Fauna Down Under Trivia Quiz

Answer: Birds

Kookaburras are terrestrial kingfishers. They are native to Australia and New Guinea. The name Kookaburra is taken from the indigenous Wiradjuri language and refers to the laughing sound made by the bird. The bird's laugh is a communal call marking its territory. Research has found that birds belonging to the same family unit have a similar laughing call.

Incidentally, if a kookaburra is held in captivity by itself, it has been found not to laugh, as the call is a form of social behaviour.

Answer: Birds

The emu is the largest bird native to the continent of Australia. It is also the second tallest bird in the world, after the ostrich. Emus are flightless but are strong runners and can travel long distances. An emu features on the Australian coat of arms along with the kangaroo. Both of these are animals that cannot move backwards and therefore symbolize the country's path to continued progress.

Answer: Monotremes

There are three surviving mammal lineages - monotremes, marsupials, and placental mammals, and Australia has representatives of all groups. Each lineage differs in the manner in which offspring are produced.

Monotremes are the only group of mammals currently living who reproduce by laying eggs instead of giving birth to live young. The platypus is a semi-aquatic monotreme native to eastern Australia and the island state of Tasmania. When European explorers first encountered this unique animal, they were flummoxed. It appeared to them like a beaver with the beak of a duck. The first scientists to study the body of a platypus denounced it as a hoax, assuming the bodies of different animals had been sewn together to create it!

The platypus is one of the iconic symbols of Australia. It has featured on local currency and as a mascot for sports games. The state of New South Wales has declared the platypus as its state animal emblem.

Answer: Monotremes

Echidnas are sometimes also called spiny anteaters. Their bodies are covered in quills. While their diet includes ants and termites, they are not actual anteaters like the ones found on other continents. Echidnas are land-dwelling. Apart from Australia, they are also found on the island of New Guinea.

Answer: Marsupials

Marsupials are somewhat of an intermediary between monotremes and placental mammals. While they do give birth to young, their offspring are poorly developed and must be carried around in a pouch.

Kangaroos belong to the macropod family. Macropod translates to 'large feet'. Red kangaroos are the largest of the species. Other than Australia, kangaroos are also native to New Guinea. Female kangaroos carry their young, called joeys, in a pouch known as the marsupium till they are fully developed and can be independent.

Culturally, the kangaroo is synonymous with Australia. It appears on the coat of arms and the local currency.

Answer: Marsupials

Even though koalas are often called koala bears, this is a misnomer. The koalas are not related to bears in any way. Instead they are marsupials whose closest living relatives are wombats. Native to Australia, koalas are tree dwelling animals with a herbivorous diet. Eucalyptus leaves make up a large portion of their diet.

Answer: Rodents

Placental mammals include the vast majority of mammals found both on land and sea. They produce well-developed offspring in comparison to the marsupials. Australia has endemic placental mammals from two orders - Order Chiroptera (bats) and Order Rodentia (rats and mice).

The Rakali is also known as the water-rat. Native to Australia, it was first scientifically mapped in the early 19th century. Apart from Australia, it is found on the island of Papua New Guinea. The rakali is aquatic and lives in burrows alongside water bodies. It feeds on insects, birds' eggs, and aquatic creatures ranging from fish to frogs.

Answer: Rodents

Bramble Cay is located at the northern edge of the Great Barrier Reef. The Bramble Cay melomys was named after the cay. The rodent was endemic to this small coral cay and was also the only mammal endemic to the Great Barrier Reef. It was officially declared extinct by the Australian government in February 2019 after having last been sighted in 2009.

The rodent's extinction is considered the first mammal extinction driven by human induced climate change. The low elevation of the sandy cay has made it vulnerable to rising sea levels and severe weather events.

Answer: Fish

The Murray cod is the largest freshwater fish in Australia. Despite its name, it is not related to the cod fish found in the Northern Hemisphere. It is an apex predator in Australia's Murray-Darling river system. Its diet is carnivorous and consists of other fish within the river basin.

Answer: Fish

The barramundi is also known as Asian sea bass or giant sea perch. Unlike the other animals in this quiz, the barramundi is widely distributed along the Indo-Pacific ocean range. The name barramundi comes from an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in the Rockhampton area of the state of Queensland.

It means 'large-scaled river fish'. This name was originally used for a different type of fish. In the 1980's, it began to be used for the sea bass as a marketing ploy.