Staying Afloat Quiz

The land may have been barren and uninhabited for the majority of the Ordovician and Devonian periods, but the seas were teeming with unusual and amazing species.

However, not all of these species were equipped to "stay afloat" when mass extinctions hit, first around 450 million years ago (the Ordovician-Silurian) and then around 370 million years ago (the Late Devonian).

Take this quiz to see whether you'd be destined to sink or swim in the face of mass extinction.

You are a Straight-Shelled (or Orthocone) Nautiloid in the Ordovician period, which means you are a lean, mean killing machine. You can measure up to 20 feet in length and you boast an intimidating lance-like shell. But one of your strengths becomes a fatal flaw in the face of mass extinction. Is it:

The fact that you generally have to swim backwards, with your shell facing forward

The fact that your tentacles have no suckers

Your insatiable hunger

Your ability to change color

You chose: You chose:

Although your appetite makes you a feared predator before mass extinction begins, it is in many ways the undoing of the Straight-Shelled Nautiloid. As the food chain collapses, there is simply not enough prey to satisfy you. Straight-Shelled Nautiloids, deprived of the bounteous feasts they once enjoyed, become one of the first cephalopods to become extinct.

As a Coiled Nautiloid, a cousin of the formidable Straight-Shelled Nautiloid, you are certainly less feared and lower on the food chain. But you have an evolutionary advantage over your relative that helps you survive much longer. Is it:

Your smaller size and, therefore, increased agility in the water

Your thicker, tougher shell

Your ability to survive on a smaller quantity of food

Your mode of reproduction

You chose: You chose:

Dramatic changes in the environment during the Ordovician-Silurian mass extinction event force many species to flee to deeper water. The longer, more delicate shells of the Straight-Shelled Nautiloid cause them to implode at greater depths, but your thick shell allows you to live happily hundreds of meters below the surface. You still aren't scary but at least you're staying afloat.

As an Astraspis, you are one of only a few primitive fish species on earth. You're not a particularly impressive creature — you're only six inches long and you're jawless, which means you are limited to eating scum, microbes and algae. Still, you have characteristics that help you survive, and the most important characteristic is:

Your thick skin and bulky body, which can tolerate the cooling waters

Your indiscriminating palate, which basically means you can and will eat almost anything

Your unusual backbone — the first to appear in any species on Earth

Both A and B

You chose: You chose:

Although your backbone is incredibly significant — it makes you, the lowly little Astraspis, the precursor to all vertebrates, including humans — it doesn't specifically save you from extinction. But your ability to tolerate cold and your willingness to eat whatever food is available help keep you alive, and it's a good thing. If Astraspis hadn't made it through the extinction, humans might not be walking the earth today.

You are a new species of fish that evolves from Astraspis, called Acanthodian. You have a big leg up on your tough, little relative because:

You have dorsal fins

You have a jaw

You are longer, measuring up to 12 inches, and heavier

Your scales are like bony plates

You chose: You chose:

Dorsal fins and extra length/heft are nice features to have, but your newly developed moveable jaw is what gives you a real advantage. You can now nibble on flesh and other food, rather than waiting for food to drift along into your path. This means you're moving up the food chain and improving your chances of long-term survival. In fact, all modern fish — minnows, catfish, swordfish, sharks — will spawn from you.

You are a Eurypterid, a massive sea scorpion that usually takes second-fiddle to the Straight-Shelled Nautiloid (although you're no lightweight, measuring up to 6 feet in length and weighing as much an NFL lineman). But the joke's on the Nautiloids — you are better equipped to handle mass extinction because:

You need far less food than the Nautiloids to survive

Your chelicerae, or legs, allow you to move around on the sea bottom

You are a more agile swimmer

You are better able to survive in shallow waters

You chose: You chose:

The Nautiloids are voracious eaters, and a global food famine means that there isn't enough food to satisfy their hunger. As they get weaker and weaker, you and the other Eurypterids happily move into their territory and assert dominance. In fact, you take things a step further and even begin venturing onto land, exhibiting an amazing adaptation of air breathing "book lungs" similar to those seen in modern insects.

You are a Dunkleosteus, the apex predator (or, in other words, the top of the food chain) in the Devonian period. When mass extinction hits, which of the following features helps you stay afloat?

Your immense size…you weigh as much as three African elephants!

Your powerful jaws, which can literally bite prey or enemies in half

Your thick, nearly impenetrable armor

None of the above

You chose: You chose:

Although all of these fearsome features made you king of the sea during the Devonian period, they couldn't save you from going extinct. The exact reasons for your extinction are unclear, but here's the good news: you still hold the record for the fish with the most powerful jaws ever, beating out the modern day great white shark and placing you in the league of Tyrannosaurus rex and modern crocodiles. Your razor sharp plates (you didn't have teeth) could concentrate a pressure of up to 8,000 pounds of force per square inch.

As a Materpiscis, you are aptly named. The trait that your name is derived from helps you survive the late Devonian extinction. This trait is:

Your tooth-like plates

Your powerful jaw

Your mode of reproduction

Your tough armor

You chose: You chose:

Materpiscis literally means "mother fish" and you have the distinction of being the first known species to give birth to live young. This unique ability meant that you were able to protect your young much longer than other species of fish that laid eggs, giving you a real advantage when it came to survival.

Lucky for you, you're a Tiktaalik, one of the creatures best adapted to survive during the turmoil of the late Devonian period. Which of the following adaptations helped you stay afloat... and even get your footing on dry land?

A neck that could move independently of the body

Wrist bones and simple fingers in your fins

A flattened head with eyes on top

All of the above

You chose: You chose:

All of these traits allowed you to become the first vertebrate in history to walk on land. You also boasted primitive lungs alongside your gills and a more robust ribcage, which supported you when you left the water. By moving about on land, you were able to take advantage of a whole new food source — insects.

Correct

Sadly, your chances of surviving a mass extinction are slim. You just don't know what it takes to stay afloat in the Ordovician and Devonian periods.

Correct

All hope is not lost. You may be able to adapt and live to see another day.

Correct

What mass extinction? You're riding out these catastrophic events with no problem.

Find out more about the creatures in the quiz:

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