Great Australian Fauna Trivia Quiz

Answer: Platypus

Platypus' are found in flowing streams, rivers and some lakes in eastern Australia. The unique fur of the platypus allows it to live in very cold mountain streams to warm tropical rainforests. It lives in a tunnel in the bank, for nesting, which can reach up to 20 metres in length.

Although most of their time is spent in he water, they can walk on land. However, when it walks on land it folds back the webs of the front feet and walks on its knuckles. A Platypus feeds on insect larvae, water snails and small crustaceans. Because its eyes, ears and nostrils are closed when underwater, it will locate its prey by using its bill.

The platypus is depicted on the 20 cent coin.

Answer: Echidna

Echidnas are found in grassy and woodland areas with soft soil. They can live in habitats ranging from snow to deserts. If the weather is wet or cold, the echidna will go into a state of torpor and can go without food in that time for 10 to 12 days. When an echidna is scared, it will roll into a ball and reveal only spines. Using its hind legs, it can tip over stones that weigh twice as much as it does.

The echidna is depicted on the 5 cent coin.

Answer: Cassowary

The cassowary is found in tropical rainforests along the northeastern coast of Queensland. Their diet consists of fallen fruit, seeds, berries, insects and small vertebrates. They can run at very high speeds and can swim across rivers and small lakes. The male cassowary incubates the eggs and cares for the chicks when they hatch.

Answer: Dingo

The dingo is found all over Australia except Tasmania. The dingo was brought to Australia as a domestic dog by the Aborigines and they used them like a hot water bottle to keep themselves warm at night. The dingo does not live in packs, as they like to hunt alone, in pairs or small family groups.

The dingo is a tireless hunter and will cross large expanses of desert and open bush in search of prey. Their diet includes rabbits, small marsupials, kangaroos, some domestic stock, reptiles and birds. In some rare cases the dingo is black.

Answer: Galah

The galah is found all over Australia but is rare in Tasmania. Galahs nest in the hollow of a large tree where they strip off the bark around the nesting area, leaving the wood so smooth that reptiles are unable to climb up to reach the eggs. Their diet consists of seeds, grains, nuts, berries, bulbs, roots, leaf buds, blossoms and wheat shoots.

The galah is considered a pest by farmers, as they eat the crops. The galah is also known as the rosy-headed cockatoo.

Answer: Frilled-Neck Lizard

The frilled-neck lizard is found in northern Australia. They are tree dwellers, but on the ground they are fast-moving as they run upright on their hind legs. Their diet consists of insects, spiders and small mammals. As a defence, it will raise its frill and the tail will become erect, making the lizard appear larger and more intimidating.

It will also stand upright on its hind legs, hiss and open its yellow mouth really wide. The frilled-neck lizard is the reptile emblem of Australia and was depicted on the 2 cent coin.

Answer: Koala

Koalas are found on the eastern coasts of Australia and they live in gum trees. The koala likes to move around just after sunset, as day times are usually spent sleeping in the fork of a tree. The name koala comes from the Aboriginal saying that means 'no drink', as the koala obtains enough moisture from the eucalyptus leaves that it eats.

When koalas reproduce, the joey is born five weeks after conception and is blind, hairless and less then an inch long. At the ago of one, it feeds on a specialised form of droppings produced by the mother.

This helps the joey make the transition from the milk to the leaves and to allow the mother to pass on specific microorganisms used to break down the poison from the eucalyptus leaves. Koalas are an endangered species and there are less than 100 000 left. Approximately 4000 are being killed each year due to cars and dogs. Koalas are now protected by law.

Answer: Sydney Funnel-Web

The Sydney funnel-web spider is found in New South Wales, on the Great Dividing Range and southeast Victoria. They are found in places with high humidity and low temperatures such as gardens where they build flat funnel-shaped burrows made of silk. The SFWS diet consists of beetles, insect larvae, snails, millipedes and occasionally skinks and frogs.

As it hunts for prey at night, it waits at the entrance of the burrow for the prey and it will grab a passing beetle or cockroach. It will then crunch its prey to death with its huge jaws and will inject a paralysing venom, which regularly killed people before a vaccine was developed.

The Sydney funnel-web spider is one of the most venomous spiders in the world. The fangs of the spider are powerful enough to penetrate a fingernail.

Answer: The Tasmanian Devil

The Tasmanian devil is only found in Tasmania and dwells in forests and coastal scrub. The Tasmanian devil is a placid shy animal and likes to live alone, but will turn aggressive when food is involved. Tasmanian devils are scavengers and like to eat dead animals, but they will kill their own prey when necessary. Because they have a very powerful jaw, they can eat bone, allowing them to eat every little bit of the animal, leaving nothing to pollute the environment.

They have been known to even eat rubber boots and gloves, cotton socks and plastic.

When Tasmanian devils try to fight off other animals, they scream very loudly. Their screaming and fierce looks gave them their 'devil' name.

Answer: Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo

The cockatoo is found in eastern Australia and Tasmania, living in all types of forests and woodlands. Their diet consists of seeds, roots, bulbs, nuts, insects and their larvae. When a flock is feeding, a couple of members of the flock keep lookout for any danger and will make a loud screech to warn the others.

The yellow crest is a signal of its state of mind. The crest is raised to show fear, aggression and sexual arousal. The oldest captive cockatoo, named Cocky, lived to the age of 82.

Answer: Goanna

The goanna is found throughout the mainland of Australia except in the colder southern regions. It is most commonly found in sandy areas, but is found in most habitats. In the desert, it digs beneath the sand to shelter, but in the forests, it makes a home in a hollow log or under a mound of leaf litter.

