Otter Nonsense Trivia Quiz

Answer: Portly

The other famous character from the 'The Wind in the Willows' is Rat or Ratty, a gregarious water vole (or water rat). Mole and Badger are more introverted characters while Mr Toad is a spoiled aristocratic character. Otter is a friend, and fishing partner, of Ratty whose young son Portly is extremely adventurous - judging by the regularity with which he goes missing!

Port wine originates from the Douro region of Portugal; a haven is a place of safe refuge for shipping, such as a port; and stout could mean overweight, brawny, or a type of beer.

Answer: The Penguins of Madagascar

'The Penguins of Madagascar' is set in Central Park Zoo and focuses on the story of four penguins from the original 'Madagascar' movie - Skipper, Rico, Kowalski and Private. Marlene is a new character developed for the TV series and is the only resident otter at the zoo. She is usually a fair-minded, peaceable character but when she sets paw outside the zoo she develops a real wild side!

'Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa' and 'Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted' are film sequels to 'Madagascar' released in 2008 and 2012 respectively. 'Oh, Beloved Land of our Ancestors!' is the national anthem of the African island country of Madagascar.

Answer: Lottie

'Return to the Hundred Acre Wood' was written by David Benedictus and was the first official 'Pooh' novel to be published since A. A. Milne's 'The House at Pooh Corner' in 1928. Despite being a new character, in the words of author Benedictus, Lottie "embodies Winnie-the-Pooh's values of friendship and adventure".

Lottie's eschewal of a standard otter holt in favour of 'Fortitude Hall' (which is actually just an old trunk) isn't surprising given that she is also fond of jewellery, a lover of etiquette and a keen cricketer - all traits that real otters are unlikely to ever exhibit.

Carlotta, Bobby and Claudine are all characters from Enid Blyton's 'St Clare's' series of children's books.

Answer: Ottsel (half otter, half weasel)

The 'Jak and Daxter' video games are platform games with some puzzle solving elements. The series belongs to Sony and was first released for the PlayStation 2 console in 2001. 'Daxter', a spin-off game from 2006, unsurprisingly features Daxter as the main protagonist and takes the player through the story of how Daxter rescued his friend Jak from prison.

Daxter was turned into an ottsel when he had an accident with a mysterious substance called Dark Eco. A further accident in 'Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier' exposes Daxter to more Dark Eco, transforming him into a nastier character named Dark Daxter.

Answer: Redwall

The main character of 'The Taggerung' is an otter named Deyna who was born at Redwall Abbey but was captured by a tribe of 'vermin' as a baby. Deyna was taken from his family as his birth was the subject of a legend that predicted he would grow up to be a fearsome warrior, known as the Taggerung. However, despite his new tribe's attempt to teach him to be violent and cruel, Deyna remains a peace-loving character who cares for and protects weaker animals.

Lilliput is a land from Jonathan Swift's 'Gulliver's Travels'. Magrathea is a planet featured in 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' by Douglas Adams and Great A'Tuin is the giant turtle that supports the Discworld in the series of novels of the same name by Terry Pratchett.

Answer: Jim Henson

'Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas' was a children's story by Russell Hoban published in 1971. Jim Henson's adaptation first aired on television seven years later. The main instrument used in a jug band is (unsurprisingly) a jug - and yes that does mean a container for holding liquids, not a fancy musical instrument that just happens to share the name! The rest of the band is made up of any mixture of traditional and improvised instruments, such as a stove-pipe or a washboard. Jug-bands tend to be associated with blues and jazz music.

All the incorrect options created famous characters from comics. Jerry Siegel was co-creator of Superman, Stan Lee co-created Spiderman and William Moulton Marston created Wonder Woman.

Answer: Hermione Granger

Despite being the cleverest student in the year, Hermione Granger needed Harry Potter to teach her how to produce a patronus. She wasn't the only one as, in 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix', he also taught the patronus spell to the members of 'Dumbledore's Army'.

The patronus otter displayed no apparent personality or characteristics which isn't surprising given it wasn't a real animal. However, it was very good at getting rid of Dementors (evil creatures that drained hope and happiness out of people and were capable of administering a kiss that sucked out a person's soul).

Cho Chang's patronus was a swan, Luna Lovegood's was a hare and evil teacher, Professor Dolores Umbridge, produced a cat patronus.

Answer: Oshawott

'Pokémon' is a contraction of 'Poketto Monsuta' (which translates from the Japanese as 'Pocket Monsters') and is a multimedia franchise including video games, anime and movies. The aim of the video game version is to collect and train teams of Pokémon and use them to battle against other players.

Oshawott was introduced in the 'Pokémon Black and White' game and is capable of detaching a shell from its body to use as a weapon. Oshawott evolves into Dewott, a bigger, bluer and more powerful Pokémon. In turn Dewott evolves into Samurott - whose design is actually based on a sea lion, not an otter. As otters and sea lions are not related creatures, this seemed a bit of an oddity until I realised that sea lions belong to the family Otariidae!

Pikachu is probably the most famous Pokémon and is a mouse-like creature. Squirtle is known as the Tiny Turtle Pokémon and Pidgey is the Tiny Bird Pokémon.

Answer: Peanut, Butter and Jelly

The show in question is 'PB&J Otter'. It featured three otter siblings (Peanut and his two younger sisters Jelly and Butter) in a series of animated cartoons mainly aimed at preschool age children. Peanut and Jelly are often seen helping each other out with Jelly being particularly good at problem-solving and coming up with ideas. Baby Butter doesn't really talk, but laughs a lot and copies her older siblings and their friends.

The peanut butter and jelly (or jam) sandwich dates back at least one hundred years and is particular popular in North America. Sandwiches themselves were supposedly invented by John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich (a town in southern England) in the 18th century.

Answer: Tarka the Otter

'Tarka the Otter: His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Country of the Two Rivers' was first published in 1927 and is the best known work of British author, Henry Williamson. 'Country of the Two Rivers' refers to an area of North Devon in England that includes the rivers Taw and Torridge.

The incorrect options are all children's books - 'Otter Moon' is by Tudor Humphries, 'The Utterly Otterleys' is by Mairi Hedderwick and 'The Otter Who Wanted to Know' is by Jill Tomlinson.

Although not originally intended as a children's novel, 'Tarka the Otter' has become a popular family favourite. It follows Tarka's life story, including all its highs and lows, with great realism and without anthropomorphising the animal characters.

All in all, I'd recommend reading this book before heading down to your local riverbank in search of a Dementor-repelling, pearl-wearing, jug-playing, warrior otter. You'll save yourself from a considerable disappointment.