Skip to main content Report an accessibility problem ASU Home My ASU Colleges and Schools Sign In
Arizona State University logo
Ask A Biologist
Donate
  • Home
  • Activities
    • Activities Overview
    • Virtual Tours
    • Games and Simulations
      • Arizona Water Myth or Fact Game
      • Beat the Heat
      • Bee Dance Game
      • Bee Learning Lab
      • Beetle Dissection
      • Bionanoengineering Game
      • COVID SIM Pandemic Simulation
      • Cell Parts Game
      • Cell Size SIM
      • Climate Central
      • Cracking CRISPR
      • Desert Survivor
      • EcoChains - Food Web Game
      • EcoChains: Coral Futures
      • Epic Mosquito Quest
      • Frankenstein's Lab
      • Genetics Game
      • Give It A Shot
      • Keys to the Ocean Game
      • Picking off the Peppered Moth
      • Skeleton Viewer
      • Using the Scientific Method: The Case of the Mystery Images
      • Virtual Tours
      • Virtual water treatment plant
      • Water Activities Central
      • Water Conservation Game
      • Water Treatment Facility Game
    • Experiments and Lessons
      • Virtual Pocket Seed Viewer
      • Air Pollution
      • Catch and Sketch Plankton
      • Composting
      • Cutting Out Brain Tumors
      • Experiment Overview
      • Heavy Water
      • How Do Animals Grow?
      • Hummingbird Lunch
      • It’s a Plankton Eat Plankton World
      • Let the Germs Begin
      • Life of the Leafcutter
      • Manduca Growth Experiment
      • Nerve Experiment
      • Seasoned to the Tilt
      • Seeing DNA
      • Sooty Selection
      • Virtual Seed Experiment
      • When Water Gets Icy
      • Your Dog's Personality
      • Breaking Proteins
      • Build an ant farm
      • Create your own herbarium
      • DNA Discovery Awards
      • Do zombies really exist?
      • Fly Trapping Trials Experiment: Teacher Page
      • Fly Trapping Trials
      • Frozen Connections
      • Make Your Own Podcasts
      • Making Your Own Pocket Seed Viewer
      • Managing Mosquitoes
      • Monster Inheritance
      • Mysterious World of Dr. Biology
    • Virtual Microscope
    • Coloring Pages
      • Animal Cell
      • Ant Anatomy Worksheet
      • Ant Anatomy
      • Ant Heads Matching Activity
      • Ant Life Cycle
      • Ant Picnic
      • Arctic Brine Maze
      • Arctic Ecosystem
      • Bacterial Cell
      • Beetle Dissection
      • Biome Map Worksheet
      • Biome Matching Game Worksheet
      • Bone Comparison Worksheet
      • Flower Anatomy Worksheet
      • Fungal Cell
      • Good and Bad Bug
      • Healing Bone Worksheet
      • Human Ear Anatomy Worksheet
      • Human Eye Worksheet
      • Human Heart Worksheet
      • Human Skeleton Anatomy Activity
      • Human Skull Bones Activity
      • Insect Masks
      • Manduca Life Cycle
      • Mendel's Peas
      • Microbes
      • Monarch Life Cycle
      • Nature's Medicine
      • Neuron Anatomy
      • Ocean Plastics
      • Ocean
      • Plankton Coloring Page
      • Plant Cell
      • Shark Anatomy Worksheet
      • Shark Matching Activity
      • Species
      • Teal Duck
      • True Bugs
      • Ugly Bugs 2008
      • Ugly Bugs 2009
      • Ugly Bugs 2010
      • Viral Attack
      • Vitamins Matching Activity
      • What's In Your Brain
      • What's Your Brain Doing?
