Nature Questions in Trivia Game Shows

I was just watching a Who Want’s to be a Millionaire? compilation on the final, 1 million pound questions (here’s the video, timestamp 32:33: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwnzAQgVhkM) and one of the questions was:

“Which of these is a butterfly, not a moth?”

A: Mother Shipton
B: Red Underwing
C: Burnished Brass
D: Speckled Wood

I am jumping up and down saying “IT’S SPECKLED WOOD!!!” while the contestant is like “I have no idea.”

Any other trivia game shows that have asked a nature themed question? Did you know the answer to it?

7 Likes

Like (probably) many iNatters, I can clean up any Jeopardy! category about nature or science, but I am lost when they ask anything about pop culture, music, sports, the arts, etc.

7 Likes

Moth or goth band quiz:

https://vole.wtf/goth-or-moth/

8 Likes

These are clearly not moths either.

EDIT: I was just proved wrong.

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/354807-Callistege-mi

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/358031-Diachrysia-chrysitis

1 Like

Goodness! Mother Shipton? Who named it like that?

1 Like

Burnished Brass → Family Noctuidae

Mother Shipton → Family Erebidae

1 Like

Yes, now I see.

British moths have weird names like that lol.

2 Likes

There’s more of that? Tell me more!

1 Like

The Uncertain

The Snout

Dingy Footman

Old Lady

The Lackey

And there’s plenty more where that came from! Just look through the Lepidoptera species list! I’m sure there is also a post where people talk about weird organism names too on here…

EDIT: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/funny-long-or-just-plain-weird-animal-names/3220

5 Likes

With today’s level of nature knowledge, I’d be surprised if the show’s researchers got it right.

4 Likes

Myself included.

2 Likes

I’ve been at trivia where the sports questions are like, “who was the NBA all star from 1968?” and the nature questions are like “what’s the fourth planet from the sun?”.

7 Likes

a few years ago there was a Jeopardy category (a whole category!) about owls, and i dont remember the question, i think it was something about a part of the owl that doesnt move independantly or something, but i remember knowing the answer immediately- their eyes. not one contestant knew this lol

5 Likes

I could rant about this for hours…
Seriously, stuff like “who was leader of x country 5 generations before any of us were born” is considered common knowledge everyone should know, but the most elementary things of how our world works are considered “nerd facts” nobody needs. No wonder science denialism is on the rise and environmental crises aren’t taken seriously. Something is very off in our education systems.

Playing Trivial Pursuit, I was once asked about the bodyguard of some politician who died before I was born. Like… How and more importantly why am I supposed to know that? (My “”“nature”“” question then was “Who invented the telephone?”)

6 Likes

There is a quiz on BBC Radio 4 called Brain of Britain. I heard this a few years ago.
Q: Which subspecies of tiger is found in India?
Brain of Britain contestant: African.

4 Likes

Thank you I love this!
so much harder than I thought it would be.
And ashamed as a former Goth to only get 7/10 :black_heart:

1 Like

From my brief hour or 2 watch of trivia game show compilation, so much of the questions are like that. I suppose its due to it being a fixed answer, like the date so-and-so won 1st place in the Olympics is not going to change, but the genus that some leafhopper is placed in now may not be the same in 2 years time… but I suppose a lot of nature questions can be fixed too… agreed to terms of specific body parts and objects etc.

1 Like