Animals of South America Trivia Quiz

Answer:

The capybara is the largest rodent: over 100 cm (3 feet 3 inch) long, over 50 cm (1 foot 8 inch) tall, and weighing 35 to 65 kg (77 to 143 pound). Compare these numbers to the closest relative, a chinchilla... There are two species of capybara: the greater capybara and the lesser capybara (which of course is a bit smaller). Capybara live all over the South-American mainland, except in Chile: the Andes mountains and the Atacama desert block capybara out of this country. Capybara are excellent swimmers and prefer living in forest areas near water. As most rodents, capybara are herbivores.

The alpaca is a close relative of the llama: a domesticated camelid living originally on the slopes of the Andes mountains, as its wild relative the guanaco still does. Adult alpacas are between 80 cm (2 feet 7 inch) and 1 m (3 feet 3 inch) tall and weigh about 50 to 90 kg (110 to 198 pound), so they're a bit smaller than adult llamas. Alpacas are herbivores and they are farmed for their valuable fur.

The piranha is one of the best known fish in the Amazon basin. Although equipped with strong jaw muscles and sharp teeth, the piranha have omnivorous diets: they dine mostly on plant material, and kill some fish to supplement their diet. Piranha grow to 12 to 35 cm (5 inch to 1 foot 2 inch), not as large as depicted in several horror movies.

Anacondas are aquatic, non-venomous snakes. The green anaconda (the largest of the extant species) can reach a length of 3 to 5 m (9 feet 10 inch to 16 feet 5 inch) and possibly weigh up to 80 kg (176 pound). Anacondas strangle their prey and feed on whatever animal they find in the waters of the Amazon and Orinoco basins: fish, amphibians, birds, mammals...

Toucans are birds with typical large and very colourful bills. While some species are found in Central-America or Asia, the toco toucan can only be found in the wild in South America. The toco toucan, the largest of all toucans, can reach a length of over 50 cm (1 foot 8 inch). It is a black bird with white neck and a long orange bill. The toco toucan lives all over the eastern half of South-America, preferentially in half-open forests. It feeds mainly on fruit, but occasionally supplements its diet with insects or crustaceans.

Darwin's finches are a group of passerine birds living exclusively on the Galapagos islands (and thus also named Galapagos finches). Although they are very similar to the true finches known in Europe and North America, Darwin's finches belong to another family. Darwin's finches can reach a length of 10 to 20 cm (4 to 8 inch) and the different species have bills in different shapes and lengths, adapted to their preferred feeding habits. One of the species for instance has a long sharp bill to pierce a cactus fruit and ingest the contents.

The Titan beetle is one of the largest beetles, reaching up to 17 cm (7 inch) length. Larvae of the Titan beetle feed on dead wood and plants, and store a quite large amount of calories. This allows the adult Titan beetle to live without feeding long enough to mate and procreate. Indeed: adult Titan beetles miss the necessary enzymes to digest food, they only ingest some water. Titan beetles live all over the South-American mainland.

Hairy long-nosed armadillos (also called woolly armadillos) are less known mammals living in Peru. As all armadillos, they probably feed on insects, maggots, centipedes and similar prey. The woolly armadillo can reach a length of about 57 cm (1 foot 10 inch). This includes the tail, that accounts for 40% of its length). Other species of the armadillo family have spread to Central America and even the southern regions of the USA.

The marine iguana is a reptile living in and around the Galapagos islands. Contrary to other lizards, the marine iguana feeds mostly on sea algae. There are different species of the marine iguana, each confined (or almost confined) to one single of the bigger Galapagos islands. Their size varies from 12 to 56 cm (5 inch to 1 foot 10 inch), to which one has to add the tail that is slightly longer than the rest of the body. Most of them have darker colours.

Contrary to most of the about 200 species of poison frogs, the splashback poison frog is endemic only to Brazil, in the southern part of the Amazon basin. Most splashback poison frogs have a black belly and a bright yellow to orange back, which may also present a pattern in black. Splashback poison frogs prefer forest environments rich in Brazil nuts. These frogs can be about 4 cm (2 inch) long and feed mostly on insects.

The false options come from almost everywhere else. The brush-tailed rabbit rat and the inland taipan (snake) are endemic to Australia. The dromedary lives mainly in the Middle-East and northern Africa. The Beluga sturgeon swims in the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The black-billed magpie lives in the east of the USA and Canada. The bird-of-paradise nests in Papua-New-Guinea and Indonesia. The Goliath beetle lives in the African tropical rainforests. The aardvark is an insectivore form sub-Sahara Africa. The gold dust day gecko lives in Madagascar and on a few other islands in the Indian Ocean. And the grass frog lives in Europe and Russia, except for the most southern parts.