      • Yo-Yo Skeleton
    • Biology Bits
      • Ant Bits
      • Biome Bits
      • Bone Bits
      • Cell Bits
      • Cell Parts Bits
      • Feather Bits
      • For Teachers
      • Metamorphosis Bits
      • Nervous Bits
      • Seeing Color Bits
      • Snacking on Sunlight Bits
      • Bee Bits
    • Bird Finder
      • Bird Comparison
      • American Avocet
      • American Coot
      • American Crow
      • American Dipper
      • American Goldfinch
      • American Kestrel
      • American Pipit
      • American Robin
      • American Wigeon
      • Anna's Hummingbird
      • Arizona Woodpecker
      • Ash-throated Flycatcher
      • Bald Eagle
      • Band-tailed Pigeon
      • Barn Owl
      • Barn Swallow
      • Bell's Vireo
      • Belted Kingfisher
      • Bendire's Thrasher
      • Bewick's Wren
      • Black Phoebe
      • Black Rail
      • Black Vulture
      • Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
      • Black-capped Gnatcatcher
      • Black-capped Vireo
      • Black-chinned Hummingbird
      • Black-chinned Sparrow
      • Black-crowned Night-Heron
      • Black-headed Grosbeak
      • Black-necked Stilt
      • Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
      • Black-throated Blue Warbler
      • Black-throated Gray Warbler
      • Black-throated Sparrow
      • Blue Grosbeak
      • Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
      • Blue-throated Hummingbird
      • Botteri's Sparrow
      • Brewer's Blackbird
      • Brewer's Sparrow
      • Bridled Titmouse
      • Broad-billed Hummingbird
      • Broad-tailed Hummingbird
      • Bronzed Cowbird
      • Brown Creeper
      • Brown Thrasher
      • Brown-crested Flycatcher
      • Brown-headed Cowbird
      • Buff-breasted Flycatcher
      • Buff-collared Nightjar
      • Bullock's Oriole
      • Burrowing Owl
      • Bushtit
      • Cactus Wren
      • California Condor
      • Canada Goose
      • Canyon Towhee
      • Canyon Wren
      • Caspian Tern
      • Cassin's Finch
      • Cassin's Kingbird
      • Cassin's Sparrow
      • Cassin's Vireo
      • Cattle Egret
      • Cedar Waxwing
      • Chestnut-collared Longspur
      • Chihuahuan Raven
      • Chipping Sparrow
      • Cinnamon Teal
      • Clapper Rail
      • Clark's Nutcracker
      • Cliff Swallow
      • Common Black Hawk
      • Common Goldeneye
      • Common Ground-Dove
      • Common Merganser
      • Common Moorhen
      • Common Nighthawk
      • Common Poorwill
      • Common Raven
      • Common Yellowthroat
      • Cooper's Hawk
      • Cordilleran Flycatcher
      • Costa's Hummingbird
      • Crested Caracara
      • Crissal Thrasher
      • Curve-billed Thrasher
      • Dark-eyed Junco
      • Ferruginous Hawk
      • Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
      • Five-striped Sparrow
      • Flame-colored Tanager
      • Flammulated Owl
      • Gadwall
      • Gambel's Quail
      • Gila Woodpecker
      • Gilded Flicker
      • Golden Eagle
      • Golden-crowned Kinglet
      • Grace's Warbler
      • Grasshopper Sparrow
      • Gray Catbird
      • Gray Flycatcher
      • Gray Hawk
      • Gray Jay
      • Gray Vireo
      • Great Blue Heron
      • Great Egret
      • Great Horned Owl
      • Great-tailed Grackle
      • Greater Pewee
      • Greater Roadrunner
      • Greater Yellowlegs
      • Green Heron
      • Green Kingfisher
      • Green-tailed Towhee
      • Green-winged Teal
      • Hairy Woodpecker
      • Harris's Hawk
      • Hepatic Tanager
      • Hermit Thrush
      • Hooded Oriole
      • Horned Lark
      • House Finch
      • House Sparrow
      • House Wren
      • Hutton's Vireo
      • Inca Dove
      • Indigo Bunting
      • Juniper Titmouse
      • Killdeer
      • Ladder-backed Woodpecker
