Melange of 'A' Animals Trivia Quiz

Answer: aerial

The Aztec rail can be found in central Mexico, which is perhaps why it is also called the Mexican rail. For a while it was considered, along with four other rail species, to be conspecific variations of just the one species. It is a freshwater bird subsisting mostly on crustaceans.

Answer: aerial

Endemic to Hawaii is the 'apapane, a honeycreeper. It is adapted to eating nectar with a downward-curved bill and a tubular brush-tipped tongue. It also eats insects and spiders gleaned from the trees. They do not feed on the ground. They are the most-widely distributed of the Hawaiian honeycreepers. Other Hawaiian honeycreepers include the 'akikiki, 'akeke'e and 'anianiau.

Answer: aerial

The anhinga is also called the snakebird, darter, American darter or water turkey. The snakebird name is from its appearance swimming in water, not its diet which consists of fish, insects and amphibians. Its body feathers are not waterproofed so the birds dry themselves with wings spread. It is found in the warmer parts of the Americas.

Answer: aerial

The Arfak astrapia is a member of the bird-of-paradise family found in the Arfak Mountains of Indonesia. They live in cloud forests from 1,700 to 2,250 m (5,580 to 7,380 ft). Their remoteness serves to protect them.

Answer: aquatic

The alewife is a type of migrating herring which travels up rivers on the Atlantic coast of America and Canada to breed, although there are landlocked versions. The Canadians have three rivers named after the fish where it is known as the gaspereau. When the Welland Canal was built to bypass Niagara Falls, the fish were able to access the Great Lakes. This proved to be a problem where they had no effective predator. Salmon species were introduced to help.

Answer: aquatic

The alfonsino is a long-lived deepwater fish found in temperate and sub-tropical waters worldwide. It can live as old as 69 years, possibly longer, and is slow to reproduce which makes the species vulnerable to overfishing. These fish tend to live near coral, schooling over seamounts. Its bright red colour is not uncommon in deep sea fish as, at depth, they will appear black, enhancing their camouflage. It is also known as the longfinned beryx, red bream or imperador.

Answer: aquatic

The arowanas are bony (having a skeleton of bone tissue rather than cartilage) fish found in freshwater. At one time they were known as bony tongues because of the teeth on the tongue which is used to bite against the roof of the mouth. They can also obtain oxygen from air sucked into their swim bladder.

The arowanas are also the only exclusively freshwater fish species found on both sides of the Wallace Line, a faunal transition zone between Asia and Australia brought about by historic tectonic plate and sea level movements.

Answer: aquatic

The ayu or ayu sweetfish is found in the north-west Pacific. It is a fish which migrates from the marine environment up rivers and into lakes, spawning in the lower reaches of rivers. There are also some landlocked populations. It gets the sweetfish name from the sweet taste of its flesh. Prized as a food fish, they are caught by fly-fishing or in traps baited with a live decoy fish which provokes territorial challenge behaviour from other ayu. Using captive cormorants to fish them is another method.

Answer: terrestrial

The anole is the common name for the Dactyloidae family of lizards from the Americas (including the Caribbean). Anoles are mostly green or brown lizards with some colour-changing ability. Most have a dewlap (a flap of skin hanging in the throat area, often brightly-coloured), can break their tails off to escape predators as well as having gecko-like climbing abilities. Marvel Comics also have a reptilian comic book character of the same name.

Answer: terrestrial

Native to Africa, the aardvark is a nocturnal burrowing mammal that subsists mainly on ants and termites. To help with this, it has sharp claws to break into the insects' nests and a long pig-like snout and tongue. They avoid certain ant species for reasons such as the aggressiveness and chemical defences of the ants concerned and in some cases the lack of nutritional content.

The only fruit eaten by the aardvark is the subterranean aardvark cucumber. In return the aardvark helps the plant with seed distribution.

Answer: terrestrial

Getting its common name from the swirling decorative markings on its abdomen and from the web it weaves, the arabesque orb-weaver spider is common throughout North America. The female spins the web and sits in the centre at night. A male is usually nearby and does its hunting on the ground.

A non-aggressive species, their bite is not particularly harmful to humans although it contains venom. The venom is intended to subdue its insect prey rather than deter predators.

Answer: terrestrial

The asp is famed for being involved in the death of Cleopatra, the Ancient Egyptian queen. The name 'asp' applies to several venomous snake species and Cleopatra's asp was possibly the Egyptian cobra (Naja haje). The asp viper (Vipera aspis), also known as the asp or European asp or aspic viper, is found in south-western Europe (mostly France and Italy) and so was probably innocent.

It is responsible for the vast majority of snake bites in Italy and the bite occasionally causes death if untreated.