Born Hungry Trivia Quiz

Answer: Honey

Brown bears love beehives, not only for the sweet delicious honey, but they eat the bees and bee larvae too, a great source of protein. The bear suffers a stinging attack on face and ears, but fur protects its body. An experienced bear will raid the hive, grab a comb and wisely run away. Brown and black bears love honey so much they've been known to brave an electric fence to get to a hive.

Answer: Milkweed

The beautiful orange-and-black monarch butterfly (the "milkweed" butterfly, Danaus plexippus) eats only the plant milkweed while in its larvae stage. A female monarch lays each of 300-500 eggs on the leaves of a milkweed plant, attaching them with a sticky secretion.

This takes her two-five weeks. When the eggs hatch into larvae (caterpillars), they gorge on the milkweed for about two weeks, then spin a "chrysalis", a casing around themselves, in which they go through metamorphosis, emerging as a butterfly with gorgeous, uniquely strong wings.

The adult eats nectar, pollen and honey. In an increasingly difficult and futile endeavor, many migrate, some up to 3,000 miles. The monarch is rapidly declining, primarily because milkweed has all but disappeared. If you create a "butterfly garden" at home, consider adding milkweed, or allow milkweed to grow around your agricultural crops and in roadside ditches.

Answer: Hay

Horses would answer "sugar cubes" but hay is their most common and healthy food. It's convenient, available year-round, good for digestion and keeps a horse occupied and happy in its stall, and during travel. Since few horse owners have a year-round pristine grazing pasture, hay is a great substitute, made of dried grass and plants formed into a bale, with many variations.

While horses do love apples, too much fruit causes health problems. Toxic weeds and plants like rhubarb and lily of the valley, fresh grass clippings or pesticides also cause digestion havoc. Akin to a former US President, some horses don't feel well after eating cabbage family foods like broccoli.

Answer: Fire ants

Armadillos ("little-armored one") need warmth, so they range from the Southern USA through Mexico into Central and South America, though since 2000 they expand northward. From five inches to five feet tall, depending on the species, this mammal is covered with overlapping plates, a cousin to the sloth and the anteater. Armadillos love fire ants, beetles and termites which they dig up with their powerful claws, then grab with a long, sticky tongue.

They can eat thousands of insects each day, feasting on their eggs as well.

They also eat lizards, frogs, snakes, plants, fruit and occasionally carrion. Many people complain about their digging, but, in the land of stinging fire ants and destructive termites, who you gonna call? Bugbusters.

Answer: Bamboo

Giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) are a handsome black and white type of bear, trapped in an evolutionary dilemma. As a bear they evolved with a carnivore's digestive system. But scientists believe that about 7 million years ago the panda's prey was killed off, forcing a transition to bamboo to survive. By 2 million years ago their diet was 99% bamboo, with wild tubers and such to supplement.

By then they had a shortened small intestine and a simple stomach, for digesting plants--yet they can't break down wood fiber. Today they must forage up to ten hours each day, gaining little nutrition from the bamboo they eat.

Many of them don't survive a winter, never mind habitat loss and poachers.

Answer: Rodents

Black rat snakes are a beneficial non-venomous snake found in the mid-to-eastern half of the USA. They like rocky high-altitudes, but adapt to many environments. The adult is glossy black with a white chin and being three to eight feet long, it's startling to encounter. To discourage attack it vibrates its tail, pretends to be a kinked stick, or emits a smelly musk.

These snakes are timid, except in Texas where apparently they can be a bit crabby. Many people welcome this helper, whose favorite food is rodents, and it eats tons of them.

The black rat also eats smaller and sometimes venomous snakes, moles and even weasels. The black racer is a Black snake, common to the southern USA, also non-venomous. Both are often victim to cars, and humans who mistake them for dangerous species.

Answer: Nuts

Flying squirrels don't actually fly, but glide among the trees using a "patagium", a membrane from ankle to wrist, with a long, flat tail adding stability. They can glide from a running start, or when stationary, even making a 90 degree turn. Nocturnal, they constantly forage for a wide variety of forest and woodland foods. They love fresh mushrooms, apples, asparagus, berries, seeds, moss roses, and clover. But a favorite is nutrition-rich nuts. Pecans, acorns, pine nuts, black walnuts or chestnuts, to name a few. They also eat small insects, like grasshoppers, moths and grubs, and parts of trees, including flowers, buds and lichens. Flying squirrels are hunted by owls, cats, coyotes and raccoons and humans. They go off and back on the Endangered List. Some are kept as pets, which is legal in some places and illegal in others. The flying squirrel is distinct from the sugar glider, a marsupial, with a completely different diet.

If you enjoy feeding your ordinary yard squirrels, in-shell, salt-free peanuts are quite good for them. Be sure they are salt free.

Answer: Crickets

Tarantulas cannot eat solid prey so they first crush and bite with sharp fangs (called chelicerae), then inject the victim with a paralyzing venom. When the prey is subdued the tarantula secretes digestive enzymes that liquefy the unfortunate. The tarantula has a "sucking stomach" which it contracts, inflating the stomach, so the suction drains the liquid prey into the tarantula. Slurp! Dinner often includes the plentiful cricket, but also beetles, spiders, caterpillars and if the tarantula is big enough, toads, fish, bats, snakes and lizards.

The Goliath birdeater lives in South America and, no surprise, eats small birds.

Answer: Brine shrimp

There are six species of flamingo (from the Latin flamma, which means flame), a large, long-legged wading bird found across the world in both fresh and salt water. They eat worms, seeds, and fish, but it's eating tasty crustaceans like brine shrimp, and also algae, that give the birds a pale to bright pink hue. Flamingos have little bristles on the beak and tongue to help filter food from the water.

A funny habit is searching for food with its head upside down, so it can skim the water sideways with its beak.

Answer: Tree leaves

The tallest land animal on the planet, a giraffe needs to chew almost non-stop to get enough nutrients from its daily average 75 pounds of leaves, seeds and buds. Happily there is little competition for its food, because few others graze at a height of some nineteen feet (5.79m). Acacia and mimosa tree leaves are a favorite. In captivity giraffes get fruit, hay and vegetables along with their heaps of leaves. I'm told, in all seriousness, they enjoy posing for photographs.