invisible – a useful adaptation for these patient predators. Green tree pythons hunt for small mammals, reptiles and birds.

 

Congratulations to Nikki B., in Buffalo, whose name was selected from the correct answers.

Tuesday Trivia - Think Green

Green Tree Python

Green tree pythons live in Papua, New Guinea, northern Australia and Indonesia. They live in tropical rainforests, monsoon forests, dense thickets of bamboo or vines and forest margins that contain bushes and shrubs. Newborn green tree pythons are bright yellow, orange or brick red and do not develop green coloring for 6-8 months. Adults are bright green with white or yellow underbellies. They have a white or light blue vertical stripe along the body, and white or yellow lips, chin and throat.

What other snake looks and behaves like a green tree python?

A) Rough green snake
B) Green mamba
C) Emerald tree boa

Email your answer to trivia@dickersonparkzoo.org by Wednesday at noon for your chance to win a pair of one day passes to Dickerson Park Zoo! Remember to include your mailing address in the email for your chance to win.

Visit FOZblog on Wednesday for the correct answer and more information about our green friend.

One submission per mailing address. And, we ask that each family submit only one answer, even if you are submitting answers with different email and mailing addresses.

Tuesday Trivia Answer - Drum or Animal?

If you answered FALSE to this week’s Tuesday Trivia question about bongos, you are correct. Both males and females grow heavy, semi-spiraling, three- foot long horns. In order to swiftly maneuver through the dense forest vegetation, bongos tilt their chin up, causing their horns to lie flat against their back. They take this position so frequently older bongos often have bald spots on their back from the tips of their horns rubbing away the fur. Another interesting fact about the bongo is that the red-pigmentation in their coat rubs off quite easily.  Population counts are sketchy as these are very secretive animals. Even researchers who study these antelope often do not see them. Much of what is known about them comes from captive animals and studies at salt licks on the edge of forests.

 

 

Congratulations to Abigail., in Bois D'Arc, whose name was selected from the correct answers. Visit FOZBlog next week to play along with Tuesday Trivia!

Tuesday Trivia - Drum or Animal?

When many of us hear bongo, we probably think about drums. However, bongos are also animals. Bongos are the largest species of African forest-dwelling antelopes, reaching nearly 900 pounds and eight feet in length. They can be found in the forests in West, Central and East Africa. Bongos feed on high-protein vegetation including leaves, herbs, roots, twigs and fruit.

Male bongos are usually solitary, while females form herds of up to 50. Though they are clumsy and short-winded runners, they are great high jumpers. However, they prefer to go under or around obstacles and can disappear quickly in the forests.

Bongos have a bright chestnut to dark brown coat. The shape of the bongos’ horns matches the contour of their backs. When they tilt their horns on their backs, they can run through the densest forest without impediment.

True or False: Only male bongos have horns.

Email your answer to trivia@dickersonparkzoo.org by Wednesday at noon for your chance to win a pair of one day passes to Dickerson Park Zoo! Remember to include your mailing address in the email for your chance to win.

Visit FOZblog on Wednesday for the correct answer and more information about our amphibian friend.

One submission per mailing address. And, we ask that each family submit only one answer and not submit answers with different email and mailing addresses.

Tuesday Trivia Answer - Photo Zoom

Did you guess correctly? This week's close-up is of a gorilla! Dickerson Park Zoo was recently accepted into the Gorilla Council for Conservation Action, a select group of organizations committed to saving gorillas in the wild. Gorilla Council members' expertise and financial support of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International puts more resources on the ground in Africa to directly protect gorillas and counter threats to their existence.

Gorillas are one of the four species of great apes that are the closest living relations of humans. There are two species of gorillas, each containing two subspecies. The appearances of each of the species are
slightly different. Eastern gorillas contain two subspecies, Grauer's and Mountain. Western gorillas contain the two subspecies, Western lowland and Cross River. Because of the extensive research begun by Dr. Dian Fossey and continued by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, the mountain gorilla is perhaps the best understood of all wild gorilla populations. Mountain gorillas studied by the Fossey Fund live in the Virunga Volcano Mountains, some of which reach as high as about 4,000 meters (more than 13,000 feet). There are about 880 mountain gorillas living forests of the Virunga volcanoes, which are shared between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. To learn more about gorillas or the Fossey Fund, visit the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International website.

Congratulations to Cheryl, from Springfield, whose name was selected from the correct answers. Visit FOZBlog next week to play along with Tuesday Triva!

 

Credit: Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International