Arizona: Animals 1912-2012 Trivia Quiz

Answer: California condor

Despite their name, California condors historically did have populations in Arizona, with the last documented sighting of a condor in Arizona occurring in Williams, Arizona (near Flagstaff) in 1924. By 1982, California condors were on the verge of extinction with a population of only twenty-two birds, with the last remaining wild condor being captured in 1987 for species preservation.

A captive breeding program resulted in the reintroduction of condors into California in 1992 and in Arizona in 1996.

The first condor release in Arizona consisted of six birds released at the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument in northern Arizona. California condors can now be seen in the Grand Canyon during the summer months.

Answer: A lion

Charles Lindbergh had completed his flight across the Atlantic a few months earlier, and MGM decided to capitalize on his popularity by having a duplicate plane fly cross-country promoting their studios with their trademark, Leo the Lion, onboard. The plane was modified to accommodate Leo and his cage, and despite protests by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, stunt pilot Martin Jensen and Leo took off from San Diego, California, early on September 16, 1927.

However the plane was overloaded, with all of the fuel and the four hundred pound lion, and it wasn't able to climb over the mountains of central Arizona. Both Jensen and Leo survived when the plane crashed in a canyon near the town of Payson. Jensen hiked for a few days to get help, and it wasn't until a week later that a rescue team arrived for Leo.

Although weakened, Leo survived the ordeal and went on to live a long life in a zoo. The canyon is now known as Leo Canyon.

Answer: Grizzly bear

Grizzly bears once roamed northern and eastern Arizona, and a smaller cousin, the Mexican grizzly bear, was present in southern Arizona. There are several contenders for the last wild grizzly seen in Arizona, all of them by hunters. All of the stories claim that the last grizzly was shot in central Arizona near the New Mexico border but the year varies from 1933 to 1939. Campaigns to reintroduce the grizzly into Arizona were unsuccessful during the first century of Arizona's statehood, largely due to protests by ranchers.

Answer: Beavers

North America's largest rodent, beavers were once found wherever there were permanent water sources in Arizona, but hunting and habitat loss greatly dwindled their populations. In 1927, Governor Hunt signed a law banning beaver hunting, and within a decade, Arizona Game and Fish Department began reintroducing beavers into areas where they had historically existed. While limited trapping of beavers was still allowed with a permit, declining fur prices and a 1994 ban on legtraps reduced the number of licensed trappers.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum opened in 1952 to highlight the flora, fauna and minerals of the region. Much of the collection is housed in a zoo from which there have been occasional escapes. According to their website: "Probably the most famous was a "beaver breakout" which took place a number of years ago. One night, the beavers left their pond, waddled through the bighorn enclosure and escaped into the desert. The next morning [museum employees] followed their tracks, which headed west and before long stopped near a set of coyote tracks. Swirling beaver tail prints in the sand showed how the beavers had made an about-face and headed back to the safety of their pond. They never attempted another escape."

Answer: Mexican wolf

A distinct subspecies of the North American Gray Wolf, the Mexican Wolf had a historic range from central Mexico up into the southwestern U.S. as far north as Utah and Colorado. The wolves were hunted to near extinction in the U.S. during the early twentieth century, although sightings continued into the 1970s.

The species had been declared endangered in 1976, and Mexican wolves were last seen in the wild in Mexico in 1980. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began releasing captive-bred Mexican wolves into the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in central-eastern Arizona in 1998 and by 2000 also relocated some of the animals into the Gila National Forest in western New Mexico.

The release was controversial, particularly with ranchers in the surrounding area, and although there have been incidents of attacks on livestock, scat analysis has shown that the wolves have a particular preference for elk meat.

Answer: Camels

The last reported sighting of a wild camel in Arizona varies greatly from source to source. Some sources state that the last wild camel was shot by a farmer in 1893, while several sources, including "The Arizona Republic" and the "Arizona Capitol Times" newspapers claim that the last camel was caught in 1946. In April 1934, the "Oakland Tribune" newspaper reported that "The Last American Camel is Dead", after the death of "Topsy", a camel that had wandered into California from Arizona and had been living at a zoo in Los Angeles. Other reports of camels in Arizona include a 1913 sighting by a train crew near Wickenburg, Arizona, and a 1924 sighting at a watering hole in Cabeza National Wildlife Refuge in Ajo, Arizona. Reports of camel tracks persisted into the 1950s.

Camels had been introduced into Arizona in the 1850s as pack animals for the Army, but within a decade the animals were either sold or released. The feral camels spawned the legend of Red Ghost, a reddish camel with the skeleton of a man tied to its back. Reportedly, it was Red Ghost who was shot by the rancher in 1893, although the skeleton was no longer attached to the camel.

Answer: Squirrel

The Mount Graham red squirrel was believed to be extinct by the 1950s, but it was rediscovered in the 1970s and received endangered species status in 1987. It was originally considered to only inhabit the higher elevations of Mount Graham, so sticking an observatory on top of the mountain could threaten the species. Later it was discovered that the squirrel was also found at lower elevations, with a 1993 census showing 55 percent of the population existing in the middle elevation range of the mountain. Construction began on the Mount Graham International Observatory in 1989, and the first telescopes became operational in 1993.

As part of the permit to operate the observatory, the University of Arizona, which operates the site, is required to fund a monitoring project on the squirrel.

Answer: Jaguar

During recorded history, jaguars once ranged as far north as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, but hunting extirpated them from the state. By 1969, Arizona had outlawed jaguar hunting, although there were incidents of illegal killings in 1971 and 1986 south of Tucson.

In 1996, a rancher snapped photos of a jaguar in southeastern Arizona near New Mexico, and a few months later, a hunter videotaped a different jaguar 150 miles west of the earlier sighting. The rancher and hunter became involved with preservation efforts for the jaguar, and in 1997, the Arizona/New Mexico Jaguar Conservation Team was created. Through the end of the first century of Arizona statehood, only male jaguar sightings have been confirmed since Arizona outlawed jaguar hunting.

Answer: Lovebirds

Feral flocks of rosy-faced (also known as peach-faced) lovebirds have been seen in the Phoenix area since at least the 1980s. Native to the Namib Desert area of southwest Africa, the Phoenix birds are either escapees or purposely released, since lovebirds are popular as pets.

The Phoenix climate is similar to their native habitat so the birds have flourished in the Phoenix area; a 2010 census estimated their population at 950. Arizona does have a native parrot, the thick-billed parrot, which was last documented in southeastern Arizona in the 1930s.

A reintroduction project in the 1980s failed mainly due to predation by hawks. And the snowbirds that visit Arizona? They're humans who reside in the northern U. S. or Canada who come to Arizona to escape the winter weather.

Answer: Black-footed ferret

Black-footed ferrets aren't the ones that are sold as pets; those are actually European ferrets. The only native ferret species in North America, black-footed ferrets are native to the Great Plains area and the high deserts of the southwest where prairie dog colonies exist.

The reduction in prairie dog populations greatly affected ferrets since prairie dogs are their primary food source. By 1987, only eighteen black-footed ferrets were known to exist, and only seven were able to reproduce. A successful captive breeding program resulted in ferrets being reintroduced at several sites in the U. S. with 35 ferrets being reintroduced into northern Arizona in 1996.