Poachers!

Congratulations, your signal fire worked! Unfortunately, the ship you signaled is owned by poachers and you have unwittingly led them to the exact island they were seeking! They have come for the elusive dwarf island bear which is unknown to science.

While hiding at the edge of the beach, you heard that they are going straight up the mountain to the dwarf island bear caves. That is the shortest path of three miles but the climb is tough and they can only climb at 1.2 mph. There is a path to the right that is 5 miles long and you can climb it at 1.8 mph. There is another path to the left that is 7 miles long and you can climb it at 3.2 mph.  Which path will get you to the dwarf island bears before the poachers?

Building a Signal Fire

Congratulations, you ate just the right number of leaves to cure your jellyfish stings. When you woke up the next morning, you see a ship anchored a few miles off the shore. You can be rescued if you can build a signal fire!

You need tinder, kindling and green wood to make a nice, smoky signal fire. You know the best amount of kindling is three times more weight than the tinder. The best amount of green wood is two times more weight than the kindling. You need to travel into the interior to find the material and you can only carry 50 pounds back to the beach. How many pounds of tinder, kindling and green wood should you collect?

Jellyfish Attack!

Congratulations, your bamboo raft floats! You were on your way to the shipping lanes when you ran into a swarm of jellyfish. Unfortunately, you were paddling with your legs hanging over the edge of the raft and you suffered so many stings you had to return to the island.

The island has the rare Monketis tuesdaya plant which can save your life from the deadly stings but you must eat one of the horribly bitter leaves for every fifty stings you've suffered. Both of your lower legs are covered with stings. You've counted an average of 7 stings in a square 3 cm on each side. You estimate your leg is 10 cm in diameter and the length of the affected area is about 35 cm long. How many of the horribly bitter leaves must you eat?

Bamboo Raft

Congratulations!  You found your 90 coconuts and set off on your raft to be rescued. Unfortunately, your raft made of drift wood sank 10 meters off the shore!  You dragged your coconuts back onto the beach and decided to build a raft out of bamboo instead.

You have lots of bamboo which is 10 cm in diameter.  Each meter of bamboo can support 5 kg of weight.  But each meter of bamboo also weighs 1 kg.  How many meters of bamboo should you use to support your weight of 80 kg?  How much should you use to support one-and-a-half times your weight—just to be on the safe side so you don't sink again?

Escape from Deserted Island

You are stranded on a small deserted island. From the highest point on the island, you can see ships off in the distance but so far they have not seen your signal fires. You have built a raft and your plan is to paddle out to the shipping lane to get rescued. For water, you are going to pull a string of coconuts behind you and drink the coconut milk when needed.

The coconuts are about 40 cm in diameter and the liquid endosperm compartment is about 1/5 the diameter of the coconut. In the coconuts you've found, the hole is about 3/4 full with water. You plan to be gone for six days and you need about 3 liters of water each day.  How many coconuts should you bring with you?

Hints:

• For volume of a sphere:  v = 4/3*π*r³, where v = volume and r = radius
• 1 mL = 1 cm³
• Watch out for the coconut crabs!

Pacific Octopus Suckers

A pacific octopus has eight tentacles with two rows of suckers on each arm, as can be seen in the picture above. Each row contains 140 suckers!  How many total suckers does a pacific octopus have?

Bamboo for Pandas

Your San Diego supplier of bamboo for your pandas has raised the price to $2200 for 96 lbs of bamboos shoots and leaves.  You are considering a new supplier from China who has a price of $2000 for 50 kg (and free delivery!).  Should you switch suppliers?

Cliff Bears of Tajikistan

You just parachuted into Tajikistan after hearing of a reported sighting of the elusive cliff bear. You need to rappel down a cliff using your paracord.  It has a 5 mm diameter and you weigh 180 lbs (82 kg). How many strands of paracord should you use to safely get down the cliff?

Hint: use this website for the Safe Load, the equation, and the example calculation.

Rhinos & Giraffes

Congratulations! A wealthy donor who owns Monkey Tuesday Pharmaceuticals has just donated 300 acres of new land at your Wild Animal Park. You want to fill it with giraffes and rhinos. Each giraffe needs 5 acres and each rhino needs 15 acres. You have found that they are happiest when there are twice as many giraffes as rhinos. How many of each should you get for the new exhibit?

Elephant Tranquilizers

An adult elephant takes 8 mL of tranquilizer to safely sedate it.  If a baby elephant was half as tall, half as wide and half as long, how much tranquilizer should be used?  (Hint: the amount of tranquilizer should be proportional to the weight which is proportional to the volume.)

Enter your answer into the Comments section.