Animals

Question 1

Native to South America what is the largest rodent in the world?

Answer 1

Capybara

Question 2

Which shark is named for the unusual and distinctive structure of its head which is flattened and laterally extended into a shape called a cephalofoil?

Answer 2

Hammerhead

Question 3

The largest living species of tortoise is native to which group of islands which lie about 1000 km due west of Ecuador?

Answer 3

Galapagos

Question 4

Also called the Arabian camel how many humps does the dromedary have on its back?

Answer 4

One

Question 5

Which whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is known as the sea canary due to its high-pitched twitter and is entirely white as an adult?

Answer 5

Beluga

Question 6

The diet of the koala consists almost entirely of the leaves of which tree?

Answer 6

Eucalyptus

Question 7

With about 18 million individuals which is the most numerous penguin species named for its conspicuous yellow crest?

Answer 7

Macaroni

Question 8

Which class of molluscs which includes snails and slugs takes its name from the Greek for ‘stomach foot’?

Answer 8

Gastropoda

Question 9

The European species (Hirudo medicinalis) of which blood-sucking animal is used in a range of clinical applications?

Answer 9

Leech

Question 10

Which is the only member of the deer family where the females grow and shed new antlers each year?

Answer 10

Reindeer

Question 11

Only the tiger lion leopard and jaguar have the anatomical structure that enables them to do what?

Answer 11

Roar

Question 12

Common vampire colossal giant and Humboldt all are species of which cephalopod?

Answer 12

Squid

Question 13

Which large bear (Ursus arctos) has the widest distribution of any living bear?

Answer 13

Brown Bear

Question 14

Rhinoceros horns are made of which protein?

Answer 14

Keratin

Question 15

Which group of insects are capable of jumping many times their height and length but they are best known for their plant-sucking nymphs (known as spittlebugs) which encase themselves in froth in springtime?

Answer 15

Froghoppers

Question 16

The male of which crab (genus Uca) has a major claw that is much larger than the minor claw?

Answer 16

Fiddler Crab

Question 17

What name is given to any of the diverse group of flightless birds that have no keel on their sternum and includes the ostrich and the kiwi?

Answer 17

Ratite

Question 18

Which order of bony fishes is named for their characteristic mode of predation in which a fleshy growth from the fish’s head acts as a lure?

Answer 18

Anglerfish

Question 19

The most widely distributed species of owl which species (Tyto alba) has a blood-curdling shriek and a heart-shaped face?

Answer 19

Barn Owl

Question 20

Which species of macaque is found in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria and Morocco along with a small population that was introduced from Morocco to Gibraltar?

Answer 20

Barbary Macaque

Question 21

Plains Grevy’s and Mountain are the three species of which African mammal?

Answer 21

Zebra

Question 22

What is the common name of the larvae of crane flies?

Answer 22

Leatherjackets

Question 23

Believed to have been extinct since the end of the Cretaceous period which fish was discovered off the east coast of South Africa in 1938?

Answer 23

Coelacanth

Question 24

Giving its name to a Major League Baseball team which rattlesnake has a series of distinctively shaped blotches overlaying its brown ground colour and has two species known as Eastern and Western?

Answer 24

Diamondback

Question 25

Which order of jawless fish have a toothed funnel-like sucking mouth and are well known for those species which bore into the flesh of other fish to suck their blood?

Answer 25

Lampreys

Question 26

What is the name of the largest group of baleen whales a family with nine species including the blue whale and the fin whale?

Answer 26

Rorquals

Question 27

Looking like a jellyfish which hydrozoan is generally assumed to be a single organism but is actually a colonial organism made up of specialized individual animals?

Answer 27

Portuguese Man O’war

Question 28

Which primates are the only non-human animals to have been observed engaging in tongue kissing and oral sex?

Answer 28

Bonobos

Question 29

Native to sub-Saharan Africa what type of animal is a boomslang?

Answer 29

Snake

Question 30

Named after the scientist who discovered it which frog has a unique form of parental care where the young develop from egg to froglet in their father’s vocal sac?

Answer 30

Darwin’s Frog

Question 31

What is the stage in the life cycle of a salmon following the parr?

Answer 31

Smolt

Question 32

Meerkats belong to which family of animals?

Answer 32

Mongoose (Herpestidae)

Question 33

What is the common name of the family Salticidae the largest family of spiders which have excellent vision and do not build webs for hunting?

Answer 33

Jumping Spiders

Question 34

The roadrunner is a member of which family of birds?

Answer 34

Cuckoo (Cuculidae)

Question 35

What is the common name given to the 12 species of carpet sharks in the family Orectolobidae?. The word is believed to come from an Australian Aboriginal language.

Answer 35

Wobbegong

Question 36

Hares rabbits and pikas are members of which taxonomic order?

Answer 36

Lagomorpha

Question 37

Which milkweed butterfly is known for its annual late-summer/autumn migration from the United States and southern Canada to Mexico covering thousands of miles?

Answer 37

Monarch

Question 38

What is the name of the horn-like protuberances on the heads of giraffes and okapis?

Answer 38

Ossicones

Question 39

Mostly associated with insects what name is given to the act of producing sound by rubbing together certain body parts?

Answer 39

Stridulation

Question 40

What anatomical feature do the Otariidae family of seals have that the Phocidae family of seals don’t have?

Answer 40

Ears

Question 41

Which bird (Regulus ignicapilla) superficially resembles the goldcrest but has a distinctive strong face pattern and bronze shoulders?

Answer 41

Firecrest

Question 42

Also known as the tree ocelot which small cat (Leopardus wiedii) native to Central and South America is very similar to the larger ocelot in appearance although the head is a little shorter the eyes larger and the tail and legs longer?

Answer 42

Margay

Question 43

Which order of arachnids is known to glow a vibrant blue-green when exposed to certain wavelengths of ultraviolet light?

Answer 43

Scorpions

Question 44

With over 17000 extant species which phylum is also known as the ringed worms or segmented worms?

Answer 44

Annelida

Question 45

Living in forests in the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador which mammal of the raccoon family was described as new in 2013?

Answer 45

Olinguito

Question 46

Native to Southern Asia and also known as the India bison what is the largest extant bovine?

Answer 46

Gaur

Question 47

Which herbivorous and mainly nocturnal marsupial can be found on some smaller islands off the coast of Western Australia in particular on Rottnest Island?

Answer 47

Quokka

Question 48

Known as HeroRATS Gambian pouched rats have been trained to detect what type of concealed devices?

Answer 48

Land Mines

Question 49

Which species of pipistrelle bat was only formally separated from the common pipistrelle in 1999 – the two species were first distinguished on the basis of their different-frequency echolocation calls?

Answer 49

Soprano

Question 50

Endemic to Madagascar which lemur is the smallest primate in the world?

Answer 50

Madame Berthe’s Mouse Lemur