NYT’s wildlife quiz

July 22, 2025 • 11:15 am

I swear that the NYT seems to be inserting more and more fluff in the paper in lieu of news (well, at least on the front e-page). But sometimes that’s ok, so long as you don’t mind the Gray Lady becoming the National Enquirer. 

But I’m a sucker for a quiz—especially one on biology. And if you click below you’ll find ten questions, each with four answers, about how to deal with potentially dangerous animals (click here to see the archived version). You can also see the questions archived here, but you can’t see whether your answers are right. In the regular paper, if you’re right you get an instant check mark, but if you’re wrong you get a red “X” but the right answer is shown with a check. Good luck; give your scores below (see mine further down) but please don’t reveal the questions or answers in the comments.

I got only 50% of the questions, but it seems that that is a decent score given that random guessing would give only 25% (yes, somebody will point out that 5 out of ten is not significantly different from 2 or 3 out of ten, but don’t be a wiseass).

Here’s my score:

23 thoughts on “NYT’s wildlife quiz”

  5. Score

    You scored 8 out of 10

    Not bad. You’re smarter than the average bear (or bison).

    1. Thanks for putting up that link–I couldn’t get it otherwise since I’m not a NYT subscriber. 6 out of 10.

  7. I got two wrong. It still said I got 9/10 correct. It’s grading on a curve.

  8. You scored 6 out of 10. Btw, are you a black bear or a grizzly because your answer will determine my response to your attack. Missed that one.

    1. I also got 8 out of 10–and I guessed on more than a few! I like to think that they were educated guesses, though.

  10. You scored 10 out of 10
    Nice work. You’re free to roam with the bison (at a safe distance).

    I have hiked, camped, and fished in bear country and deal with bison on the biological research station near my campus. Plus, I watch a lot of nature shows. I did guess on the number of people killed by wildlife in parks.

  11. I guessed a lot.
    Maybe these quizzes should have the “I dont know” answer.
    Then I would have scored a lot less than the 6 I had now.

  12. 8/10 for me. I got wrong the questions of how to respond to a black bear attack (I remembered the advice I got on how to respond to a grizzly attack and chose that instead) and how to respond if kayaking and you see an alligator.

  14. I only got 6 out of 10 correct. But the Park Service made a mistake on the first question. According to them, you can within 100 yards of a grizzly bear. No way! The correct answer is “so far away you can barely see them.”

  15. I got 7 right. Wrong on the bison, the alligator and the # of deaths due to wildlife. I guessed on the stingray, though.
    Thanks, by the way, Jerry. Hard to resist stuff like that — fluff or not.

  18. Woo hoo! 10/10. Thx for the heads-up. (Strides confidently onto his next trail and falls off a cliff)

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