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About This Quiz
They can be ferocious or cuddly, industrious or lazy, tiny or towering ... the animal kingdom is nothing if not diverse! Think you've got the makings of a zoologist? Test your knowledge with our quiz!
It has large ears, lives in Africa or Asia and raises "calves."
hyena
elephant
There are plenty of distinctive details about the elephant we could have used here. Its tusks are made of ivory, for example, and it has a long trunk that it can use to grab or manipulate objects. It is also the largest land animal.
hippopotamus
rhinoceros
It lives in Africa; its social groups are "troops" and adult males are "silverbacks."
ant
gorilla
Gorillas are the largest of the primates. Fun fact: The name "gorilla" comes from a Greek word meaning "a tribe of hairy women." An early Greek observer might have seen a silverback and his "harem," thus concluding that females outnumbered males.
hyena
platypus
It can swim, it builds dams and has a large, flat tail.
beaver
The beaver is synonymous with "hard work" in the English language. The beaver harvests trees, builds dams and even creates canals to float objects that are too heavy to carry long distances. They're nature's engineers!
dormouse
octopus
squid
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It descended from the Eohippus, has young called "foals," and has been very useful to humankind.
housecats
horses
The early Eohippus was about the size of a housecat. That's a long way from today's horse, which can carry two or even three humans (depending on size) on its back.
sheep
wolves
It is domestic, flightless and is an important source of food.
chicken
The chicken is believed to be descended from the red junglefowl, which could fly. But domestic chickens have been changed through breeding to be flightless, despite still having wings.
goose
pigeon
roadrunner
It mates for life, ornaments city parks and even has a constellation modeled on it.
crow
horse
serpent
swan
Swans are beautiful, but also bad-tempered. Actress Elsa Manchester said that she modeled the hissing noises she made as "Bride of Frankenstein" on the hissing of swans.
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It is native to North America, a trickster in Native American lore and an enemy to the roadrunner in cartoons.
coyote
Coyotes are closely related to the gray wolf. Its name is adapted from a Nahuatl name, "coyotl."
golden eagle
puma
mountain goat
They're common in Southeast Asia, used to till rice fields and share (half) a name with a North American animal.
cormorant
dairy goat
lion
water buffalo
Now we're wondering: At a seafood restaurant, do they serve water buffalo wings as an appetizer?
It has brown-and-gray scales, a venomous bite and lives in the American southwest.
boomslang
diamondback rattlesnake
The scientific or Latin name for the diamondback is Crotalus atrox. "Atrox," meanwhile, is the root of the English word "atrocious." Kind of judgmental, don't you think?
puff adder
platypus
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Males are called stags, females are does and both are hunted for food and sport.
alligators
deer
City dwellers love to see deer on trips outside the city. To people in rural areas, though, they can be a nuisance -- they're known to decimate gardens on their afternoon or early-evening feeding expeditions.
mountain lions
pythons
It is a mammal, its young are "puppies" and it has more genetic diversity than any other species.
domestic cat
domestic dog
It's taken about 7,000 years to turn wolves into the faithful couch companion we know today. Intensive human breeding, to bring out specific traits, has led to the genetic diversity mentioned above.
coyote
dolphin
They are nimble, love nuts and come in "ground" and "tree" varieties.
common rat
frog
marmot
squirrel
Squirrels are very common in North America. Some people put out nuts in feeders for them.
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It has a duck's bill, it lays eggs yet it is still a mammal.
boomslang
komodo dragon
platypus
It's no wonder that early naturalists didn't believe the platypus was real. A mammal that lays eggs and is semi-aquatic? The platypus defied normal taxonomic distinctions.
Welsh green dragon
It has soft fur, hard-to-see eyes and is a good digger.
housecat
mole
Moles have eyes that appear to be completely covered by their soft, plush fur. This led to the misconception that they are blind.
puma
tree shrew
It is native to the western U.S., went extinct in the wild in the 1980s and has a featherless head.
California condor
There's guardedly good news about the California condor: It's not extinct overall. It has been reintroduced to the wild, where its numbers are slowly growing.
gray gull
puffin
turkey vulture
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It is clever, masked like a bandit and leaves footprints that look like a baby's.
koala
meerkat
platypus
raccoon
Raccoons are endearing animals. But they're meant to live in the wild, not as pets.