      • Lark Bunting
      • Lark Sparrow
      • Lawrence's Goldfinch
      • Lazuli Bunting
      • Le Conte's Thrasher
      • Least Bittern
      • Least Sandpiper
      • Lesser Goldfinch
      • Lesser Nighthawk
      • Lincoln's Sparrow
      • Loggerhead Shrike
      • Long-billed Curlew
      • Long-billed Dowitcher
      • Lucy's Warbler
      • MacGillivray's Warbler
      • Magnificent Hummingbird
      • Mallard
      • Mexican Chickadee
      • Mexican Jay
      • Mississippi Kite
      • Montezuma Quail
      • Mountain Bluebird
      • Mountain Chickadee
      • Mourning Dove
      • Neotropic Cormorant
      • Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
      • Northern Cardinal
      • Northern Flicker
      • Northern Harrier
      • Northern Mockingbird
      • Northern Pintail
      • Northern Pygmy-Owl
      • Northern Rough-winged Swallow
      • Northern Saw-whet Owl
      • Northern Shoveler
      • Olive Warbler
      • Olive-sided Flycatcher
      • Orange-crowned Warbler
      • Osprey
      • Painted Bunting
      • Painted Redstart
      • Peregrine Falcon
      • Phainopepla
      • Pine Siskin
      • Pinyon Jay
      • Plumbeous Vireo
      • Prairie Falcon
      • Pygmy Nuthatch
      • Pyrrhuloxia
      • Red Crossbill
      • Red-breasted Nuthatch
      • Red-eyed Vireo
      • Red-faced Warbler
      • Red-naped Sapsucker
      • Red-shouldered Hawk
      • Red-tailed Hawk
      • Red-winged Blackbird
      • Redhead
      • Ring-billed Gull
      • Ring-necked Duck
      • Rock (Feral) Pigeon
      • Rock Wren
      • Rose-breasted Grosbeak
      • Rose-throated Becard
      • Rosy-faced Lovebird
      • Ruby-crowned Kinglet
      • Ruddy Duck
      • Ruddy Ground-Dove
      • Rufous Hummingbird
      • Rufous-crowned Sparrow
      • Rufous-winged Sparrow
      • Sage Thrasher
      • Sandhill Crane
      • Savannah Sparrow
      • Say's Phoebe
      • Scaled Quail
      • Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
      • Scott's Oriole
      • Snowy Egret
      • Song Sparrow
      • Sora
      • Spotted Owl
      • Spotted Sandpiper
      • Spotted Towhee
      • Steller's Jay
      • Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
      • Summer Tanager
      • Swainson's Hawk
      • Thick-billed Kingbird
      • Townsend's Solitaire
      • Tropical Kingbird
      • Turkey Vulture
      • Varied Bunting
      • Verdin
      • Vermilion Flycatcher
      • Vesper Sparrow
      • Violet-green Swallow
      • Virginia Rail
      • Virginia's Warbler
      • Warbling Vireo
      • Western Bluebird
      • Western Grebe
      • Western Kingbird
      • Western Meadowlark
      • Western Sandpiper
      • Western Screech-Owl
      • Western Scrub-Jay
      • Western Tanager
      • Western Wood-Pewee
      • Whip-poor-will
      • Whiskered Screech-Owl
      • White-breasted Nuthatch
      • White-crowned Sparrow
      • White-eyed Vireo
      • White-faced Ibis
      • White-tailed Kite
      • White-throated Sparrow
      • White-throated Swift
      • White-winged Dove
      • Wild Turkey
      • Williamson's Sapsucker
      • Willow Flycatcher
      • Wilson's Phalarope
      • Wilson's Snipe
      • Wilson's Warbler
      • Yellow Warbler
      • Yellow-billed Cuckoo
      • Yellow-breasted Chat
      • Yellow-eyed Junco
      • Yellow-green Vireo
      • Yellow-headed Blackbird
      • Yellow-rumped Warbler
      • Yellow-throated Vireo
      • Zone-tailed Hawk
    • Body Depot
      • Access Secret Files
      • Busy Bones
      • Declassified Reports
      • Doctor Know
      • Help and Tips
      • Microbes
      • Movie in page form
      • Monster Manual
      • Teacher Information
      • Venom!
      • Viral Attack
      • What's Lurking in Lunch?