A goanna's diet consists of invertebrates, lizards, snakes, eggs and carrion. When males fight, often to mate with a female, they stand erect on their tails and grasp each other with their powerful forelimbs.

The battle involves biting, scratching and hissing and continues until one manages to unbalance the other. In Western Australia, it is known as the racehorse because of the high speed it can run.

Answer: Brumby

The brumby is found throughout the outback areas of Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and the Snowy Mountains. Brumbies are not native to Australia, as they came with the first fleet, where many either escaped or were turned loose following mechanisation on farms. Only the toughest survived the harsh conditions of the bush. Brumby populations can increase up to 25 per cent in a single year if conditions are favourable.

Answer: Red Kangaroo

The red kangaroo is found in the desert and semi-desert regions of Australia. To cope with the high temperatures, it pants and licks its forearms. A group of red kangaroos usually consists of a dominant male, a number of females and many young. Their diet consists of grass and leaves.

The red kangaroo can reach speeds of up to 65kph, can jump over high fences and can reach more than 12 metres in a single leap. The kangaroo is depicted on the one dollar coin and also on the 50 cent coin as part of the Australian Coat-of-Arms.

Answer: Sugar Glider

The sugar glider is found in Tasmania and the north and east forests of Australia. The sugar glider's nest is foul-smelling because it urinates on the leaves to keep it damp. The sugar glider's name came from early bushman who found they liked sweet things and their ability to glide between trees.

Its diet consists of gum, sap, nectar, pollen and insects and their larvae. The sugar glider can glide up to 50 metres between trees and they use their tails like a rudder to change direction.

Answer: Thorny Devil

The thorny devil is found in central Australia in the sand and spinifex desert regions, where it can withstand temperatures of up to 50 degrees celsius. In a single meal, the thorny devil can eat between 600 and 3000 ants. It eats them one at a time with its sticky tongue, at a rate of up to 45 a minute.

When it lies in damp sand, water soaks into the skin, which travels to the mouth via small capillaries.

Answer: Kookaburra

Kookaburras are found throughout Australia, but are common along the eastern side. Its diet consists of insects, invertebrates and small animals such as rodents, snakes and birds. Kookaburras defend their territory with a loud laughter-like sound by family members.

Answer: Salt Water Crocodile

Saltwater crocodiles are found in northern Australia and in areas of the Indian and Pacific Oceans as far afield as India and Japan. They like to live in tidal and freshwater rivers, swamps and around the coasts. Its diet consists of turtles, fish, birds, reptiles, carrion and mammals.

A saltwater croc will even eat a human, if given the chance. Unfortunately, 90 per cent of the hatchlings can be lost each year on their journey from the nest to the ocean.

Answer: Numbat

The numbat is found only in eucalypt forests of southwest Western Australia. Its diet consists of termites, ants, grubs and earthworms. Although the numbat is a marsupial, it has no pouch. It may eat up to 20,000 termites in a day. A numbat has 52 teeth, among the greatest number in any land mammal, but it rarely chews its food.

Answer: Wombat

Wombats are found on the border of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and all over South Australia and Tasmania. It lives in burrows in the coastal hills and wooded areas. A wombat can dig burrows as fast as a human can dig a hole with a spade. If a wombat is pursued by a predator, it will run to its burrow and present its rump to the intruder.

The thick skin and absence of the tail means there is no way of inflicting injury. It will further deter its attacker by kicking its legs. There are only 3 species of wombat left.-the northern and southern hariy-nosed wombat and the common wombat.

The northern hairy-nosed wombat is the most endangered animal in Australia and only exists in a zoo.

Answer: The Tasmanian Tiger

Also known as the thylacine, the Tasmanian tigers were widespread throughout Australia until 3000 years ago when they were only found in Tasmania. Their diet consisted of kangaroos, wallabies, ground birds and sheep. Both the female and male had a pouch, but the male's was for protection of the genitals.

It was the largest modern carnivorous marsupial and became extinct in 1936. Some people believe dingos were responsible for their demise on the mainland. The last known specimen died in a Hobart zoo.

Answer: Emu

The emu is found throughout Australia in areas of rainforest and cleared land. An emu's nest is shallow and about 1 metre across. It is built by the male and lined with grass and twigs. Their diet consists of seeds, fruit, insects, small rodents and lizards.

There has even been a report of an emu drinking the contents of a can of paint, then swallowing the tin. The female lays 9 to 11 large, olive green eggs and early settlers made omelettes from them. One egg would feed several people, but it contained so much oil that it had to be broken into a basin and left overnight so the oil could be skimmed off before cooking.

The emu is depicted on the 50 cent coin as part of the Australian Coat-of-Arms.

Answer: Ringtail Possum

The ringtail possum is found on the east coast regions of Australia and Tasmania. They are found in rainforest, heathland and tea tree scrub. Their diet consists of eucalyptus leaves, flowers, buds, fruit and sap. They spend their entire lives in the trees, where their tails act like a fifth limb. The possum was depicted on the 1 cent coin.

Answer: Bilby

The bilby is found in the desert and is very rare. The bilby lives in a burrow to help keep it cool. The bilby has an excellent sense of smell and hearing. When it sleeps it does not lie down, but squats on its hind legs tucking its muzzle between its forelegs.

The long ears are then folded forward over its eyes. Its diet consists mainly of insects, mice, lizards and some plant matter. The bilby is known as the Australian Easter bunny, which helps with the advertisement of it being an endangered species.

Answer: True

Answer: Monotremes