Animal Terms Trivia Quiz

Answer: Raccoon

Musteline describes all members of the weasel family (Mustelidae), the largest family in the Carnivora order. Included in this family are weasels, badgers, wolverine, otters, ferrets and martens. Otters can also be described as lutrine. The raccoon is procyonine -- the Procyonidae family also includes coatis, olingos, kinkajous, cacomistles and ringtails.

Answer: Caterpillar

Although termites might easily be considered an intrusion, the collective noun for those little critters is a 'swarm' or a 'colony'. Those same two terms can also be applied to both bees and ants, although they also have more specific terms too. Ants in large numbers can also be referred to as an 'army' or, less well-known, a 'bike of ants'. Bees come in a 'hive' or a 'nest' but can also be referred to as a 'drift of bees', an 'erst of bees' or a 'grist of bees'. When they congregate in large numbers you get a 'constituency of caterpillars' although perhaps a 'constituency of voters' might seem more appropriate for the politically minded. Curiously, in similar vein, you get a 'coalition of cheetahs'.

Answer: Goat

Often also called 'mutton', the meat of an adult domestic goat is more often known as 'chevon' to distinguish it from domestic sheep meat. 'Cabrito' is the meat of a young domestic goat. Pigeon meat is called 'squab'; the meat of a water buffalo is 'carabeef', dogfish meat has numerous names -- 'capeshark' in America, 'rock salmon' in the UK, 'flake' in Australia, and 'kahada' in Canada.

Answer: Hare

A leveret is a baby hare -- the adjectives leverine and leporine both describe hares. The young of a hawk is an 'eyas', a baby locust is a 'nymph', and a young turkey is a 'poult'.

Answer: Elephants

The order 'Proboscidea' once had many more species, but today only two species, the Asian elephant (genus 'Elephas') and the African elephant (genus 'Loxodonta') survive. The North American gomphothere and various species of mammoth are amongst the now-extinct proboscine animals. Of the alternatives, gerbils are 'cricetine', kangaroos are 'macropodine', and koalas are 'phascolarctine'.

Answer: Mob

A group of emus is called a mob. You can also have a mob of kangaroos, although you can also have a troop, herd or court of kangaroos. (A kangaroo court?) Of the alternatives, you can have a covey of grouse or partridge; a horde of hamsters, mouse, rats or gerbils; and a blessing of narwhals.

Answer: Hob

A male ferret is a 'hob'. The female is a 'jill' and a baby ferret is a 'kit'. A 'tiercel' is a male hawk, a 'boomer' is a male kangaroo (also knows as a 'buck' or a 'jack'), and a 'macho' is a male llama.

Answer: Hatchling

The young or both crocodiles and alligators are called hatchlings. A group of alligators is a 'congregation'. The same term can also be used for crocodiles, but you can also have a 'nest', 'float', or, the one I particularly like, a 'bask of crocodiles'.

Answer: Walrus

The Odobenidae family of Pinnipeds once included more than a dozen species but the walrus is the only one now surviving. The adjective that describes whales is cetacean (or cetaceous); turtles are chelonian; and dolphins are delphine.

Answer: Lemur

Male, female and young lemurs are called dictators, princesses and infants respectively. The name 'lemur' comes from the word 'lemures', meaning ghosts or spirits in Roman mythology. A group of lemurs is collectively called a 'plot', 'congress' or 'conspiracy'.
Of the alternatives, a male llama is a 'macho', the female is a 'hembra' and a baby is a 'cria'. For chimpanzees, they are 'blackback' (male), 'empress' (female) and 'infant' (young). Koalas are 'buck' (male), 'doe' (female) and 'joey' (young).