Where Are We Going Today, Kids? (2) Trivia Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Built on orders from Ivan the Terrible in the 1550s, Saint Basil's Cathedral was the tallest building in Moscow when it was built. What is the name of the square where it stands?

Answer: Red Square

The central square in Moscow, all of the city's major streets spread out from Red Square. Here you can see not only the famous onion domes of Saint Basil's, but also the Kremlin, Lenin's Mausoleum, the State Historical Museum and the enormous GUM department store.

2. Opened in 1937, the famous 1.7-mile long Golden Gate Bridge links the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County. Which of these sports teams are you unlikely to cross the bridge on your way to see play a home game?

Answer: Anaheim Ducks

Founded in 1960, the Oakland Raiders of the NFL moved into the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in 1966. They moved to Los Angeles for a decade but returned to their spiritual home in 1995. Also based in Oakland, on the mainland side of the bridge, are the Golden State Warriors of the NBA. Relocated from Philadelphia in 1962, the Warriors have played at the Oracle Arena since 1999. The Giants of MLB relocated from New York in 1958. For many years resident almost under the bridge at Candlestick Park, they moved into AT&T Park in the South Beach neighbourhood of San Francisco in 2000.

You could conceivably cross the Golden State Bridge on the way to see the Anaheim Ducks play but you would have a long journey. Founded as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, a 1993 expansion team, they share the Honda Centre with the Los Angeles Kiss of the Arena League. Anaheim is some 300 miles south of San Francisco on the edge of the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

3. Completed in 1996, at 1,483 feet the spectacular Petronas Towers became the tallest buildings in the world, a record they held until 2004. In which Asian capital city can you see them?

Answer: Kuala Lumpur

The Petronas Twin Towers are located on Jalan Ampang, a major road in the Klang Valley district of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. Construction of the towers on the former sight of the Selangor Turf Club (one of three horse-racing clubs in Malaysia) began in 1993. Basic construction was completed in 1996 and the buildings were inaugurated on August 1, 1999.

The Petronas Towers took over from Sears Tower (now called Willis Tower) in Chicago, Illinois as the world's tallest building. They, in turn, were succeeded by Taipei 101 in Taiwan in 2004.

4. The largest of all living primates, the eastern gorilla is an endangered species with only some 5,000 lowland gorillas and 700 mountain gorillas remaining in the wild. Living in a triangle between the Lualaba River, Lake Edward and Lake Tanganyika, in which country can the world's entire population of native eastern lowland gorillas be found?

Answer: Democratic Republic of Congo

The largest of the 'great apes', gorillas are divided into two species, eastern and western. The western lowland gorilla, of which around 95,000 remain in the wild, can be found along the west coast of central Africa, from Angola in the south, through Cameroon, to Gabon at the northern end of their range. A sub-species of the western gorilla, the Cross River gorilla, which lives in the hills and mountains along the Cameroon-Nigeria border, are critically endangered with less than 1,000 individuals remaining.

The eastern gorilla is also split into two sub-species. The mountain sub-species occupies small areas in the highlands of southwest Uganda and northwestern Rwanda. All remaining native eastern lowlands gorillas (also known as the Grauer's gorilla) live nearby, in the Kahuzi-Biega and Maiko National Parks and the adjacent forests in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

5. Located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the ancient capital of Thebes (modern-day Luxor) is the burial site of many of the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, dating back to between the 16th and 11th centuries B.C. Here you will find the tombs of both Ramesses II and Tutankhamen as well as many others. What is this region called?

Answer: Valley of the Kings

Usually known as "The Valley of the Kings" the Theban Necropolis is actually made up of two wadis, designated today as East Valley and West Valley. Here are more than 60 tombs, ranging in size from KV5, the tomb of the sons of Ramesses II which contains more than 120 rooms, to KV54, a simple pit that was probably an embalming cache for the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Only some 18 of the tombs in the valley are open to the public, and not all of those are continuously open as restoration work is always ongoing. The most popular with tourists is the tomb designated as KV62, the Tomb Tutankhamun.

6. The hoatzin, also sometimes called a Canje pheasant or a stinkbird, is the world's oldest bird species. Notable for producing chicks already equipped with claws, it is therefore perhaps surprising that the hoatzin lives on a diet of leaves and fruits. In which of the world's regions could you see and, indeed, approach wild hoatzin?

