Test Your Knowledge of the Earth's Natural History

In 1757, Swedish arachnologist Carl Alexander Clerck published the book “Svenska Spindlar,” the foundational text for spider nomenclature. Clerck was friends with Carl Linnaeus and used Linnaeus’ binomial nomenclature for plants for spiders, making the arachnids the first animals with scientific names.

In order to describe a new species of animal, plant, fungi, or algae, scientists have historically gathered a type specimen, also known as a holotype. The official description of the new species will be based on this specimen, and the type specimen becomes the standardized example for when scientists compare different species.

Aristotle and the ancient Greek naturalists devised a classification scheme of the natural world that ordered organisms on a scale from low to high. This system became known as the “scala naturae” or the “natural ladder.” Humans were at the top rung of the ladder and other life forms were placed below on gradually lower rungs, from animals to plants to minerals.

Carl Linnaeus, a notable taxonomist from Sweden, conceived of scientific names for living things in 1758. The naming system, known as binomial nomenclature, was created to keep a consistent and standardized method of recording new species. The scientific name is composed of the genus, followed by the species.

William Buckland, born in England in 1784, was a notable minister, geologist, and paleontologist. He is known for describing the first dinosaur skeleton, but his personal ambition was to try to taste every animal on Earth. He frequently had mice on toast and also indulged in all manner of creatures, from porpoises to panthers.

The first scientifically described dinosaur was named before naturalists even realized what dinosaurs were. In 1815, paleontologist William Buckland discovered teeth, jaws, and limbs, and in 1824 concluded that they came from a giant, extinct lizard (he wasn’t too far off). He named his mysterious finding megalosaurus.

The 4.6 billion years that make up Earth’s history are divided into four eons: the Hadean Eon, the Archean Eon, the Proterozoic Eon, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Hadean Eon, a reference to the ancient Greek god of the underworld, is the story of Earth’s fiery birth. The Archean Eon saw life form on Earth. The current Phanerozoic Eon saw the rise of dinosaurs and humans. The Jurassic Period is from the Mesozoic Era, which is part of the Phanerozoic Eon.

Earth has experienced five major extinction events to date, but the worst was the Permian Extinction, also known as the “Great Dying.” Killing nearly 90% of all species on Earth, the traumatic geological event was caused by continuous volcanic eruptions in the Siberian Traps in modern-day Russia. The volcanic event, which caused eruptions for around 2 million years, was the largest in Earth’s history in the past 500 million years.

Paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope were once friends but turned bitter rivals during the Bone Wars (1877 to 1892). During this intense period of discovery, the two scoured the American West for evidence of previously unknown species buried among layers of rock. More than 100 fossil species were discovered during these contentious years.

The bones of a prehistoric elephant-like creature called Deinotherium giganteum were found on the Greek island of Crete in the early 19th century, and it is thought these giant fossils may have inspired the Cyclops of Greek mythology. These elephantine cousins had a large hole in their skull that supported a large trunk and are thought to have roamed Crete around 8 to 9 million years ago.

Today’s modern continents weren’t always separated by vast stretches of oceans — they were once part of a supercontinent known as Pangaea, which means “all lands” in ancient Greek. Earth’s continents are constantly shifting, and in its 4.6 billion-year history, the planet has formed other supercontinents, including Gondwana and Rodinia.

When living in Jamaica in the early 1950s, Ian Fleming needed a name for the protagonist of his new novel “Casino Royale.” Fleming was a dedicated birder, and one of his favorite books was “Birds of the West Indies” (1936) by American ornithologist James Bond. Liking the name’s simplicity, Fleming adopted it wholesale. Fleming eventually apologized to the real Bond and gave him a signed copy of “You Only Live Twice” (1964) when the two met years later.

Yellowstone became the first national park in the world on March 1, 1872, when U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act, conserving more than 2 million acres of wilderness in the American West. The park contains 10,000 hydrothermal features, including hot springs, mudpots, and geysers, as well as an abundance of American wildlife.

Charles Darwin boarded the HMS Beagle in 1831. The ship sailed to South America and around the world, making a notable stop in the Galapagos Islands. Throughout the journey, Darwin collected thousands of specimens that helped him conceptualize his theory of evolution by natural selection. His journeys on the ship are published in Darwin’s diary “The Voyage of the Beagle.”

There’s a reason why Theodore Roosevelt is known as the “conservation President.” While in office from 1901 to 1909, he signed legislation to establish five national parks: Crater Lake, Oregon; Wind Cave, South Dakota; Sullys Hill, North Dakota; Mesa Verde, Colorado; and Platt, Oklahoma. In June 1906, Roosevelt also signed the Antiquities Act, which enabled Presidents to proclaim national landmarks and monuments.

In 1960, Jane Goodall began studying chimpanzees at Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park, and for more than 60 years, her observations about chimps’ social dynamics and mental abilities have changed the world’s perception of the fascinating species. Today, Goodall is one of the world’s most influential conservationists and travels the world to raise money to protect the world’s most vulnerable natural places.

On August 12, 1990, paleontologist Sue Hendrickson was walking through South Dakota’s Hell Creek Formation when she found a piece of fossilized bone fragment on the ground. Glancing up, she saw even bigger bones embedded in the rock overhead. Hendrickson had just discovered the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil ever found, and the dinosaur earned the name “Sue” in honor of its discoverer. Today, the fossil is on display at the Field Museum in Chicago.

John James Audubon’s name is near synonymous with birding; he is the namesake of the National Audubon Society. Born in 1785, he had a lifelong interest in studying birds, and traveled throughout North America and Europe looking for specimens to taxidermy and illustrate. His color-plate book “The Birds of America” is considered one of the finest ornithological works in history, and he is credited with discovering 25 new bird species.

Charles Darwin, born in 1809, is one of the most influential naturalists in history. In 1831, he embarked on a journey around the world, gathering evidence to support his theory of evolution through natural selection. Nearly three decades later, in 1859, he published his book “On the Origin of Species,” a seminal text that helped establish the scientific field of evolutionary biology.

In the mid-18th century, Carl Linnaeus developed Latin-based taxonomic names for all of Earth’s known creatures, including humans. Although humans are the only species with the designation “sapiens,” meaning “wise,” the genus “Homo” applies to many other extinct species related to modern humans, such as Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis.