Orders of Mammals, Part I Trivia Quiz

Answer: North American beaver

The name comes from Latin: rodere - to gnaw.

This order includes 40.5% of extant species of mammals. The common name - rodents - is mostly associated with mice and rats. The order also includs squirrels, beavers, capybara, and guinea pigs.
The incisor teeth of rodents continuously grow.

Rodents such as black rats, brown rats, and house mice are considered serious pests by acting as disease vectors and eating food stores of humans. Accidentally introduced rodent species are considered invasive, responsible for the extinction of native fauna.

Answer: common vampire bat

The name comes from ancient Greek: kheir - hand and pterón - wing.

This order, containing all bats, consists of 22.2% of extant mammal species.

Bats are the only mammals capable of true sustained flight. (Flying squirrels and other "flying" animals actually glide.) Their wings are mostly made of membranes extended between their fingers, The Mexican free-tailed bat can achieve speeds of 100 mph (160 kph).

Bats have a variety of diets. Most bats are insectivores. Most of the rest are frugivores (fruit-eaters) or nectarivores (nectar-eaters). Three species of bats are hemativores (blood-eaters), called vampire bats.

Answer: hedgehog

The name of this order comes from ancient Greek: eu - truly and lipotpphla - lacking blind gut or lacking cecum, a cul-de-sac portion of the intestinal tract. (In humans, this is where the appendix is.)

This order consists of 8.8% of extant mammals. Besides hedgehogs, other members of this order are Old World moles, New World moles, shrew-like moles, and true shrews.

Answer: ring-tailed lemur

The name of this order comes from Latin: primus - prime, first rank. Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish biologist that formalized binomial nomenclature, gave this name because he thought primates were the highest order of animals.

Primates account for 7.8% of extant mammal species. They have large brains relative to their body size. Their visual acuity is enhanced at the expense of olfactory acuity (which is dominant in other mammal species). Primates are among the most social of all animals, forming pairs or family groups. They also reach maturity slower that other mammals, but have a reciprocal longer overall life spans, in the several decade range.

Besides lemurs, primates include lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes (including humans).

Answer: northern giraffe

The name comes from ancient Greek: ártios - even and dáktylos - finger or toe. They're often referred to as even-toed ungulates (hooved ones).

Artiodactyls comprise 5.4% of extant mammals.

Members of this order include cattle, sheep, goats, deer, antelopes, giraffes, camels, llamas, alpacas, and hippopotamuses. Molecular biology and recent fossil finds show that cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) also fall into this order, despite the fact that their forelimbs are now flippers and their back limbs are vestigial.

Though only fifth among mammals, the number of individuals in each species is staggering. In Wyoming, the human population is just above half a million. But the number of cattle at any given time is twice that, around 1.24 million.

Answer: house cat

The name comes from Latin: carō - flesh and vorāre - to devour. Members of this order are called carnivorans. They are all carnivores, but not all carnivores are carnivorans. For example, members of the order Dasyuromorphia are Australian carnivorous marsupials.

They comprise 4.7% of extant mammal species.

The members of Carnivora are varied. They include all true felids (cats) and true canids (dogs), bears, skunks, hyenas, mongooses, walruses, seals, and sea lions.

The example species, house cats, and other large and small cats are obligate carnivores: they must eat animal-based food to survive. Humans who themselves choose to be vegetarian or vegan are harming their house cats if they try to force the animals to eat a plant-based diet.

Answer: koala

The name comes from the Greek: di - two, proto - first, or main, and dontia - teeth.

This order comprises 2.3% of extant mammal species. It is the largest extant order of marsupials. They all are natives of Australia.

Members of this order include kangaroos, wallabies, koala, wombats, and possums (not opossums),

Answer: Virginia opossum

This order's name is from ancient Greek: di - two, delphus - womb, and morph - form.

Didelphimorphians comprise 1.9% of extant mammal species. They are endemic to the Americas, and are comprised of 126 species of opossums.

Opossums are often referred to as 'possums. The Australian marsupial called possum is so called because it resembles opossums, but they belong to the order Diprotodontia.

Opossums exhibit a behavior called "playing possum", where they involuntarily resemble a dead animal when threatened. Their lips draw back, baring their teeth. Saliva foams around their mouths. Their eyes close or half-close. To complete the effect, a foul-smelling fluid is excreted from anal glands.

Opossums rarely carry the virus that causes rabies; their lower body temperature inhibits its spread. They actually are quite voracious insectivores, so leaving them alone is for the best.

Answer: eastern cottontail

The name of this order comes from ancient Greek: lagos - hare and morph? - form.

Lagomorphs make up 1.7% of extant mammal species. The members of this order include all hares, rabbits, and pikas.

Hares and rabbits look very similar. Hares are solitary animals. Rabbits live in colonial burrows, and feed together in small groups. The term "bunny" is often applied to both hares and rabbits. It comes from the fact that their tails resemble buns.

Domestic rabbits can be litter box trained and with proper care will live as long as typical house pets.

Answer: Tasmanian devil

This order's name comes from the Greek: dasyuro - hairy-tail and morphia - form.

They make up 1.3% of extant mammals.

Most of Australia's carnivorous marsupials (except bandicoots and marsupial moles) are members of this order.

Answer: tenrec

Aftosoricida is a Latin-Greek compound name which means "looking like African shrews."

The species in this order comprise 0.8% of extant mammal species.

Members of this order include southern Africa golden moles, otter shrews of equatorial Africa, and tenrecs of Madagascar. These groups of mammals were once in other now-outdated orders, but have been now categorized together.

Answer: nine-banded armadillo

This name is from Latin: cingulum - girdle and -ata - one, thing ("girdled ones").

They comprise 0.3% of extant mammal species.

These species are the armadillos, which in Spanish means "little armored ones". The different species of armadillos are distinguished by the number of bands in their armor. All species are emdemic to the Americas.

Members of the genus Dasypus (which includes nine-banded armadillos) always give birth to identical quadruplets in a process called polyembryony. This is the only reliable example of this happening not only in mammals, but in the pyhlum Chordata.

The megafauna glyptodonts, which became extant 38 million years ago but became extinct 12,000 years ago, would also be considered members of this order. They grew up to 1.5 meters tall and weighed about 2 tonnes.

Answer: North African elephant shrew

This order's name comes from the Greek: macro - large and scelid - leg.

They represent 0.3% of extant mammal species.

This order consists of the various species of elephant shrews of Africa: "elephant" because of their long noses looking like elephant trunks, and "shrew" because of their size. Although they resemble true shrews, genetic analysis indicates that they are more closely related to elephants than to shrews.

Other names for these animals include jumping shrews and sengis (latter from the Bantu language).

Answer: bandicoot

This order's name comes from Greek: pera - pouch, m?les - badger, and morphia - form

This order comprises 0.3% of extant mammals.

Members of this order include species of bandicoots and bilbies.

The placement of Peramelemorphians within the grouping of marsupials has been controversial. Their number of teeth relates them to marsupial carnivores. However, their second and third toes are fused together (syndactyly), which is a characteristic of marsupial herbivores.

Answer: Grévy's zebra

Their name comes from ancient Greek: perissós - odd and dáktylos - finger, toe.

The comprise 0.3% of extant mammals.

Their more common name is odd-toed ungulates. There are 17 living species, which include zebras, horses, asses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs. The main axes of both the front and rear feet of Perissodactylans pass through the third toe, which is always the largest. The other toes are reduced in size. Modern equines have only a single toe, which is covered almost completely by a hoof.