If I Could Talk to the Animals Quiz

Answer: India

The beautiful peacock is native to India and is their state bird. Collectively they are known as peafowl, with the male being the peacock and the female the peahen. The males are brilliantly coloured with long tails that they display as part of their courtship ritual, while the females are brown and fairly drab.

They were probably introduced to Britain during Roman times, and were once considered a luxury food item. Then they became a popular creature for the wealthy to have on their country estates. No stately home lawn was complete without a few peacocks strutting around. Now they are seen at stately homes, wildlife parks and zoos, and there are some living in the wild. Brownsea Island in Dorset has a large nesting colony.

Answer: Andes

The llama is native to South America. In the Andes it has been used as a pack animal, and also farmed as a food animal, for hundreds of years. They are also valued for their wool, which is very soft and light. Llamas like the company of other llamas so prefer to live in herds. Those that have been trained to be halter led from an early age are generally easy to handle, and their natural curiosity means that they will readily approach people.

Answer: Barn owl

The barn owl gets its name from its liking for nesting in barns. Farmers are usually very happy to find they have a barn owl in residence as their favourite food is mice, a pest the farmer is happy to have kept under control. They do not nest exclusively in barns; holes in trees, or even purpose built nest boxes, are equally as acceptable to them.

They can be seen hovering over fields at dawn and dusk, and will, if they have a large brood, sometimes also be seen hunting in full daylight.

Answer: Suffolk

The Suffolk punch is chestnut coloured and sturdily built. It was developed for agricultural work, but when mechanisation came to the farms the breed started to die out. At one time it was so endangered there were only around 30 left in the UK. Thanks to the work of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, and a resurgence of interest in heavy horses generally for show and demonstration purposes, numbers have gradually increased.

There were 36 foals registered by the Suffolk Punch Society in 2007 and 33 in 2008.

The Suffolk Punch registry is the oldest known English breed society still in existence.

Answer: Red admiral

The red admiral is found in gardens and parks all over Britain. Most of the ones that are seen are not resident, they are immigrants who arrive here from Europe during May and June. In the main our winters are too cold for them to survive all year round, other than for some sheltered spots in southern counties.

The population will therefore fluctuate depending on how many make a successful crossing from the continent.

Answer: Small birds

Sparrowhawks like to eat small birds and are especially good at hunting these on the wing in woodlands. They are the bird of prey most likely to be seen in gardens, where our kindness in feeding the birds guarantee a good source of food for them. If you have a small area of woodland a quick search will reveal that they like to take their prey to a perching post to eat it.

This post can be easily identified by the amount of feathers on the ground around it. They are very successful and are see all over the United Kingdom.

As with most birds of prey, the female is larger than the male.

Answer: Galapagos Islands

Home to many creatures not found anywhere else in the world, the Galapagos Islands are a naturalist's paradise. The Galapagos tortoise was discovered by Charles Darwin, and one that died, age 176, in a zoo in Australia, was believed to have been his personal pet.

They are the largest of all tortoise species and also the longest lived. Ages of over 100 in the wild population are not uncommon. Their numbers had shown a sharp decline in the 1970s, but conservation work and a captive breeding and release programme has led to an increase in population.

It was believed to be around 19,000 by the early 2000s. They are however still classified as vulnerable.

Answer: Grey and white

Flamingos get their colour from the food that they eat, a type of crustacean that resembles a shrimp. They have one chick a year, and when born it is grey with touches of white. It takes around two years for the chick to develop the characteristic pink colouring of the adult bird.

In captivity their food has to be supplemented, otherwise, without access to their natural food, they soon lose their colour. In the wild they like to live in large flocks, with safety in numbers giving them protection from predators.

Answer: The crest

Cockatoos all have the distinctive crest and a curved bill. They are plainer than the parrot members of their family, being mainly white, grey or black with coloured patches on the cheeks or tail, or sometimes with a coloured crest. The crest can be raised or lowered when the bird wishes, and is often raised as a form of defence, it makes the bird look larger to any would be predator.

They are found all over the Australasia region, sometimes feeding in large flocks. They have become popular as pets, especially the small cockatiel.

Answer: Escaped from wildlife parks

There are several known groups of wallabies, mainly the red necked wallaby, living wild in the UK. They can be found in Cambridgeshire, Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Bedfordshire. Some of these groups have been established for around 60 years.

They all probably started with escapees from zoos or wildlife parks, and have found life in the wild in Britain very much to their liking. In this they have been joined by muntjac deer, which can be found all over Britain and also started life here as escapees.