Animal Characteristics Trivia Quiz

Answer: gibbon

Brachiation means moving through trees by swinging with the arms from one branch to another. The main example is the gibbon, which can brachiate at speeds as high as 35 mph.

Answer: chukar

The chukar is a Eurasian relative of the chicken and the turkey. Dial observed how it used its wings to run up a ramp, even when the ramp was tilted backwards at an angle of 105 degrees.

Previous theories of the evolution of dinosaurs into birds fell into two camps: the "arboreal theory", that early birds leaped from tree branches and glided to the next branch, and the cursorial theory, that early birds learned to fly by running on the ground and learning to take off from the ground.

Answer: sponges, sea stars, octopuses

This zone extends from 1,000 to 4,000 meters below the ocean surface. Since there is no sunlight in this zone, some species lack eyes. Some of the world's largest whales also live in this zone.

Swordfish, wolf eels and cuttlefish can be found in the mesopelagic zone (200-1,000 meters), tripod fish, anglerfish and giant squid in the abyssopelagic (or abyssal) zone (4,000-6,000 meters), while jellyfish, tube worms and sea cucumbers can be found in the hadalpelagic (or hadal) zone (6,000 meters to the ocean floor). Creatures in this last zone usually have no pigmentation, and are specially built to withstand the tremendous pressure which exists at that depth.

Answer: Yangtze river dolphin

To be functionally extinct means the species cannot renew itself, even if a specimen or two might still exist. An article in the June, 2009, issue of "National Geographic" explains that there are three other species of river dolphins besides the Yangtze: the Amazon, with an estimated population of 100,000, the Franciscana (or La Plata) with about 70,000, and the Indus and Ganges, with only 3,000-4,000 remaining.

Biologists theorize that the river dolphins were created starting about 15 million years ago, during the Miocene epoch, when sea levels were higher. As the water retreated, some dolphins stayed behind and evolved into the river dolphins of today. Some characteristics of river dolphins which differ from their oceanic cousins include thin,long beaks suitable for snatching fish from tight places; unfused neck vertebrae which allow them to bend at right angles; and very poor eyesight, since they use sonar to locate prey in muddy water rather than sight.

The wrong choices are all mammals which went extinct during the 20th century.

Answer: oysters

An oyster can change sex multiple times during its lifetime. Protandry is to be distinguished from hermaphrodism, in which the animal is both male and female at the same time. Thus, protandry is sometimes called "sequential hermaphrodism".

Answer: having two toes pointing forward and two toes pointing back

When you think about it, this would make it real easy to perch securely on tree branches. From the Greek zygo for "paired" and dactyl for "toe".

Answer: hippopotamus

The hippo is an Artiodactyla, or even-toed ungulate.

The golden age of the Perissodactyla was about ten million years after the dinosaur era. Most species have since died out, and today there are only seventeen species of Perissodactyla remaining.

Answer: pangolin

Instead of teeth, the pangolin uses its long, sticky tongue to catch its food. The spinner dolphin, by contrast, can have as many as 252 teeth.

Answer: frogs and toads

The familiar saying is "look before you leap". Frogs and toads are adept jumpers, hence the name of their suborder.

Answer: jerboa

The jerboa is a rodent with a rather small body (about half a foot), but which can jump 6-10 feet at a time. It gets its water from the food it eats.