Freaks of Nature Trivia Quiz

Answer: Between 2 and three and a half inches

The paradoxical frog has a markedly unusual life cycle indeed! This may be the only creature where the 'babies' are up to four times as big as the parent. Because of this, it is sometimes known as the 'shrinking frog'. In an interesting development, the skin of the South American frog may be used in a synthesised form to treat Type II diabetes.

Answer: Spider

The water spider (or diving bell spider) traps air under the stomach and between the legs, so it has its own personal aqualung. As if that wasn't amazing enough, the water spider builds a web like an inverted cup anchored to water weeds. It then fills this with its air bubbles to construct a true diving bell, in which the female eats prey, mates and raises the babies. Males also build underwater bells, but smaller ones, although they are larger than the females (unlike most spiders).

In the breeding season the male builds a bell next to the female, builds a passage and then joins the two bells together until the babies, each carrying their own aqualung, leave home.

The species name is Argyroneta aquatica - Argyroneta means 'silvery net'.

Answer: Cyanide

Golden bamboo lemur eat approximately a pound (half a kilogram) of bamboo shoots a day - containing enough cyanide (hydrocyanic acid (HCN)) to kill twelve men. It is unknown how they can do this, but sadly this fascinating creature is down to approximately 100 animals, habitat loss rather than deadly poison being the cause.

Answer: Fish

Although fish obviously do not have hands, lateralisation in fish means that some show a decided preference for using either their right or left eyes when observing predators or pursuing prey, and this is referred to as right- or left-"handedness". The four-eyed fish does not really have four eyes, although it does have markedly unusual eyes, in that they are situated on the top of their heads and have two pupils, divided by a band of tissue.

The fish lies on the surface of the water, so that the lower 'eyes' are looking down and the upper two can see the surface.

The lenses are also different to counteract the water's refraction. This means that the fish can simultaneously make sense out of four different fields of vision. Those of you who have tried to get used to bi- or varifocal glasses will undoubtedly admire this!

Answer: Bird

The satin bower bird builds a magnificent palace for the female, and the lucky female gets to choose her favourite. They also decorate their bowers with bright coloured objects (they are apparently particularly fond of the colour blue and will use objects like ballpoint pens and bottle tops). Considering they only have a beak with which to work, some birds are amazing architects.

As well as bower birds, there is the tailor-bird which sews its nest together and the various weaver birds that can build massive nests like tower blocks, with many couples living in them.

Answer: From 'pockets' on their mothers' backs

When the female lays her eggs, the skin on her back is soft and spongy and the male presses them into her back. The top half of the egg hardens, and in these little 'pockets' the larvae grow into tadpoles, which grow and turn into tiny little toads. When the babies are ready to hatch, the edge of the egg where it meets the skin softens and the toads push the lids back like trapdoors and emerge into the world.

There is footage on the web of this happening, and also a fascinating account in Gerald Durrell's book "The New Noah".

Answer: Hoatzin

Baby hoatzins have claws on their wings that let them scramble around and up trees before they can fly. In this respect, hoatzins resemble birds' ancestor Archaeopteryx. In the adults, these claws disappear. Although the babies are good swimmers, the adults are not particularly efficient fliers, and little is known of the evolution of these fascinating birds, which are the only members of the family Opisthocomidae.

Answer: Lungfish

Instead of gas bladders, lungfish have one or two lungs that enable them to breathe air - lungfish can drown if not allowed to breathe air! While aestivating, they can reduce their bodily functions down to 1/60th of normal, enabling them to survive in conditions that would ordinarily kill them.

Answer: Star-nosed mole

The star-nosed mole has extremely poor sight and relies on 22 tentacles on its nose to locate its tiny prey. It is believed that they may be able to detect electrical impulses too. It smells underwater by blowing bubbles onto things and inhaling them again. A star-nosed mole named Speckles (voiced by Nicolas Cage) was one of the stars of the 3D animated 2009 film "G-Force".

Answer: Lemur

Only some species of lemur and the hyena have consistently matriachal societies (I'll leave you all to argue about homo sapiens!) Lemurs range from the tiny mouse lemurs to the large indri, whose eerie, whale-like cries may have given the lemur its name (derived from the Latin word lemures, which means 'ghosts' or 'spirits'). Sadly, these unique animals are threatened by habitat loss and the social problems of Madagascar. We know so little about their markedly unusual lives that it would be a tragedy to lose them. I hope that you have enjoyed this quiz, and apologies to those of you who were looking for 'freaks' like three-headed calves.