Extraordinary Islands Quiz – Printable Version
20 multiple-choice questions with an explained answer key, ready to print.
Print the sheet (or save it as a PDF from the print window), hand it out, then mark it together using the answer page: every answer is explained. Perfect for a party, a birthday, a classroom, a care home or a team activity.
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- How many moai, Easter Island's giant statues, have been recorded?
- A. Nearly a thousand
- B. A dozen
- C. About fifty
- D. Over 100,000
- How does the Komodo dragon bring down prey as big as a water buffalo?
- A. It crushes them with its tail
- B. Its bite injects venom that stops blood clotting: the weakened prey eventually collapses
- C. It drowns them in the sea
- D. It hunts in packs of fifty
- How are the tens of millions of red crabs that migrate to the sea each year on Christmas Island protected?
- A. By closing roads and building bridges and tunnels just for crabs
- B. By moving them by lorry
- C. By putting them to sleep during the migration
- D. Nothing is done
- Why does India strictly forbid approaching North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean?
- A. Because it is a military base
- B. Because of an active volcano
- C. To protect an isolated people, notably from diseases they have no immunity to
- D. Because it is radioactive
- Which event in 793 on the island of Lindisfarne is often seen as the start of the Viking Age?
- A. The founding of the kingdom of England
- B. The discovery of America
- C. Charlemagne's coronation
- D. The raid on its monastery by warriors from Scandinavia
- With cars banned on the island of Sark, what can be seen on its roads?
- A. Only electric scooters
- B. Helicopters
- C. Tractors, bicycles and horse-drawn carriages
- D. Camels
- Why must residents and visitors on Spitsbergen be armed, or accompanied, as soon as they leave town?
- A. Because of the risk of meeting a polar bear
- B. To hunt their food
- C. To defend themselves against pirates
- D. Purely military tradition
- What world record has Réunion held since a cyclone in 1966?
- A. The highest wave ever measured
- B. The fastest wind
- C. The hottest temperature
- D. The most rainfall in 24 hours, about 1.8 metres
- Why do many visitors climb to the summit of Haleakalā, on Maui, before dawn?
- A. To watch the sunrise over a sea of clouds
- B. To see molten lava
- C. To fish in the crater
- D. To watch whales up close
- Which famous myth has sometimes been linked to the gigantic eruption of Santorini around 1600 BC?
- A. The Golden Fleece
- B. The Trojan Horse
- C. Atlantis, swallowed by the waves
- D. The Minotaur in its labyrinth
- What happened in December 2019 on Whakaari, or White Island, in New Zealand?
- A. The island vanished beneath the sea
- B. A sudden eruption killed 22 people, mostly tourists visiting the crater
- C. A music festival was held there
- D. Scientists found gold there
- Why is the abandoned Japanese island of Hashima nicknamed 'Gunkanjima'?
- A. It was a samurai base
- B. Cannons were made there
- C. Its outline, bristling with buildings, looks like a warship
- D. It was shelled by battleships
- Why does the snake of Queimada Grande, a Brazilian island closed to the public, feed mainly on birds?
- A. It climbs to volcano summits
- B. There are no rodents on the island: it catches migrating birds that land there
- C. It hunts at sea
- D. It mimics birdsong
- What nickname was given to Homo floresiensis, a small human species discovered on the island of Flores in 2003?
- A. The 'Yeti'
- B. The 'Lilliputian'
- C. The 'Gnome'
- D. The 'Hobbit'
- In which year did East Timor, which shares the island of Timor with Indonesia, become an independent state?
- A. 1945
- B. 1975
- C. 2002
- D. 2020
- Who founded the first European settlements in the Americas on the island of Hispaniola in 1492-1493?
- A. Christopher Columbus
- B. Hernán Cortés
- C. Amerigo Vespucci
- D. Jacques Cartier
- Which site on the island of Usedom, shared by Germany and Poland, was the birthplace of the V-2 rocket?
- A. Dresden
- B. Peenemünde
- C. Gdańsk
- D. Hamburg
- What record does the Flevopolder in the Netherlands hold?
- A. It is the country's highest point
- B. It is Europe's oldest town
- C. It is the world's largest artificial island
- D. It is the world's largest port
- What spectacular gesture did the government of the Maldives make in 2009 to raise the alarm over rising seas?
- A. It held a cabinet meeting underwater, in diving gear
- B. It built a pyramid
- C. It auctioned off an island
- D. It declared a reef independent
- Which spice made the island of Zanzibar, nicknamed the 'Spice Island', rich?
- A. Cloves
- B. Saffron
- C. Vanilla
- D. Cayenne pepper
Answer key — Extraordinary Islands Quiz
- A. Nearly a thousandMost were carved from volcanic tuff at the Rano Raraku quarry, where hundreds remain unfinished or half-buried, often showing only their heads.
- B. Its bite injects venom that stops blood clotting: the weakened prey eventually collapsesIt was long thought that bacteria in its saliva poisoned its victims.
- A. By closing roads and building bridges and tunnels just for crabsIn the rainy season, the crabs leave the forest to spawn in the ocean, covering roads and gardens in a red carpet.
- C. To protect an isolated people, notably from diseases they have no immunity toThe Sentinelese refuse all contact with outsiders and drive visitors away, sometimes violently.
- D. The raid on its monastery by warriors from ScandinaviaThe monastery, a centre of Celtic Christianity, held treasures and manuscripts such as the famous Lindisfarne Gospels.
- C. Tractors, bicycles and horse-drawn carriagesOn this small Channel Island of about 500 people, tractors are the only motor vehicles allowed, and they even carry luggage and tourists.
- A. Because of the risk of meeting a polar bearThe largest island in the Svalbard archipelago, Spitsbergen is said to have more polar bears than people.
- D. The most rainfall in 24 hours, about 1.8 metresIn January 1966, Cyclone Denise dropped about 1,825 mm of rain in one day at Foc-Foc, on the slopes of Piton de la Fournaise.
- A. To watch the sunrise over a sea of cloudsAt over 3,000 m, this dormant volcano offers a show so popular that a reservation is now required.
- C. Atlantis, swallowed by the wavesThe eruption, one of the most violent in human history, collapsed the centre of the island and formed today's huge caldera.
- B. A sudden eruption killed 22 people, mostly tourists visiting the craterAt the time, the crater of this active volcano could be visited, with helmets and gas masks provided.
- C. Its outline, bristling with buildings, looks like a warship'Gunkanjima' means 'battleship island'. To work an undersea coal mine, more than 5,000 people crammed onto this small walled islet, one of the most densely populated places in history.
- B. There are no rodents on the island: it catches migrating birds that land thereCut off by rising seas about 11,000 years ago, this endemic lancehead evolved particularly potent venom to kill prey that could otherwise fly away.
- D. The 'Hobbit'These humans stood about a metre tall. Their small size may result from 'island dwarfism', as with the dwarf elephants that also lived on the island.
- C. 2002A former Portuguese colony, the territory was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 after a very brief spell of independence.
- A. Christopher ColumbusOn his first voyage, Columbus left men in a fort built from the remains of the Santa María, which had run aground near the coast.
- B. PeenemündeUnder Wernher von Braun, a military test centre there developed the first ballistic missile during the Second World War, used against London and Antwerp.
- C. It is the world's largest artificial islandReclaimed from the former Zuiderzee in the 1950s and 1960s, this land of about 970 km² lies largely below sea level.
- A. It held a cabinet meeting underwater, in diving gearThe archipelago's highest point barely exceeds 2 to 3 m, and its average height is about 1.5 m.
- A. ClovesIn the 19th century Zanzibar was one of the world's leading clove producers, grown on vast plantations.