      • Ndryshimet fiziologjike qĂ« pĂ«son trupi i njeriut nĂ« hapĂ«sirĂ«n kosmike
    • Puzzles
    • Quizzes
      • ABC Vitamins
      • Animal Physiology
      • Ant Anatomy
      • Ant Farm
      • Antibiotics vs Bacteria
      • Ants
      • Bats
      • Bee Bonanza
      • Bees
      • Beetles
      • Bird Feathers
      • Birds Hormones and Seasons
      • Bouwstenen van het leven
      • Building Blocks of Life
      • Butterfly Vision
      • Cloning
      • Collecting Ants
      • Crazy Climate
      • Desert Biome
      • Digging Bees
      • Ecosystems
      • Endangered Species
      • Fig Wasps
      • Freshwater Biome
      • Genetics and Mendel
      • Grasslands Biome
      • How Vision Works
      • How do we sense taste?
      • Kazakhstan
      • Lizards
      • Mapping the Future
      • Medicinal Plants
      • Metamorphosis
      • Monarchs
      • Mosquitoes
      • Nervous System
      • Phyton Parenting
      • Plankton
      • Pollen
      • Salamanders
      • Savanna Biome
      • Scientific Method
      • Scorpions
      • Sea Urchins
      • Searching theInternet
      • Seeds
      • Seeing Color
      • Snacking on Sunlight
      • Space Physiology
      • Superorganism
      • Taiga
      • Tardigrades
      • Taxonomy
      • Temperate Forest
      • Tropical Rainforest Biome
      • True bugs
      • Tundra Biome
      • Two Headed Snake
      • What's GMO?
      • Whats a biologist?
      • X-ray Crystallography
  • Stories
    • Stories Overview
    • Top Questions
      • Are bird numbers declining?
      • Are coral reefs dying?
      • Are viruses alive?
      • Can Gila monsters climb trees?
      • Can penguins fly?
      • Do I only use 10% of my brain?
      • Do different "races" exist?
      • Does brain size relate to intelligence?
      • Does everyone need to be vaccinated?
      • How Does Speed Reading Work?
      • How Many Types of Cells Are in the Human Body?
      • How are humans different from other animals?
      • How did ancient fish make the evolutionary jump from gills to lungs?
      • How did ribosomes work without proteins?
      • How do viruses infect cells?
      • How does eye color get passed from parents to children?
      • How many people can the Earth support?
      • How realistic is the movie Contagion?
      • If birds evolved from dinosaurs, would that make them reptiles too?
      • Is Heat Dangerous?
      • Is a Macadamia nut really a seed, or a nut?
      • Is a butterfly's brain the same as the one it had when it was a caterpillar?
      • Is autism genetic?
      • Is blood blue?
      • Is natural selection making humans healthier?
      • Is there anything in nature that get smaller as it thrives?
      • What Causes Optical Illusions?
      • What Happens During a Heart Attack?
      • What are 'moon flowers' and why do they bloom only at night?
      • What are GMOs and why are they in the news?
      • What do the different calls of gulls mean?
      • What is Alzheimer's disease?
      • What is Biodiversity?
      • What is Biomimicry?
      • What is Organic Food?
      • What is an Ecological Footprint?
      • What is an Ecosystem Service?
      • What is regenerative agriculture?
      • What is the oldest living thing on Earth?
      • When Does a Theory Become a Fact?
      • Why Do We Dream?
      • Why do leaves change color in the fall season?
      • Why do we yawn?
      • Why is Rudolph's nose red?
      • Why is biodiversity important?
      • Why is the bee population decreasing?
    • World of Biology
      • Cruising around coral reefs
      • Mama Ji's Molecular Kitchen
      • Nature's dynamic duos
      • What to Know About Water
      • Ants
      • Nanoparticles - A Matter of Scale
      • Bats
      • Fig Wasps
      • Ant Farm
      • Cloning Ewe
      • Building Blocks of Life
      • Collecting Ants
      • Did You Know Butterflies Are Legally Blind?
      • Face to Face with Ants
      • Feather Biology
      • He Ain't Tasty, He's My Brother
      • How Do Beetles Reproduce?
      • How to Find What You Need on the Internet
      • I Spy an Ecosystem
      • Mighty Morphing Tree Lizards
      • Migrating Monarch Butterflies
      • Mite Mighty Foe to 'Killer' Bees
      • Not So Scary Scorpions
      • Pollen - Nature's Tiny Clues
      • Sea Urchins Do Research
      • Secrets of a Superorganism
      • Seeing Color
      • Time Traveling Plants
      • Two-Headed Snake
      • Using the Scientific Method to Solve Mysteries
      • Where in the World Is Kazakhstan?
