South of Bass Strait – a quick quiz

By David Shaw, 14 January 2021

Today’s quiz focuses on Australia’s southernmost state, Tasmania. Do you know enough about the Apple Isle to ace this quiz?

#1. CSIRO has two major scientific collections in Hobart. One is the Australian National Fish Collection, but what is the other one?

The Australian National Soil Archive

The Australian National Insect Collection

The Australian National Algae Culture Collection

The Australian National Herbarium

The Australian National Algae Culture Collection is in Hobart. The other collections are in Canberra.

#2. There’s a famous research station at Kennaook/Cape Grim, the north-western tip of Tasmania. What is studied there?

Air pollution

Submarine detection

Migrating birds

Distant galaxies

The Kennaook/Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station has been measuring the atmosphere since 1976.

#3. Which Tasmanian animal is under threat from an infectious cancer?

The little penguin

The pademelon

The little forest bat

The Tasmanian devil

Since 1996, devil facial tumour disease may have killed up to 80% of Tasmanian devils.

#4. How tall are the tallest trees in Tasmania?

50 metres tall

100 metres tall

150 metres tall

200 metres tall

The tallest trees in Tasmania are swamp gums, and they can grow more than 100 metres. That makes them some of the tallest trees in the world!

#5. If you’re on the west coast of Tasmania, you might get hit by the ‘Roaring Forties’, but what are they?

Strong winds

Unexplained marsupial sightings

Migrating birds

The sounds of collapsing cliffs

The Roaring Forties are fast winds that circle the globe, around 40 degrees south of the equator.

Was I right?

Results

Congratulations! You are a real science whiz!

Oh dear! Better brush up before the next quiz!

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