A "Tax"-ing Quiz

Answer: sheep

The adjective ovine means of, or relating to, sheep. Sheep are four-legged ruminants, i.e., mammals with a digestive system which has four stomach compartments or chambers that allow them to process plant-based food and "chew their cud". Cud is food which is partially digested and returned to the mouth for a second chewing.

Sheep, or Ovis aries, are also even-toed ungulates; an ungulate is a fancy word for a hoofed animal.

Answer: parrot

Jimmy Buffett's fans as psittacine-heads...somehow it doesn't have quite the same ring as a "Parrothead". Psittacine is the adjective used to describe parrots. Ornithologically speaking, in addition to parrots, this group contains lovebirds, cockatoos (anyone remember Fred from "Baretta"?), kakapos and macaws.

Their scientific name is Psittaciformes and their natural habitat is in a tropical or subtropical climate.

Answer: badger

"We don't need no stinkin'" badgers, but if we had one, the adjective to describe it would be musteline. Mustelids also include weasels, ferrets and minks. They are a group of mammals who are fur-bearing, predatory carnivores. Mustelids are generally small in size, with either webbed or clawed feet.

Answer: rabbit

Leporine is the adjective used to describe a rabbit or a hare. No, they are not the same...hares tend to be larger than rabbits, with longer ears and hind legs. Hares' fur also changes color depending upon the season. The Easter Bunny is a rabbit, while the hare is the one who lost the race to the tortoise.

They are both described as leporine, i.e., in the family leporidae, and are furry, jumping, herbivores. While rabbits live in warrens underground, hares live in nests on the surface. Over 50% of the rabbit population lives in North America; hares are native to other continents as well.

Answer: crow

When speaking of crows (how often does that occur I wonder), the proper adjective is corvine. Crows are medium to large black birds in the genus Corvus, which also includes rooks, jackdaws and ravens. (Quoth the crow, "nevermore" - I don't think so!).

They can be found on every temperate continent with the exception of South America. They are considered very intelligent and have been known to use tools. A group of crows is called a "murder".

Answer: duck

Ducks, mallards, swans and geese can be referred to as anatine. That means, "if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck", it is, in fact, anatine. The word duck comes from the old English "duce" meaning diver. They are aquatic birds, also called waterfowl, and can be found in both fresh water and sea water.

They are not to be confused with the Anaheim Ducks, whose only use of water is of the frozen kind.

Answer: goat

The adjective used for goats and antelopes is caprine, as in the Zodiac sign Capricorn. Like sheep, these hoofed mammals are ruminants, i.e, with four- chambered stomachs. The habitat for wild goats is Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The domestic goat is a subspecies which you can find all over the world, in every climate.

The male goat is a "buck" or a "billy", while the females are called "does" or "nannies"; their offspring are "kids".

Answer: bear

This one shouldn't be too difficult to guess, especially if you thought of Ursa Major, the constellation also known as the Great Bear, which contains the Big Dipper. Bears fall into the sub-order Caniformia ("here I come"); caniforms are dog-like, usually carnivorous mammals whose habitat is North and South America, Europe and Asia. The Giant Panda, while part of the Ursidae family, is the exception to the carnivores, in that their diet consists mainly of bamboo. Bears are large mammals with thick legs, large snouts, short tails and paws with claws.

Answer: fish

Except for the French noun meaning "swimming pool", the word piscine is an adjective referring to fish. As the song from Porgy and Bess" says "Fish gotta swim" and, as such, they live in water. Fish are vertebrates, i.e., with a backbone, and they use fins to swim and gills to absorb oxygen in order to breathe. Most fish are cold-blooded and many have scales.

They do not, however, possess external ears or eyelids.

Answer: mouse

Finally, we have the group referred to as murine (no, not the eye or ear drops). The adjective murine refers to mice and rats; they are of the scientific subfamily called Murinae. Also called rodents, mice and rats are small mammals with rounded ears, pointed noses and long tails. Mice and rats have been used in research in scientific labs (like "Pinky and the Brain").

In general, the Muridae can sometimes be considered vermin because they can cause crop damage and spread disease.