What's in a Lake? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria, the largest tropical lake in the world, is home to more than 200 species of fish, the crocodile, and the hippopotamus. It was named for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom by its first European visitor, John Hanning Speke.

Answer: True

In terms of area, this is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth. As such, it may be classified as either a lake or a sea. Its only outflow is evaporation, as it is in an endorheic basin, which allows no outflows to other bodies of water. It is primarily fed by the Volga and Ural rivers.

Answer: Lake Taupo

Lake Taupo lies in a cauldron-like crater, called a caldera, caused by the collapse of land following a supervolcanic eruption. It is said that rock carvings overlooking the lake in Mine Bay protect the lake from any volcanic activity beneath it.

Answer: Djibouti

With a salt concentration ranging from 34.8% to 40% at certain depths, Lake Assal is more saline than the Dead Sea, which is often inaccurately considered to hold the title of being the saltiest.

Answer: Norway

The depth of Hornindalsvatnet has been measured as being 514 meters (1,686 ft), but during the 1990s a former Norwegian telephone company declared their measurement as being a depth of 612 meters (2,008 ft) while laying an optical fiber cable at the bottom. This meant the original measurement might be underestimated.

Answer: Lake Tanganyika

Considered the second largest freshwater lake by volume, it is also estimated to hold the source of 25-40% of the protein in the diets of about one million people living near its shores. It is also vital to all of the approximate ten million people living in the basin, including by way of the fisheries it supports at almost 800 sites.

Answer: Lake Baikal

The "Pearl of Siberia" was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 due to its more than 1,700 species of flora and fauna, more than half of which are not found anywhere else on Earth. It is praised in the Russian folk song "The Glorious Sea - Sacred Baikal".

Answer: False

Finland is notably the "Land of the Thousand Lakes", being home to 187,888 lakes. Its third largest lake, Inarijärvi, is itself home to over 3,000 islands. One of these is Hautuumaasaari, or "Graveyard Island", which once served as a graveyard for Finland's ancient Sami people.

Answer: Crater Lake

Crater Lake was stocked with a variety of fish for more than 50 years until 1941 to compensate for its lack of any indigenous fish population. The well-known "Old Man of the Lake", a tree stump bobbing vertically in its waters, has made the lake its home for over a century.

Answer: Titicaca

Titicaca, South America's largest lake, is significant to the landlocked Bolivia's Naval Force by serving as the body of water in which they can maintain an active navy and practice naval exercises.