It is a fierce fighter, lives in a "set" and often has a stripe on its head.
badger
The badger was probably named for its striped head. In early modern English, to be striped or streaked was to be "badged."
domestic dog
jaguar
zebra
It is found in Africa, has black spots and is the fastest land animal.
bonobo
cheetah
The cheetah can run up to 70 miles per hour. Not surprisingly, though, after a high-speed chase, it needs time to rest before it can actually start eating.
leopard
eland
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It hangs out in trees, has prehensile toes and is a synonym for laziness.
hyena
ferret
meerkat
sloth
These animals are named for one of the seven deadly sins: sloth is the sin of laziness or lack of industry. But maybe the person who named the sloth had never seen one in water -- they're pretty quick when they swim!
It has very long ears, is fast but still sometimes ends up in a stew-pot.
basset hound
shrew
ferret
wild hare
Hares resemble rabbits, but are a different species. They live in the wild on most continents, though not South America.
It is semiaquatic, tropical and doesn't take heat well.
crocodile
Crocodiles are sometimes mixed up with alligators, but the crocodile has a narrower, V-shaped snout and its upper teeth protrude over its lower jaw, unlike the alligator.
Gila monster
Mojave rattlesnake
vole
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It resembles a ferret, can kill snakes and lives about 20 years in captivity.
brown bear
coyote
mongoose
The mongoose has a cell-receptor variation that renders it immune to neurotoxic venoms. This is why is it is valued for its ability to fight and kill snakes, though the mongoose doesn't usually rely on snake meat for food.
hippopotamus
It resembles a badger, has a thick tail and defends itself with its scent glands.
aardvark
guinea fowl
gray wolf
skunk
Most everyone knows to steer clear of skunks. Except sometimes dogs, who have to learn the hard way!
It is ferocious in combat, related to the marten family and lives in Africa and Asia.
housecat
honey badger
This mammal likes honey (hence the name). But it will eat a variety of other foods -- meat, insects, fruits and so on.
Komodo dragon
Gila monster
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It has transparent wings, a long body and is found on every continent except Antarctica.
dragonfly
The dragonfly's shimmering wings and brightly colored slender body have inspired many a jewelry designer. Though beautiful, they are predators, eating tadpoles and very small fish.
honeybee
eagle
starling
It is surefooted, lives at high altitudes and isn't actually related to the genus Capra.
bald eagle
dingo
mountain goat
The mountain goat is helped in climbing steep surfaces by several things. These include its cloven (split) hooves and curved dewclaws that can dig into slopes and prevent slipping. If you're hiking in the wild, and someone calls you a "mountain goat," that's a compliment!
wild sheep
It looks like a small bear, is very fierce and lives in northern climates.
coyote
ferret
ocelot
wolverine
The wolverine is a scavenger and often eats carrion. This might surprise people who know its reputation for ferocity.
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It has webbed wings, echolocates and is the only flying mammal.
bat
Bats are actually quite cute, up close. But the tendency of the vampire species to drink blood generally tends to give us humans the willies about this furry flying mammal.
vole
platypus
squirrel
They live on grasslands, have distinctive stripes and have never been domesticated.
donkeys
oxen
shrews
zebras
Zebras have beautiful black-and-white stripes. The fact that they strongly resemble horses, but are much rarer, has inspired a rule of thumb in the world of medicine: "When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not of zebras."
It is the world's largest rodent, is related to the chinchilla and lives in South America.
capybara
If you haven't been to South America, you might never have seen a capybara. There, however, the animals are valued for their meat and their fur.
koala
panda
sloth
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It is small, looks like a mole and eats 2-3 times its weight daily.
dingo
mountain lion
ocelot
shrew
Shrews tend to eat twice their body weight when in captivity, and closer to three times in the wild. Either way, it is in support of a high metabolism.
It's a primate, most often found on Madagascar and sometimes has a ringed tail.
black bear
lemur
The lemur takes its name from a Latin word, Lemure. This means "ghost," and might have come from the lemur's shyness and its otherwordly, deep-set eyes.
puma
tiger
It lives in "mobs," likes to stand on its hind legs and can die in confrontations with snakes.
antelope
ocelot
meerkat
Meerkats are native to southern Africa. Their name means "lake cat," but they are not part of the felidae family.
rhinoceros
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It is spotted or striped, lives in Africa and gets little respect.
hyena
Hyenas are dog-like creatures that kill for food or eat carrion. In fables and animal stories, they are rarely the hero.
lion
gharial
black mamba
You Got:
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