Youngsters Trivia Quiz

Answer: Calves

An elephant cow gives birth to her calf around twenty-two months after mating with a bull. An African bush elephant, Loxodonta africana, is generally larger altogether, as well as being know for the bigger ears, than an Indian elephant, Elephas maximus indicus. However both types of elephant are herbivores, and live in matriarchal groups, with adult males generally living solitary lives. The baby elephant will be looked after by the other cows in the group as well as its mother.

Elephants are pachyderms, meaning that they have thick skin. Hippopotamuses and rhinoceroses are the other pachyderms, and they also have babies called calves.

Answer: Calves

The giraffe calf is born after around fifteen months gestation. The baby will be nearly two metres tall, because it has to be able to reach its mother to suckle for the next nine months, although it will start eating leaves at about four months old.

Some other animals which have babies called calves are antelopes, buffaloes, camels, gnus, porpoises, whales, and reindeer.

Answer: Cubs

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) gives birth after a pregnancy lasting between three and five months. The panda cub is pink and blind, and weighs around 100g; its distinctive black and white fur won't develop until it is around a month old. After about six months the panda cub will begin to feed on bamboo, although it will continue to take milk from its mother for a further six months.

The red panda (Ailurus fulgens) also gives birth around four months after mating. The baby will be completely dependent on its mother's milk for the first three or four months of its life, but will carry on suckling until it is about five months old.

Answer: Cubs

Although hyenas are designated as cat-like carnivores (such as mongooses and cats) their behaviour is similar to dog-like carnivores (such as jackals, coyotes and wolves). They give birth after about three months, and will nurse the cubs for up to twelve months.

Some other animals which have babies called cubs are bears, cheetahs, leopards, lions, polar bears, raccoons, and tigers.

Answer: Joeys

A koala is a marsupial, and the baby joey, which is born around a month after mating, crawls into its mother's pouch for the next six months. It weighs about half a gram when it is born, and around a hundred times that when it emerges to start eating eucalyptus leaves. The koala mother may produce milk for the joey for up to twelve months, but from about nine months old, the joey won't return to the pouch, it will hitch a ride on its mother's back instead.

The most closely related marsupial to the koala is the wombat. A wombat is a burrowing animal, so they have backwards facing pouches to make sure that soil removed when digging doesn't get pushed into the pouch.

Answer: Joeys

A quokka, Setonix brachyurus, is a small marsupial around 50cm long, with a tail about half as long again. The baby, born after around a month, spends another six months in its mother's pouch, and carries on taking her milk for another two months after that.

Related to the quokka, but rather larger are the kangaroos, which are probably Australia's best-known marsupial. Wallabies are very similar to kangaroos, but somewhat smaller. All give birth to joeys, after a relatively short gestation; then the joey spends the next stage of its life growing in the safety of its mother's pouch.

Answer: Pups

A seal pup is born around a year after mating. Births usually happen in the spring or early summer, when the weather is more favourable, since seals generally live in cold Arctic or Antarctic regions. Depending on the species, some pups are weaned after only a few days, while others may be left fasting on land while their mothers go fishing for food.

The name seal is often used as a common description for any pinniped. However pinnipeds come in three distinct groups. One is the Odobenidae family, whose only member is the walrus. Another family is the eared seals or Otariidae, which consists of sea lions and fur seals. The last group is the Phocidae, described as earless seals or true seals. All, however, have babies called pups.

Answer: Pups

Moles are subterranean mammals of the Talpidae family. They give birth to pups about a month after mating; those pups are weaned and ready to leave the nest after about another month.

Some other animals which have babies called pups are bats, coyotes, dogs, gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, and sharks.

Answer: Others

Zebras give birth to foals about a year after mating. The foal will take milk from its mother for eight to thirteen months, although it may start grazing a few weeks after birth. The zebra foal can run within a few hours of birth, and will follow anything that moves, so its mother has to make sure that it learns to recognise her stripes, smell and sound.

The offspring of both horses and donkeys are also called foals. So perhaps, not surprisingly, when a horse and donkey are mated to produce a mule, that baby is called a foal, too.

Answer: Others

A baby goat is called a kid. The kids, often twins, are born about five months after mating, and can suckle for around ten months.

Goats are the only animal whose babies are called kids, although it's not unknown for human children to be given that name, too. However beaver, rabbit and fox babies can be called kits, which is very similar, although the term probably comes from kitten.