Rhinos and Zebras and Tapirs, Oh My! Quiz

Answer: Camelidae

The family Camelidae - which includes camels, llamas and alpacas - is part of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Though, like all other ungulates, they are strict herbivores, they differ from other artiodactyls in having three-chambered stomachs and two-toed feet with thick, leathery pads instead of hooves. However, a characteristic they share with some members of the order Perissodactyla - namely Equidae - is that they can be ridden as well as used as beasts of burden.

The painting in the photo, created in the late 19th century by American artist Edwin Lord Weeks, is titled "Arrival of a Caravan Outside the City of Morocco". The camels shown there are of the one-humped variety, known as dromedaries (Camelus dromedarius).

Answer: cellulose

Plants contain cellulose, a polysaccharide (complex carbohydrate) that is also the most abundant organic polymer on Earth. Herbivorous mammals are able to break down cellulose because of the presence of specific bacteria in the rumen (the largest of the stomach chambers of most artiodactyls), or through hindgut fermentation, which also involves the action of bacteria and other microbes - though the latter occurs in the intestine. Humans, on the other hand, are unable to digest cellulose, which is one of the constituents of insoluble dietary fiber.

Perissodactyls are not the only mammals that use hindgut fermentation to digest cellulose: this feature is shared by elephants and smaller animals, such as rodents, rabbits and koalas. This specialized form of digestion requires a particularly large and complex gastrointestinal tract. Though ruminants are more efficient in the digestion of cellulose, hindgut fermentation allows animals to eat large quantities of low-nutrient food (such as grass) and process them rapidly, so as to be able to be constantly on the move.

Cotton fibre (shown in the photo) has the highest content of pure, natural cellulose - about 90%.

Answer: Grévy's zebra

Also known as the imperial zebra, Grévy's zebra (Equus grevyi) was named after Jules Grévy (who was President of France at the time) by French naturalist Émile Oustalet, who first described it in 1882. It is a powerful animal that can reach a height of 1.45-1.6 m (4.8-5.2 ft) at the withers, with a body and large ears reminiscent of a mule's, a characteristically tall, erect mane, and narrow black-and-white stripes.

Native to East Africa, the Grévy's zebra is the most threatened of all zebra species (assessed as Endangered by IUCN in 2016). It is now found mainly in parts of Kenya and Ethiopia, where it inhabits grasslands and shrublands; it is extinct in Somalia, Djibouti and probably South Sudan. The species is legally protected in Ethiopia and Kenya, as in the past Grévy's zebras were keenly hunted for their skins: however, as is the case with many other wild animals, the biggest threat to their survival is habitat loss.

There are only three zebra species: Grévy's zebra (Equus grevyi), the plains zebra (Equus quagga) and the mountain zebra (Equus zebra). The three wrong answers are subspecies of the plains zebra.

Answer: they are both extinct

The family Equidae includes many more extinct species than living ones. Most of them died out millions of years ago, and are known only from their fossil records. However, a few members of the genus Equus (the only extant one) went extinct in much more recent times. This is the case of the tarpan (Equus ferus ferus), a subspecies of the wild horse (Equus ferus), and that favourite of Scrabble and crossword players, the quagga (Equus quagga quagga).

A denizen of the Eurasian steppe, the tarpan (a Turkic word meaning simply "wild horse") was a smallish, free-roaming horse whose last wild specimen died in the late 19th century. The last captive specimen died in the Russian Empire in 1909; the photo, dating from 1884, is the only one depicting a live tarpan (known as the "Cherson tarpan"). The quagga, on the other hand, was a subspecies of the plains zebra endemic to South Africa, where it was once abundant. It went extinct in the wild in 1878, while the last captive individual died in 1883 at the Amsterdam Zoo.

Another recently extinct equid is the Syrian wild ass (Equus hemionus hemippus), a subspecies of the onager (Equus hemionus) that went extinct in 1927.

Answer: Mongolia

Named after Polish-Russian explorer Nikolai Przewalski, the Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) is native to the steppes of Central Asia, in particular Mongolia. Though its status as a supposed ancestor of modern domestic horses has been disproved by genetic analysis, this rare and endangered wild horse remains a constant source of fascination for animal lovers. As the photo shows, the Przewalski's horse is smaller, shorter and more stockily built than the average domestic horse. Its coat grows thicker in winter, and its diet and metabolism are also adapted to the harsh conditions of its natural habitat during the colder months.

