Diets
What do tigers primarily eat?
Large hoofed mammals such as deer, water buffalo, and wild boar.
What is the conservation status of polar bears?
Vulnerable.
Why are monarch butterflies' important pollinators?
They pollinate plants across many habitats during migration.
What unique physical trait helps identify individual tigers?
Their stripes.
What agricultural threat reduces monarch breeding habitat?
Herbicides and pesticides that kill milkweed.
Monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on what?
Milkweed leaves.
What is the conservation status of Asian elephants?
Endangered.
How do green sea turtles help their ecosystems?
They graze on algae and seagrass, keeping ecosystems productive.
Why does polar bear fur appear white?
The hairs are hollow and colorless.
What type of pollution threatens green sea turtles?
Plastic pollution (entanglement or ingestion).
Name two foods Amazon River dolphins eat.
Fish, turtles, frogs, or crabs.
What is the conservation status of Amazon river dolphins?
Endangered.
Why are Amazon river dolphins considered indicator species?
They help us understand river ecosystem health.
How many muscle units are in an elephant’s trunk?
Around 150,000.
Tigers have lost 95% of their home range due to what?
Deforestation and habitat fragmentation.
Q: What makes up over 90% of the black-footed ferret’s diet?
Prairie dogs.
What is the conservation status of plains bison?
Near Threatened.
Why does protecting black-footed ferrets help grasslands?
They keep prairie dog populations stable, balancing the ecosystem.
What makes Southern Plains bumble bees look smoother than other bumble bees?
Flat hairs on their midsection.
What human activity can make river dolphin waters toxic?
Agricultural runoff and pollution.
Southern Plains bumble bees are diet generalists. What ecological advantage does this give them and the ecosystem?
They can feed on many flower species, which allows them to pollinate a wide variety of wild plants and crops, increasing biodiversity across the grassland ecosystem.
African elephants have two different conservation statuses. Identify both species and their respective statuses.
African savanna elephants are Endangered, and African forest elephants are Critically Endangered.
Black‑tailed prairie dogs support at least 136 species. Name two ways their behavior benefits other animals
Their burrows provide shelter for species like black‑footed ferrets and burrowing owls, and their grazing creates unique vegetation patches that attract specific animals.
Amazon river dolphins rely more on echolocation than sight. What physical characteristic reflects this adaptation, and why is it necessary?
They have smaller eyes because they live in murky river water, making echolocation more effective than vision.
Climate change is heating the Arctic twice as fast as the rest of the world. Explain how this single threat creates multiple dangers for polar bears.
Melting sea ice reduces hunting, resting, and feeding platforms; forces bears to spend more time onshore; and increases human‑bear conflict in coastal communities.