NewsTracker Answers for week of Nov. 20, 2023

Q: Sailors are sharing tips on escaping orcas, also known as killer whales, which have been attacking and sometimes sinking small craft in and near the Strait of Gibraltar. Where is this strait that connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Scientists say the highly intelligent mammals that are likely engaging in play or possibly vengeance after years of traumatic injuries from boats. The Strait of Gibraltar separates Spain from which North African nation by only eight miles??

A. Algeria

B. Libya

C. Morocco

D. Tunisia

C. Earlier this month a pod of orcas in the strait attacked a yacht off the coast of Morocco. The crew was rescued from the damaged boat, but the vessel sank as the Moroccan Navy was towing it to shore.

Q: The orcas in the strait and the seas around Spain and Portugal have learned from one another how to ambush boats, scientists say. Spain and Portugal are on which peninsula?

A. Anatolian

B. Apennine

C. Balkan

D. Iberian

D. Orcas are top predators in the seas, feeding on sharks and other whales. They are generally amiable to humans. The ambushing Iberian orcas hunting in the Strait of Gibraltar are considered to be endangered. Like the Iberian, the Anatolian, Apennine, and Balkan are large peninsulas on the Mediterranean.

Q: The peninsula bordered by the Atlantic, the strait, and the Mediterranean also is just called Iberia. That name came from a Latin translation of an ancient Greek word. How did the ancient Greeks refer to the Strait of Gibraltar?

A. Gate of the Sunset

B. Pillars of Hercules

C. River of the Underworld

D. World’s End

B. The “Pillars of Hercules” referred to the mountains flanking the strait. The Rock of Gibraltar is the mountain on the European side of the strait.

Q: The name Gibraltar originates in which language?

A. Arabic

B. Greek

C. Latin

D. Spanish

A. Gibraltar comes from the Arabic name “Jabal ??riq,” which means "Tariq's Mount.” It was named after Tariq ibn Ziyad, who led an army across the strait in 711 to initiate the Muslim conquest of Iberia. After Spanish Christian forces defeated the last Muslim rulers in 1492, the strait became both a cultural and physical barrier between North Africa and Europe.