Column 355, Series I  •  December 19, 2003
by Claire Eamer, Teresa Earle and Sarah Locke

The Annual World Famous yourYukon Christmas Quiz!

It's time once again to test your knowledge of all things environmental in the Yukon. How much do you know about the Yukon's natural history? How good is your memory? Rate yourself by taking on the annual yourYukon Christmas quiz!

You can check your answers against the list printed upside-down at the bottom of the column, but no peeking until you've tested your northern knowledge! All the questions are based on columns printed in 2003 in the Yukon News and available in the yourYukon archives. You can peek there -- it's called "research."

Add up the number of right answers to determine if you're:

• Trueus northernius (13-15)
• Yukonicus generalisimus (9-12)
• Arcticus not-so-badicus (5-8)
• Pretenderus wannabeii (0-4)

(P.S. As a special solstice present, give yourself an extra point just for reading the column, a gift from Environment Canada!)

1. The discovery of the bones of Microtus deceitensis near the junction of the Yukon and Pelly rivers:
   
   
   1. solved a century-old Yukon mystery related to a prospector, a conman, and a lady of dubious virtue
   2. added a new dinosaur to the list of Canadian dinosaur species
   3. provided information about ancient populations of small rodents and the conditions in which they lived
   4. made a local dog very happy
   
   
2. Southern Lakes Caribou are often seen near the Alaska Highway in winter because:
   
   
   1. they've been hired by YTG to monitor traffic
   2. they like licking the road salt
   3. they're trying to hitch south
   4. they hope that road traffic will keep the wolves away
   
   
3. The Yukon's ecosystem classification consists of:
   
   
   1. 5 ecozones and 23 ecoregions
   2. 1 city and 17 towns, villages and hamlets
   3. The Communities and Outside
   4. bear habitat, moose habitat, fish habitat and sourdough habitat
   
   
4. Many trumpeter swans that nest in the Yukon spend their winters in eastern Idaho because:
   
   
   1. they love to eat potatoes
   2. they're too big to fly further south
   3. they no longer know the more southerly migration routes
   4. warm springs keep lakes there ice free
   5. c & d
   
   
5. Where might you expect to find an arctic lamprey?
   
   
   1. stuck by the mouth to a salmon or shark
   2. growing in a northern peat bog
   3. emanating from the light atop an arctic lamp-post
   4. stalking juvenile mountain sheep on the Yukon North Slope
   
   
6. What does nychthemeral mean?
   
   
   1. A skin patch used to help people stop smoking
   2. A temporary solution for a long-term problem
   3. Of or relating to a 24-hour period
   4. A feedback mechanism for regulating the winter body temperatures of birds
   
   
7. A guardian approach to wildlife management involves:
   
   
   1. armed guards protecting Yukon wildlife
   2. preferred hunting for officers of the law
   3. fencing in wild ungulates to protect them from predators
   4. local people who monitor the harvest and watch the land
   
   
8. Given the chance, some red squirrels take over neighbouring cone middens because:
   
   
   1. they are imperialists constantly trying to expand their territories
   2. they're incredibly greedy
   3. they want to pass them on to their kids
   4. they're preparing for drops in spruce cone production that they can sense hormonally
   
   
9. Geologist Charlie Roots says that Whitehorse owes its location to the fact that:
   
   
   1. the rocks below the White Horse Rapids attracted prospectors
   2. flows of lava constricted the river, creating good fishing and impassable rapids
   3. Gold Rush stampeders got tired of portaging and settled down
   4. Ottawa decided to build the Yukon capital next to the dam
   
   
10. What are water tigers?
    
    
    1. the larval form of the giant predaceous diving beetle
    2. extinct carnivores that once flourished in unglaciated areas of the Yukon and Alaska
    3. large reddish-orange lily-like flowers that grow beside forest streams in the Yukon
    4. another name for the northern pike or jackfish
    
    
11. When winter comes, Yukon bicycle-enthusiasts Benoit Godin and Martin Raillard:
    
    
    1. fly south to warmer climes
    2. install heaters on their handlebars
    3. store their bicycles on environmentally-friendly wooden racks until spring
    4. just keep on riding
    
    
12. The elusive Bluethroat thrush migrates in summer to northern Alaska and Yukon, and winters in:
    
    
    1. India and Pakistan
    2. Texas and New Mexico
    3. Costa Rica
    4. Malibu
    
    
13. Which of the following names refer to the animal whose Latin name is Gulo gulo?
    
    
    1. skunk bear
    2. wolverine
    3. woods devil
    4. all of the above
    
    
14. The first botanical collections from the Yukon were made by:
    
    
    1. Robert Campbell, Hudson's Bay Company trader and explorer
    2. George Dawson, geologist and surveyor
    3. Frederick Funston, a botanist with the Smithsonian Museum
    4. Martha Black, avid naturalist and Yukon Member of Parliament
    
    
15. What do the yellow monkeyflower and the hairy gooseberry have in common?
    
    
    1. silly names
    2. they both grow near groundwater oases
    3. they are alien species brought to the Yukon in shipments of fruit
    4. their flowers attract insects, which the plants devour

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE ENVIRONMENT CANADA ELVES!!!!

yourYukon is coordinated by the Northern Research Institute at Yukon College with financial support from these sponsors.

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