In the early 20th century, the Przewalski's horse (called takhi in Mongolian) became increasingly rare, until it went presumably extinct in the wild in the late 1960. However, a few small captive populations remained in zoos, and from them it was possible to breed a number of horses that have been reintroduced in their native range. Now these horses can be found in three protected areas in Mongolia, as well as a number of other places in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. The species is classified as Endangered by IUCN (2014).

Answer: True

Unlike the horns that grow on the heads of artiodactyls such as cattle, goats or antelope, rhinoceros horns have no bone core, and are made exclusively of solid keratin - a fibrous protein that is also the main component of the hooves, nails, claws, scales, hair and feathers of vertebrates. Rhino horns are permanent, and grow throughout the animal's life cycle. The two extant African species and one of the three Asian species have two horns, while the remaining two species have only one. The horns of the African species - the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) and the black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis, shown in the photo) - can grow to over 1 m (3.3 ft) in length.

Unfortunately, these formidable defensive weapons have almost caused the extinction of these imposing animals, some of the few remaining examples of megafauna. Though all species of rhino enjoy some sort of protection in their habitat, it has not been enough to discourage poachers, who target the animals because of the supposed medicinal properties of their horns. In many cases, the horn is removed from the tranquillized animal, which is left to bleed to death. This has led to various measures being implemented in parks and other protected areas to prevent this from happening.

Answer: Sumatra

The Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) has a number of peculiarities. Along with being the smallest rhino - though still a respectably-sized animal - it is also the hairiest member of the group, and the only Asian species to have two horns (though the second of them, as can be seen in the photo, is often little more than a stub).

Once found in rainforest habitats in parts of Southeast Asia (as well as northeastern India and Bangladesh), the Sumatran rhino is now restricted to five populations - four in Sumatra and one (extremely small) in Borneo. Another population present in Peninsular Malaysia went extinct in 2019. According to the most recent IUCN assessment (2019), there are about 30 mature individuals left in the wild, with decreasing trend. Not surprisingly, the species is classified as Critically Endangered. The main threats to these rare animals are poaching for their horns and habitat loss due to logging.

Answer: grasses and other low-lying plants

In spite of its common name, the white rhino (Ceratotherium simum) is not white at all, but rather a range of shades of grey - not considerably lighter than the other, smaller African species, the black rhino (Diceros bicornis). The main difference between these two species is the shape of their mouth, which is square and wide in the white rhino, and narrow and pointed in the black rhino - an indicator of their feeding habits. In fact, the name "white" has often been believed to be a misinterpretation of the Dutch word "wjid" (wide).

The white rhino is a pure grazer, feeding on the grasses that abound in the grasslands and savannahs of Central and Southern Africa. It spends about half of its day eating, and can go without water for four or five days in dry conditions. On the other hand, the one-horned Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) is mainly a grazer, but will occasionally browse - supplementing its diet with leaves, twigs, fruits and flowers from bushes and trees. It is found in the alluvial grasslands of the northeastern part of the Indian subcontinent (India and Nepal).

The white rhino is classified by IUCN as Near Threatened (2020), while the Indian rhino is classified as Vulnerable (2018).

Answer: prehensile nose trunk

Though tapirs may superficially look like large pigs, they are only distantly related to the members of the swine family (Suidae), which are even-toed ungulates. The four extant tapir species all belong to a single genus, Tapirus. The name tapir comes from Tupi, an indigenous language of Brazil, through Portuguese.

Tapirs are large animals, on average about 2 m (6.5 ft) long and 1 m (3.3 ft) high at the shoulder. They are short-coated, and have four hooved toes on their front feet and three on the hind feet. Their most distinctive feature, however, is their short but highly flexible proboscis, which allows these animals to grasp tree branches and reach the foliage on which they feed. Tapirs that live near watercourses like to spend a lot of time near or in the water, or sometimes wallow in the mud to cool off. Sadly, all four tapir species are vulnerable or endangered because of hunting and habitat loss.

Answer: Southeast Asia

The only tapir species that is not found in the Americas is the Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus), which is also the largest species and the most easily recognizable because of the whitish patch that covers most of its back, in vivid contrast with the rest of its body. This is a case of disruptive colouration, particularly useful as a camouflage strategy in the animal's rainforest habitat. The Malayan tapir also has the longest proboscis of all tapir species. Once relatively common in Southeast Asia, now the Malayan tapir is found in southern Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is classified by IUCN as Endangered (2014), with fewer than 2,500 mature individuals remaining.

The remaining three tapir species are the Baird's tapir (Tapirus bairdii) of Central America, the South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris), and the mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque), found in the northern Andes - the only tapir species that does not live in tropical rainforests.