Creatures of the Plains
Plants of the Plains
Grassland Basics
Challenges
Nebraska Trivia
100
This burrowing rodent is considered a keystone species because its tunnels provide homes for many other animals.
What are prairie dogs
100
What is Nebraska's state grass?
What is Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
100
What is the only continent that doesn't have grasslands?
What is Antarctica? Even though we can't classify it as a grasslands, there are some grass species that sprout occasionally. 
100
This human activity, often done to grow crops, is the number one reason grasslands are disappearing.
What is cropland conversion
100
What are the official Nebraska school colors?
What is Scarlet and Cream?
200
Once numbering in the millions, this massive grazer nearly went extinct. The numbers were brought down to less than a 1,000!
What are Bison?
200
What is the tallest grass in the world?
What is bamboo
200
The dominant type of plant that defines all grasslands belongs to this group.
What are grasses
?
200
When too many cattle feed in one place for too long, this problem occurs, damaging soils and plants.
What is overgrazing
200
What were the Cornhuskers before they were the Cornhuskers?
What are The Bugeaters?
300
This animal is the fastest land mammal in North America, reaching speeds up to 55 mph.
100 point bonus if you can tell me why they are so fast!
What are pronghorns?
300
Grasslands have some of the world’s deepest root systems. Some grasses grow roots more than this many feet deep.
What is 10 feet deep?
300
What percent of the Tallgrass Prairie remains after European settlement?
100 bonus points if you can tell me where most of it remains and is protected.
2%
Bonus: The Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, The Flint Hills
300
Plants that invade an ecosystem and outcompete others, creating a monoculture.
100 Bonus: give me an example
What is an invasive species?
300
What year was UNL founded?
What is 1869
400
The only owl species that nests on the ground, typically in abandoned prairie dog towns. They also spread animal dung around the entrance of their burrow as a form of "bait and wait" to attract an insect dinner.
What are Burrowing Owls
400
This hardy plant has sharp, sword-like leaves and was historically used by Native peoples for making soap and rope.
What is a yucca?
400
What percent of Earth's land surface is grasslands?
what is 40%?
40% = Grasslands
30% = Forests
10% = Deserts
10% = Tundra & other areas (mountains, ice, etc.)
10% = Human-dominated (farmland + cities)
400
Grasslands depend on this natural process to stay healthy. Without it, trees and shrubs invade.
Fire
400
Who's bull is this?
Who is Larry the Cable Guy, " Get er done!"
500
This stealthy canine hunter of the Great Plains is nicknamed the “ghost of the prairie” and was once nearly eliminated from the ecosystem.
Swift Fox
500
One reason prairies are so resilient is because they contain hundreds of different plant species, a trait known as this.
What is Biodiversity?
500
This is one reason scientists say protecting grasslands can help slow climate change—because their carbon stays trapped even after fire or grazing.
What is because their carbon is stored underground?
500
This problem happens when grasslands are broken into smaller pieces by roads, farms, light, or fences.
Fragmentation
500
Whose enormous foot do you rub for good luck when you’re on campus?
Who is Archie? The world's largest Columbian mammoth skeleton was found in 1922 by a farmer after his chickens pecked at it in Lincoln County. 