Doing it Detroit Style: The Detroit Zoo Quiz

Answer: Royal Oak

Royal Oak isn't even in the same county as Detroit. The zoo is situated in Oakland County, while Detroit is in Wayne County.

The zoo first opened in 1928 with attractions that included bear dens, lion dens, bird houses, elk yards, raccoon and wolverine habitats among the offerings.

Answer: elephant

Among the options only an elephant would make a suitable ride. The other animals are all too small for more children or adults to ride.

Paulina was an African elephant born into captivity. She was active at the zoo from 1928 until 1950.

Elephants are vegetarians and are known to eat 150 to 250 pounds of hay per day. They drink 30 to 50 gallons of water per day.

Answer: amphibians

Amphibaville, which houses the amphibian exhibit and more fun for children, is a 2-acre wetland. Housed within the "ville" is the National Amphibian Conservation Center.

The AZA, or Association of Zoos and Aquariums, gives awards to the best new exhibits at zoos and aquariums each year.

Answer: Polar bears

The Arctic Ring of Life opened in October of 2001. In 2015 the exhibit was named as the second place finisher in the "USA Today" reader's choice poll for best zoo exhibit.

The exhibit has both polar bears and sea lions and allows visitors to walk under a viewing area to watch the animals swim over and around them.

Answer: Dinosaurs

The Dinosauria exhibit is one of the zoo's biggest attractions for visitor's of all ages.

Advertised as a "Zoorassic Park", the exhibit carried a premium fee to enter for the first 20 years it existed. The exhibit includes 40 life-like animatronic beasts spread out over a 5-acre trail designed to recreate prehistoric life.

Answer: giraffes

During each feeding session, fifty zoo patrons are selected to be allowed on the upper deck of the Giraffe Encounter exhibit to feed the animals.

The number is limited to fifty to ensure that the animals aren't over fed.

The Giraffe Encounter decks are designed to allow patrons to walk at head level for the animals, not forcing them to bend down to eat during the experience.

Answer: 2 train locomotives

The locomotives were used through the end of the 20th century at the zoo.

The railroad runs around the main grounds of the zoo. It originally opened in 1931 when the "Detroit News" helped to fund the project.

Originally the train line had three replica steam engines. The donation from Chrysler was two diesel powered locomotives.

Answer: wolverine

Michigan is known as the "Wolverine State". The University of Michigan's athletic teams are known as wolverines.

Scientific name: Gulo gulo, the wolverine is known to weigh between 25 and 50 pounds when full grown. The hydrophobic fur allows it to deflect weather when stuck out in the elements.

Answer: True

The Penguinarium is a three-sided habitat surrounded by a pool that allows three separate species of penguins to swim fast enough to appear to fly through the water.

According to the zoo's website there are few habitats like that in the world for captive penguins, but it is a trait often seen when observing the animals in the wild.

Answer: Great Lakes Piping plover

The conservation efforts at the zoo began in 1986, when there were only 12 confirmed mating pairs of the bird left in the Great Lakes Region.

The program is run in conjunction with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Members of the service search the wild for abandoned eggs that plovers have left in the wild.

The eggs are then raised and the babies nurtured until the birds can be released back into the wild.