Vocabulary Quiz (Environment & Animals)

Question: What is “speciesism”?

Answer: In Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals (1975), Australian philosopher Peter Singer galvanized the animal rights and anti-testing movements by popularizing the notion of “speciesism” as something akin to racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice.

Question: Which scientist famously proved the “conditioned reflex” by causing dogs to salivate?

Answer: Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) demonstrated the “conditioned reflex” by training dogs to salivate upon hearing the sound of a metronome or buzzer.

Question: What does vivisection mean?

Answer: Vivisection is the dissection of a living organism.

Question: In the dog world, what is BSL?

Answer: “Breed-specific legislation” (BSL) is a term for laws that regulate or ban certain dog breeds in an effort to decrease dog attacks.

Question: Which of the following describes a vegetarian?

Answer: Vegetarians do not eat meat or seafood, but some will consume animal-based products such as milk and eggs.

Question: According to PETA’s famous animal-rights campaign, “We’d Rather Go Naked Than...” what?

Answer: PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) recruited the band the Go-Go’s for a 1990 campaign in which the women posed nude with a banner reading, “We’d Rather Go-Go Naked Than Wear Fur.”

Question: What is a menagerie?

Answer: A menagerie is all of these things.

Question: Which of the following is a renewable energy source?

Answer: All of these are renewable energy sources.

Question: What do the “Three Rs” of humane experimentation on animals represent?

Answer: In The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique (1959), zoologist William Russell and microbiologist Rex Burch established the “Three Rs” of humane experimentation. The “Three Rs” were incorporated into the U.S. Animal Welfare Act of 1966 and formed the basis for many international animal welfare laws.

Question: “Fracking” is a major but controversial method of extracting which energy source?

Answer: “Fracking,” short for “hydraulic fracturing,” is a major method of extracting natural gas—a finite fossil fuel.

Question: Which of the following describes a pescatarian?

Answer: Pescatarians frequently follow a vegetarian diet, except that they eat fish and other seafood.

Question: Which of the following is a finite and nonrenewable energy source?

Answer: All of these are fossil fuels (formed over millions of years from the remains of ancient plants and microorganisms) and finite, nonrenewable energy sources.

Question: Which of the following describes a vegan?

Answer: A vegan eats no meat or animal-derived products.

Question: U.S. Pres. Donald Trump’s efforts to take the country “back to plastic” mainly targeted which product?

Answer: On February 10, 2025, President Trump signed the executive order “Ending Procurement and Forced Use of Paper Straws,” ordering federal agencies to phase out the use of paper straws, which he considered inferior to plastic ones.

Question: GMOs are controversial. What are they?

Answer: GMOs are genetically modified organisms.