Fact or Fiction?
Fun Guys
I Am a Rock
Sugar, Sugar
Wilderness Wordsmiths
200
The Ohio state native fruit is the pawpaw, pictured here.
What is a fact? (named the state native fruit in 2009)
200
Caloplaca obamae, the species of crustose lichen seen here, was named for this 44th president of the United States.
Who is Barack Obama?
200
I am this type of combustible sedimentary rock made up of organic carbon, which was mined in small amounts in the "dog mines" of Mill Creek Park.
What is coal?
200
"Saccharine" member of the Acer genus recognizable by its gold/scarlet autumnal leaves, the outline of which is featured prominently on the Canadian flag.
What is a sugar maple?
200
He penned the iconic lines of poetry: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.”
Who is Robert Frost?
400
Ohio's state gemstone is obsidian because it was used by the region's indigenous peoples to make weapons, tools, jewelry, etc.
What is a fiction? (no volcanism = no obsidian; state gemstone is flint, a type of quartz, though it was indeed selected because of its significance and usefulness to the native inhabitants of this area)
400
Amanita cesarea is a mushroom named for these early rulers of the Roman Empire who considered it a delicacy (which made them quite susceptible to poisonings by substitution of this Amanita for one of its deadlier cousins, though arguably the most famous of them died of repeated stabbing).
Who are the caesars?
400
I am this type of sedimentary rock that makes up the bedrock of Mill Creek Park.
What is sandstone?
400
This substance, produced by plants during photosynthesis, serves as the primary source of energy for most living organisms.
What is glucose?
400
Henry David Thoreau imparted the the following simple living lesson in the text named for this famous body of water: “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.”
What is Walden (Pond)?
600
Birds, much like dogs, see a limited range of colors that consist mostly of shades of gray, brown, yellow, and blue.
What is a fiction? (birds actually see color much more keenly than humans and can even see UV-light)
600
A new species of yeast in the genus Blastobotrys was found on the self-portrait of this famous Italian artist, inventor, and all-around renaissance man.
Who is Leonardo Da Vinci?
600
I am a rock containing Ohio's state fossil, this extinct marine arthropod.
What is the trilobite (Isoletus)?
600
Tiny, bug- and nectar-loving bird seen here camouflaging its nest with lichen.
What is a hummingbird?
600
In this classic novel, the canine protagonist, Buck, embarks on a journey through the Alaskan wilderness during the Klondike Gold Rush.
What is The Call of the Wild?
800
Food storing birds, such as the black-capped chickadee, can increase the size of their hippocampus (the memory center of the brain) in autumn/winter to help recall the location of survival caches.
What is a fact?
800
One of the oldest plant-pest fungi on record, Potteromyces asteroxylicola, has been named for this amateur mycologist and beloved children's author (responsible for The Tales of Peter Rabbit).
Who is Beatrix Potter?
800
I am one of the two key minerals deposited by the warm, shallow seas that still covered Ohio during the Silurian period. We are used in seasoning food, melting road ice, producing building materials, and baking.
What is salt (Halite) OR gypsum (Selenite)?
800
One of the two plants from which table sugar (aka white or granulated sugar) is commercially produced in the U.S..
What is sugarcane OR sugar beets?
800
In Silent Spring, the book famous for awakening the public to the dangers of DDT pesticide, she wrote: “The balance of nature is not a status quo; it is fluid, ever shifting, in a constant state of adjustment. Man, too, is part of this balance.”
Who is Rachel Carson?