A (Mammalian) Passage to India Quiz

Answer: dhole

Dholes are distinctly red canids native to southern Asia. Their appearance and behavior are distinctly different from wolves, though they are closely related. Dholes have a fox-like appearance and cat-like legs, and whistle rather than bark. They are very social and tend to live in less-strictly structured clans than wolves. Dholes usually feed on ungulates, though on rare occasions they have been known to gang up on and kill other predators, including tigers. Rudyard Kipling's "Red Dog" features dholes as antagonists that even Shere Khan flees from, though in real life they are not as evil as Rudyard portrays them.

Answer: True

Water buffaloes were domesticated in two independent events. The first happened about 5,000 years ago in India, resulting in the "river buffalo" variety. The "swamp buffalo" variety arose in China about 4,000 years ago. Wild water buffalo are considered a separate species from those that were domesticated, and are now rare. Domestic water buffalo are one of the most common farm animals worldwide, and are raised for meat, milk, and as ploughing animals. Water buffalo are in some respects easier to raise than cows, and despite being related to cows, they are legal to kill in India, which is why they are an important source of meat there.

Answer: inbreeding

Once upon a time, even ancient Greeks had to be wary of Asiatic lions, but those days are long gone. Asiatic lions were steadily extirpated from Europe during older times. Those that survived in Asia were massacred with firearms until they were reduced to a tiny population in Gir Forest, western India.

While strictly protected and more common than at their nadir, all Asiatic lions descend from the dozen or so that survived at Gir. Genetic analysis has suggested they are at major risk for inbreeding-related issues. Morphologically, Asiatic lions are similar to African lions, but are slightly smaller and have an extra fold of skin along their bellies.

Answer: rhesus monkeys

Langurs are large old-world monkeys native to the Indian subcontinent. They readily adapt to the presence of people, and often live side-by-side with them. People have also employed langurs to help control smaller, more pestilent rhesus monkeys. Rhesus monkeys have on occasion killed people, and are relatively fearless of people, many of who revere them in the name of the monkey god Hanuman. Langurs will harass and bully them, providing some amount of pest control against them. Professionals are known to use trained langurs to patrol cities, though increased legal protection for langurs has diminished such positions noticeably.

Answer: False

Asiatic elephants are smaller and more timid than African elephants. They tend to flee more readily from threats and are more readily accepting of domestication. Additionally, they are very intelligent and responsive to human orders. These characteristics have made Asiatic elephants prime targets of domestication for thousands of years, and people have put them to use as beasts of burden, for travelling, and as war mounts. Asiatic elephants are rare, and are found in small, scattered areas around southeast Asia. Like other elephants, they were ruthlessly hunted for ivory and have consequently received international protection.

Answer: teeth

Once thought to be closely related to sloths, sloth bears mainly feed on insects. They lack a few of the upper teeth that most bears have, which helps them suck up insects. Termites are a particular favorite of the sloth bear, and it is able to detect termite mounds with its keen sense of smell.

These unique and unusual animals are almost entirely found within the borders of India. They are easy to tame and thus have been used as performing animals. However, they tend to view people as predators and are responsible for a number of unprovoked attacks on them.

Other large animals will not tolerate sloth bears and drive them away if given a chance.

Answer: drive fish into nets

The Irrawaddy dolphin can be found from the Bay of Bengal through northern Australia. Most Irrawaddy dolphins can be found near coastal areas, in both fresh and salt or brackish water. Those found around India have known to help fisherman by driving fish into nets; they in turn receive a portion of the share.

However, this sort of behavior makes them more vulnerable to net entanglement than most dolphins, and many of the Irrawaddy dolphin's subpopulations are considered threatened or endangered. Fishermen do value them and some try to help entangled dolphins.

Answer: Bengal tiger

Both India and Bangladesh claim the Bengal tiger as their national animals. They can be found across the subcontinent, but most reside in India. They are majestic and ferocious, and are one of the very few animals known to intentionally hunt people (though this is not a common event).

Despite reproducing quickly, the pressure of poaching puts tigers in serious danger of extinction, and most of those are used in traditional Chinese medicine in some form or another. In 1973, India started Project Tiger to help keep Bengal tigers out of the reaches of extinction.

Answer: they feed exclusively on venomous snakes

Mongooses are weasel-like predators native to large parts of Africa and Asia, and come in a variety of colors. Most mongooses are terrestrial and diurnal. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi made mongooses famous for their snake-killing abilities. But while they are quite adept at killing snakes and eating them, they do not particularly seek them out and snakes definitely do not compose a particularly large part of a mongoose's diet. Mongooses are nimble and agile, and can even be taught tricks.

They are adept predators to the point where they can become serious pests to native fauna in parts of the world where they are accidentally introduced.

Answer: single horn

Indian rhinos are notably different from African rhinos in that they have only one horn. Newborns lack a horn, and it starts growing after about six years. Their thick skin offers some protection against predators, but does not deter smaller parasites.

They are generally solitary animals, aside from mothers and calves. Groups of rhinos tend to be friendly towards each other when they do come together, and they are known to bathe regularly. Males tend to be aggressive when fighting over females. Hunting rhinos has been illegal in India since 1910, though that doesn't always deter poachers.