      • Why Are English Sailors Called Limeys?
      • A Nervous Journey
      • A Walk in the Park
      • An Invisible Watery World
      • Anatomy of an Article
      • Antibiotics vs Bacteria: An Evolutionary Battle
      • Bee Bonanza
      • Bee Jeweled
      • Big BIG Bugs
      • Big Bad Beetles
      • Biology's Beginnings
      • Birds and Their Songs
      • Boundless Biomes
      • Cells Living in Cells
      • Contemplating the Coasts
      • Controlling Genes
      • Crazy Climate and Wacky Weather
      • Cutting DNA with CRISPR
      • DNA Basics
      • Darwin and Mendel Talk
      • Delving into Deserts
      • Desert Diggers
      • All About Mosquitoes
      • Are Wildfires Bad?
      • Changing Life in the Arctic
      • Desert Fruits Rock
      • Growing Cells
      • Keeping up With Kangaroos
      • Rising Cicadas
      • Searching for Alien Life
      • Spotting Science Lies
      • Using Research to Learn The Truth
      • Vaccine Science
      • What Is Fake News?
      • Earth Day All Year
      • Exercise for Your brain
      • Falling into Freshwater
      • Focusing on Physiology
      • Frozen Life
      • Glow-in-the-dark Plants
      • Grasping Grasslands
      • Hardy Gilas
      • How Do We Hear?
      • How Do We See?
      • How Do We Sense Smell?
      • How Do We Sense Taste?
      • How Do We Sense Touch?
      • Hummingbirds
      • Indiana Jane
      • Itty Bitty Beasts
      • Linnaeus and the World of Taxonomy
      • Making Life Crystal Clear
      • Making the List
      • Mapping the Future
      • Marveling at the Marine Biomes
      • Metamorphosis: Nature’s Ultimate Transformer
      • Nanobiotechnology: Nature's Tiny Machines
      • Nature's Colors of Love
      • Nature's Medicine
      • Observing the Open Ocean
      • Ouch - Body Defense and Repair
      • Perfect Python Parenting
      • Phosphate Fix
      • Puzzling Pathogens
      • Searching the Savanna
      • Secrets of Sleep
      • Sensing the World
      • Singing in the Rain
      • Six-legged Recipes
      • Snacking on Sunlight
      • Solving a Genetic Mystery
      • Sonoran CSI
      • Spaced Out Physiology
      • Switching of Seasons
      • Taking Care of Nature
      • Taking in the Temperate Forest
      • The Peppered Moth: A Seasoned Survivor
      • To Breed or Not to Breed
      • Tough, Tiny Tiger Beetles
      • Trailing Through Taiga
      • Trekking through Tundra
      • Tropical Rainforest
      • True Bugs
      • Using Animals in Research
      • Vitamins: Vital or Not?
      • What is Evolutionary Medicine?
      • What's a Biologist?
      • What's a GMO?
      • What's a Genome?
      • Where the Rewilded Things Are
    • Meet Our Biologists
      • Angelic Creature With Devilish Charm
      • Career Path of Kate Ihle
      • Battling Bacteria that Break the Body
      • Bee Movie Maker
      • Breeding Birds and Beyond
      • Chasing Tiny Tigers
      • Colorful Partners
      • Cow Pies, Termites - A Main Attraction
      • Crusty Microbiologist
      • Getting to the Root of Plant Biology
      • He Knows a Good Egg When He Sees One
      • Hot Research
      • Insect Fashion Show
      • Keying in on Keystone Species
      • Learning to Remember
      • On the Lookout for Locusts
      • Smashing Success
      • Studying Monster DNA
      • The Interest of Insects
      • Tobacco's Wild Ride
      • What Lies Beneath
      • Building at a Nanoscale
      • Cooperation or Conflict?
