Animals Roaming Free Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sett

Badgers belong to the Mustelidae family which also includes otters, weasels and ferrets. They are Britain's largest land predator. They have distinctive black and white stripes and a stocky body with short legs and sharp claws which help them to dig their burrows and find food underground.

They dig burrows underground, called setts, which consist of tunnels and chambers. Badgers are omnivores which means they eat a wide range of food. Around 80% of a badger's diet consists of earthworms. A male badger is called a boar, a female is a sow and the babies are called cubs.

Answer: Noctule bat

Bats are nocturnal creatures who generally come out of their roosts around 20 minutes after sunset and fly up to ten metres (32 feet) in the air looking for food. When they fly they are fast and jerky as they search for insects to eat. The technique they use to catch their food is known as "aerial hawking" as they catch and eat their food on the wing. Most bats in the UK are quite small with a wingspan about the same size as a sparrow (about 24cm or 9.5 in) but the noctule bat has a wingspan of up to 50cm (20 in).

Answer: Binky

Rabbits are not native to the British Isles but were brought over either by the Romans in the first century or, more likely, by the Normans in the twelfth century as their fur and meat were much prized. Rabbits live in large groups in underground burrow systems called warrens. Male rabbits are called bucks, female rabbits are called does and baby rabbits are called kits.

A female rabbit can have a litter of between three and seven kits every month during the breeding season (mid February to late summer) which is where the phrase "breeding like rabbits" comes from. Natural predators of the rabbit include the red fox, stoats and owls which is why it is important for them to have a warren to hide in.

Answer: Beaver

The Eurasian beaver (scientific name Castor fiber) was widespread in England, Scotland and Wales until the sixteenth century when they became extinct after being hunted for their fur, meat and "castoreum" which is a secretion from beavers that was used in the perfume industry and also in food and medicine.

The first official reintroduction took place in the county of Kent in 2002 and since then many approved animals have been introduced to enclosures across the UK. The beaver is known as a "keystone species" as they have a positive effect on their environment.

They gnaw on trees such as rowan, hazel and willow and "coppice" them. When the trees regrow they provide valuable habitat for many insects, birds and smaller mammals. Beavers are protected by law as a European Protected Species.

This ruling has been in place since 1st May 2019.

Answer: Fox

The fox belongs to the Canidae family of mammals. They resemble a small slender dog and have russet red fur, pointed ears, a long snout and a bushy tail, called a brush, with a fluffy white tip. They can survive in a great variety of environments and, as well as being found in the countryside, a large number live in towns and cities. Foxes are omnivores and eat a wide variety of food.

Their diet can include insects, earthworms, berries, fruit, smaller mammals and birds. They are also scavengers and eat carrion and scraps left by humans.

They tend to live in family units consisting of one male, (dog) one female (vixen) and a number of cubs. The home of a fox is called a den.

Answer: Hedgehog

Hedgehogs are small mammals that are covered in spines. In Great Britain they are found almost everywhere except some of the more remote Scottish islands. Before they were given the name hedgehog they were known as urchins and the first recorded use of the word hedgehog dates from the fifteenth century.

The "hedge" part of their name comes from where they like to build their nests, in hedges, bushes and shrubs, and the "hog" part comes from the piglike snout and the snorting sounds they make, which are similar to a pig.

They are solitary creatures and mostly nocturnal coming out at night to forage for their staple diet of worms, insects and berries. Gardeners encourage hedgehogs to come to their gardens as they kill the pests that can destroy fruit and vegetables.

Answer: Squirrel

There are two species of squirrel found in the UK - the Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) and the grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). The red squirrel is the native species and has lived in the UK for around 10,000 years while the grey squirrel was introduced into Britain from North America in the 1800s by the Victorians. Red squirrel numbers have massively declined since the introduction of the grey squirrel and they are now considered endangered.

They are limited to a few sites around the UK.

They are most populous in Scotland with small pockets found in other areas such as Anglesey in Wales and Formby in Merseyside, England. Squirrels are omnivorous and their diet changes with the seasons. To get through the harsh winter months they hoard their food underground.

They return to retrieve their cache throughout the winter.

Answer: Roe deer

Of the UK wild deer species only two are actually native, which are the red deer and the roe deer. Fallow deer were probably introduced by the Normans while the muntjac, Chinese water deer and sika were introduced in the late 19th/early 20th century from Asia. Roe deer can be seen all across England, Scotland and some parts of Wales. During the mating season (usually late Summer and into Autumn) male deer take part in "rutting" which involves them fighting for the prize of mating with a female. This can result in serious injury if neither male backs down. One trait common in all the breeds in UK is they leave their young alone in long grass for long periods of time while the mother goes to feed. Deer are herbivorous and like to eat plants such as grass, leaves, shoots of trees, berries, fruit and sometimes tree bark.

Answer: Otter

The European otter (Lutra lutra) is a member of the mustelid family of mammals which also includes the badger, mink, polecat, marten and stoat. They are adapted to life both on land and in water. They have webbed feet to aid swimming and can close their ears and nose for underwater swimming. They live in holes in the riverbank called holts. They primarily eat fish but also eat amphibians, waterbirds and crustaceans, including the American crayfish which is an invasive species.

The otter was threatened with extinction 50 years ago due to agricultural chemicals leaching into lakes and rivers and polluting the food chain. These chemicals were banned in the early 1990s allowing the water quality to improve and the otter population began to increase. Otters mark their territory with their droppings which are known as spraints. Spraints have a sweet, musky smell and are the primary way that the otter population has been monitored. Otters have a conservation status of "near threatened" and in June 2022 it was estimated there are 10,300 in the UK.

Answer: Kashmiri goats

The Great Orme (Y Gogarth in the Welsh language) is a limestone headland in North Wales to the north-west of the pretty seaside town of Llandudno. It is home to a herd of approximately 200 wild Kashmiri goats which are thought to be descended from a pair of goats given to Queen Victoria by the Shah of Persia in 1837. Queen Victoria later gifted them to Lord Mostyn of Llandudno. During lockdown in March 2020 the lack of people in the town drew them down to the town where they wandered round eating garden bushes and foliage and holding up traffic.

Although they had been known to venture into town before, this was the first time they moved in so far. The local town councillor was quoted as saying that the local residents had enjoyed the free entertainment of watching the goats from their windows during lockdown.