Below is the full Quizmo quiz devoted to the theme "Evolution": each question, its four options, the correct answer highlighted and, where available, its source. A chance to brush up on your general knowledge and then test what you know.
▶ Play today's quizWhich scientist is most associated with the theory of evolution by natural selection?
Source: Darwin spent over 20 years gathering evidence before finally publishing, fearing the backlash.
Evolution explains that species change gradually over what?
Source: Evolution works on populations across generations, never on a single individual within its lifetime.
What carries the hereditary information passed to offspring?
Source: If you uncoiled all the DNA in your body, it would stretch billions of kilometres.
What name is given to the survival and reproduction of the fittest individuals?
Source: The phrase 'survival of the fittest' was actually coined by Herbert Spencer, not Darwin.
What famous book did Darwin publish in 1859?
Source: It sold out its entire first print run on the very first day it went on sale.
The famous finches Darwin studied came from which islands?
Source: Darwin barely noticed the finches at first; an ornithologist later revealed their importance.
Which animals are humans' closest living relatives?
Source: Humans and chimpanzees share roughly 98-99% of their DNA, splitting from a common ancestor.
A trait that helps an organism survive in its environment is called what?
Source: The same environmental pressure can produce strikingly similar adaptations in unrelated species.
Fossils are crucial evidence because they show life forms from when?
Source: Most living things never fossilise; becoming a fossil is an extraordinarily rare event.
Which extinct relatives of modern humans lived in Ice Age Europe?
Source: Most people of non-African descent still carry a small percentage of Neanderthal DNA.
What term describes when a species permanently ceases to exist?
Source: Over 99% of all species that ever lived on Earth are already gone forever.
Which process introduces the new genetic variation that evolution acts upon?
Source: Most mutations are harmless or neutral; only rarely does one offer a survival edge.
What is the term for one species splitting into two distinct species?
Source: A single mountain range or river can slowly split one population into two separate species.
Which monk's pea-plant experiments laid the foundation for genetics?
Source: His groundbreaking work was ignored for 35 years until others rediscovered it independently.
What earlier theory wrongly claimed acquired traits pass directly to offspring?
Source: It suggested a giraffe stretching its neck would have longer-necked babies, which it won't.
What do we call structures like the human appendix that lost their original function?
Source: Whales still carry tiny hip bones, leftovers from ancestors that once walked on land.
Which naturalist independently conceived natural selection, prompting Darwin to publish?
Source: His letter from the jungle shocked Darwin into finally releasing his long-delayed theory.
What do we call body parts shared by different species due to common ancestry?
Source: A bat's wing, a whale's flipper and your hand share the same underlying bone pattern.
What is it called when unrelated species evolve similar traits separately?
Source: Bird wings and bat wings evolved independently, yet both solved the same flight problem.
Which fossil is famous for linking dinosaurs to birds with feathers and teeth?
Source: Discovered just two years after Darwin's book, it became evolution's most celebrated missing link.