      • Hunting for Hidden Viruses
      • Mending with Microbes
      • Treating Cancer with a Rabbit Trick
      • Keys to the Coronavirus
      • Smarter Ways to Battle Bacteria
      • Breaking Cell Boundaries
      • Catching Body Invaders
      • Detect and Protect
      • Fighting Brain Disease
      • From Bits to Brilliance
      • Looking for Life
      • Manipulating Microbes
      • Mutations Matter
      • Panama Kate
      • Peeking Into Ant-Plant Pacts
      • Secrets in Sewers
      • Sending germs to space
      • The World Inside You
      • Toxic Response
      • What's in Our Water?
    • Listen and Watch
      • A Walk on the Wild Side
      • A visit to NSF
      • About Bees and the Bee Genome
      • Ant Farm
      • Ant Life Part 1
      • Ant Life Part 2
      • Ant Math
      • Art and Science of Broadcast Journalism
      • Bats, Bones, and Biology
      • Bee Movie Maker
      • Been There, Dung That
      • Biology Business
      • Biology Net
      • Birds of a Feather
      • Breath of Fresh Ocean Air
      • Bugs in Films
      • Bugs in Space
      • Build Your Own Ant Farm (Part 1)
      • Build Your Own Ant Farm (Part 2)
      • Butterflies and Insect Vision
      • Casting a Podcast Line
      • Cataglyphis
      • Cell CAT Scans
      • Collecting Ice Cores
      • Cute Colorful Poison Dart Frogs and Their Mimics
      • Cybertaxonomy
      • Dear Aliens
      • Desert Plants
      • Dr. Biology Goes to Washington DC: Science for Everyone
      • Dr. Biology Visits the Laboratory of Michael Angilletta
      • Dr. Biology visits with Biologist Kate Ihle
      • Drawn to Bones
      • Ed Wilson 1
      • Ed Wilson 2
      • Evolution of Bird Flight
      • Feather Biology
      • Fire and Life
      • Food for Thought About GMOs
      • Cells and Cancer
      • Hacking Nature
      • Healing with clay
      • Hiking South Mountain Park
      • Hulking Biology
      • Inner Space the Final Frontier
      • Insect Infatuation
      • Iridescence
      • Jaguar in My Backyard?
      • Keeping Cool
      • Keystone Species
      • A Matter of Trust
      • A Tasty Bite of Science
      • Adventures of a Zoo Veterinarian
      • An A.I. Conversation
      • Biology, Books, and Movie Magic
      • Breathtaking Biology – a metabolome adventure
      • Bringing Biodiversity to the City
      • Capturing Curious Minds: Communicating Complex Science
      • Charting the Mysteries of the Mind - Unraveling Alzheimer's and Dementia
      • Chronicles of a Zookeeper
      • Coral Reef Checkup
      • Fast Insects, Smart Science: Tiger Beetles Rule
      • From Cicadas to Centrifuges - The Frugal Science Revolution
      • Guardian of the Wild - A Veterinarian's Story
      • In the Swarm's Shadow - Locust Science
      • Making Life Happen
      • Monkey Tales - Learning About Stress
      • Next Gen Scientists
      • Secrets of the Honeybee
      • Sneezes, Swelling, and Smart Defenses: The Science of Allergies
      • The Big Leap
      • The Other Marine Biologist
      • The Science of Learning Science
      • Tobacco Plant to the Rescue
      • Zoo Animal Fun, Games, and Wellbeing
      • Are Plants Made from Thin Air?
      • Beetle Mania
      • Biology Explained by Cats
      • Blood-Sucking Science Mystery
      • Can't Live Without You
      • Drylands, Hot Topic
      • Glowing Vomit, Cricket Serenades
      • Living With a Stone Age Brain
      • Living in Extreme Worlds
      • Lizard Push-ups and Jumping Spiders
      • Our Amazing but Flawed Memory
      • Robot Snakes and Jumping Jerboas
      • SLEAP and the Science of Movement
      • Shark Tales
      • Surprised at the Science Conference
      • The Last Stand for Ice
      • The Maddest Match Around
      • The Secret Scientist
      • The World’s Deadliest Animal
      • Tiny Versus Mighty
      • What Makes You, You?
