International education and research in ecology and conservation, wildlife tracking, and human culture
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Sometimes these quiz photos will be from Africa, sometimes from North America, and sometimes from elsewhere, but don’t worry, we will always tell you the location. Give it a try and let’s learn together!
These are all pocket gopher eskers. Eskers are narrow ridges of packed soil that appear on the ground surface after the winter snow melts. They are made when the pocket gopher excavates soil from beneath the snow and pushes the excess soil into the tunnels they’ve made within the snow itself. When the snow melts, these sediment-packed tunnels remain and become visible.
Photo taken by Sandy Reed
The folds of the skin can be seen in this picture of a zebra dust bath or roll. Zebras dust bathe to rid themselves of ticks, flies and parasites. It also helps keep them cool. Zebras often dust bath as a group and this is considered part of their social behavior.
Photo by Sandy Reed
These are very fresh tracks (made minutes before the photo was taken) of the knuckles from a mountain gorilla in Rwanda. Sandy Reed was hiking in Volcanoes National Park with a guided group and saw the track just before seeing the gorilla. Mountain gorillas walk by flexing their fingers inward, tucking them into their palms, and placing the weight of their bodies on the dorsal surfaces of the middle finger bones (the middle phalanges) – their knuckles. This allows them to keep their long fingers free for grasping and climbing trees as well as providing a stable way to move on the ground.
Photo by Sandy Reed
How did you do? We’d love to hear from you!
In fact, we welcome your photo contributions from anywhere in the world! Send them to us HERE with your explanation of where they are from, what you think they are, and why you think so, and we could include them in a future quiz (giving you credit of course). Your photos will also become part of our searchable database that trackers can use for learning!
You can view old quizzes on the Original Wisdom website under the Resources tab, in the Tracking Gallery.
Happy Tracking!
The Team at Original Wisdom
One hundred percent of donations made in Brandon’s name are set aside to help provide for a high school or college student to travel to South Africa to participate in an Original Wisdom program. The student must have a strong passion for photography and/or wildlife tracking and be a part of a program or class that is learning about and working towards conservation.