NewsTracker Answers for week of Apr 03, 2017

Q: An Indonesian farmer was found dead inside a 23-foot python after being reported missing on his failure to return home from work on a palm plantation. Where is the Southeast Asian island nation of Indonesia?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Village officials found the python with a swollen belly and barely able to move. They killed the snake and cut open its belly to find the body of 26-year-old Akbar. Indonesia is the nation with the most . . .

A. Islands

B. Muslims

C. Snake deaths

D. All of the above

B. Akbar went by only one name, as do many in Indonesia which has more Muslims than any other nation in the world. Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous nation and has more than 17,000 islands. Canada and Finland have more islands, and the world’s second most populous nation, India, has more people killed by snakes.

Q: Indonesia’s palm plantations produce more than half the world’s . . .

A. Coconuts

B. Dates

C. Palm oil

D. All of the above

C. Indonesia produces 35 million tons of palm oil a year, or 53 percent of the world’s supply. It also is the leading producer of coconuts at about 18 million tons, or 36 percent of the world total. Indonesian farmers have spread severe air pollution throughout the region as they burned away tropical forests to plant more palms.

Q: The python attack occurred on the island of Sulawesi which already has lost 80 percent of its forests. Indonesia’s islands stretch across which bodies of water?

A. Indian and Pacific oceans

B. East and South China seas

C. Yellow and Red seas

D. All of the above

A. The Indonesian archipelago extends 3,181 miles from east to west and 1,094 miles north to south. Its islands lie along both sides the equator in both the Indian and Pacific oceans.

Q: Indonesia sits on the edge of which of the earth’s tectonic plates?

A. Australian

B. Eurasian

C. Pacific

D. All of the above

D. Indonesia’s location on the edges of the three plates makes it the site of 150 active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. Past volcanic eruptions have caused global climate changes and famines, including one prehistoric eruption believed to have killed most of humanity.