      • What’s Been Cooking at SICB
      • Are Your Cells Cooperating or Cheating?
      • Beetle X-rays
      • Break Proteins in Eggs
      • CRISPR Science
      • Clawed Climbers?
      • Exploring the Dark Side of the Earth
      • High Flying Science
      • History, Rabbits, and a Deadly Virus
      • Honey Bee Waggle Dance
      • Leafcutter Ant Life
      • Learning from Darwin's Finches
      • Life 3.0
      • Life in the Cold
      • Microbes Living Inside Us
      • See DNA
      • Superoxide, Superhero, or Supervillan?
      • Tiger Beetle Observations
      • Virus Quest
      • Why we get sick
      • Life and Building E.T.
      • Looking into Lucy
      • Make Your Own Pocket Seed Viewer
      • Math Biology
      • Micronauts and beyond
      • Monster DNA
      • Mysterious World of Dr. Biology movie
      • Mystery of the dying coral reefs
      • NSDL
      • New Species
      • Ocean Winds and Climate
      • Oh No-Exercise
      • One Wormy World
      • Ouch! Body defense and repair
      • Panda-monium
      • Plant Detective
      • Pollen
      • Putting the Touch into Biology
      • Queen Switcharoo
      • Rebooting the Immune System
      • Roses Are Red, But Why?
      • Science-Powered Games
      • Secret Life of the Natural History Museum
      • Skeleton Secrets
      • Skin
      • Social Nature
      • Sounds of Nature
      • Space Physiology
      • Spider-Man
      • Soil and Microbes
      • Spiderwoman
      • Stinging Mystery
      • Strange Cricket Silence
      • Stressed out
      • Swarm Science
      • Tales of Termites
      • Talking Science
      • Time Traveling Paleoentomologist
      • Tiny Matter
      • Tiny Tigers
      • Ugly Bug Contest 2008
      • Ugly Bug Contest 2009 Winner
      • Ugly Bug Contest 2009
      • Ugly Bug Contest 2010
      • Ugly Bug Contest 2010 winner
      • Ugly Bug Contest 2011
      • Ugly Bug Contest 2011 winner
      • Ugly Bug Contest 2012
      • Ugly Bug Contest 2012 winner
      • Ugly Bug Contest 2013
      • Ugly Bug Contest 2013 winner
      • Ugly Bug Contest 2014 Winner
      • Ugly Bug Contest 2016
      • Venom!
      • Visit to the Plankton Zoo
      • Watching Grass Grow
      • Why Is Life the Way It Is?
      • Wickedly Cool Plants
      • Young Women in Science Part 1
      • Young Women in Science Part 2
      • Zombie Ants
    • Research Stories
      • PLOSable Biology
      • Embryo Tales
      • EvMed edits
    • Stories in Other Languages
  • About
    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Ask A Question
    • Our Volunteers
      • Author and Artist Notes
    • Teacher Toolbox
    • Collaborations
    • Articles and News
    • Awards
    • Credits
    • Links
    • Permissions
    • Information Collected
  • Discover More
    • Ask An Anthropologist
    • Ask An Earth and Space Scientist
    • College for Everyone
    • College in High School
  • Support Us

Primary tabs

  • View
  • Take quiz
  • Results
  • My results
  • Ask A Question
  • Teacher's Toolbox
  • Listen and Watch
Ask A Biologist Logo
Questions 10
Attempts allowed Unlimited
Available Always
Grade required to pass 70 %
Backwards navigation Allowed
Start Quiz
National Science Foundation

Ask A Biologist funded in part by the
National Science Foundation
and NSDL

School of Life Sciences Arizona State University
School of Life Sciences

Contact Us

Contribute

Content
Stories Activities Inaccessible Games Virtual Reality (VR) Ask An Anthropologist Ask An Earth and Space Scientist
Tools
Ask A Question Teacher Toolbox Feedback
Usage
Guidelines Licensing and Permissions
Acknowledgements
National Science Foundation Credits
Maps and Locations Jobs Directory Contact ASU My ASU
Repeatedly ranked #1 on 30+ lists in the last 3 years
Copyright and Trademark Accessibility Privacy Terms of Use Emergency