Answer: Amazon Rainforest

A cousin to gamebirds, rails, buzzards, doves and sandgrouse, the hoatzin is actually the last surviving member of a family that branched off from all other species more than 60 million years ago. The last known common ancestor of all other bird species are younger than the hoatzin, leaving it as the sole survivor of the world's oldest bird line.

This pheasant-sized bird with the spectacular spiky crest on its head and the flamboyant colouring is also a poor flyer and clumsy on the ground. It is also quite happy to be approached by humans. These factors would, in normal circumstances, make the hoatzin an attractive target for both the pet trade and a source of food. It is, though, one of the least endangered of all bird species, probably due to its unpleasant odour and the reputed bad taste of its meat.

The national bird of Guyana, the hoatzin is native to the swamps and mangrove forests of the Orinoco and Amazon deltas.

7. 1,815-feet tall, when it was completed in 1976 it became both the world's tallest free-standing structure and the world's tallest tower. It retained both records until 2010. This spectacular landmark is named for the railway company that originally built it. In which North American city can you travel to the top for some amazing views?

Answer: Toronto

Built on lands belonging to the Canadian National Railway company, the structure was named Canadian National Tower although that is commonly abbreviated to CN Tower. Overlooking Lake Ontario to the south, the CN Tower dominates the skyline of Downtown Toronto.

The CN Tower claimed the record as the world's tallest tower from the Ostankino Tower in Moscow by a margin of just 43 feet. It retained its two records for 34 years, until 2010, when both the Burj Khalifa (or Khalifa Tower) in Dubai and the Guangzhou TV Astronomical and Sightseeing Tower (now called the Canton Tower) in Guangzhou, China were completed. The Chinese tower is 154 feet taller than the CN Tower, and the Dubai tower is an amazing 905 feet taller.

8. The largest known living single stem tree on Earth is named The General Sherman Tree. A giant sequoia, it can be seen in the Giant Forest at Sequoia National Park. To which U.S. state must you travel in order to see this amazing natural wonder?

Answer: California

Sequoia National Park is located in the foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains just to the east of the city of Visalia in central California. The park covers an area of 631 square miles, which is about two-thirds the size of Hong Kong.

The tree itself was named after the American Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman. Whilst it is the world's largest single-stem tree by volume, the General Sherman Tree is neither the world's tallest (a redwood), the widest (a cypress) nor the oldest (a bristlecone pine), although it does feature near the top of all three lists of those lists too. The General Sherman only acquired its record as the world's largest living tree in the 1940s, when the Crannell Creek Giant, a redwood in Trinidad, California was cut down.

9. Opened in 1958 as part of the Expo '58 celebrations, this unusual structure, called "The Atomium", is surely one of the world's most unusual museums. Standing 335 feet tall, the nine stainless steel-clad balls each have a diameter of 59 feet. On the outskirts of which European capital city can you climb up into the Atomium's balls?

Answer: Brussels

Constructed for Expo 58 in the Belgian capital, Brussels, the Atomium forms the shape of a single unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times.

A restaurant in the highest of the nine spheres affords diners panoramic views across the Belgian capital. Escalators and a single elevator provide visitors with access to other balls, in which exhibitions are mounted.

A model of the Atomium can also be seen at Minimundus, a miniature park located in the southern Austrian city of Klagenfurt. The park features more than 150 scale models of structures from around the world, all constructed at a ratio of 1:25.

10. Located in the city of Agra in northern India, the Taj Mahal is one of the most famous sites in the world. Widely regarded as the best surviving example of Mughal architecture, it was built at a cost of 32 million Indian rupees which, in today's money, is more than US$800 million. In which century was the Taj Mahal built?

Answer: 17th

Work began on the Taj Mahal in 1632 and the basic structure was virtually completed in just over a decade, in 1643. Construction work continued for a further ten years, mostly to the outer buildings and the gardens, and the entire complex was completed in 1653.

The tomb is the central focus of the Taj Mahal, with the false sarcophagi of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan sitting side by side in the main chamber.

More than three millions visitors travel to the Taj Mahal annually, In 2007 it was named in Lisbon as one the "New-7-Wonders of the World".

Source: Author EnglishJedi

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor NatalieW before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Where Are We Going Today, Kids? (2) Quiz

Come along on this whirlwind trip around the world, finding native flora and fauna and seeing some amazing sights.

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