Live or Die Trivia Quiz

Answer: They poke bones through the skin on their toes

The hairy frog, also called the horror or wolverine frog, is a native of Central Africa. Its main survival technique is to deliberately break the toe bones and project them through its skin, forming instant sharp "claws" made of bone rather than keratin. The claws appear to retract passively later, and allow the frog to go about its normal business when unmolested.

Perhaps Wolverine took lessons from the hairy frog!

Answer: Carpenter ant

Carpenter ants (Camponotus ssp.) live in wooded areas in many areas around the world. They can forage as a working group or alone.

When threatened by a vastly superior enemy, the worker ant will suck in its abdomen so quickly that the walls of its body will explode violently, projecting an array of toxins with great force. Presumably this is designed to hurt, or at least repel, a predator sufficiently to deter it from attacking the home nest.

Answer: It lies buried in sand or mud

Cantor's giant softshell turtle (Pelochelys cantorii) is native to Southern India and part of South East Asia, although during the twentieth century it has become extinct in much of its former range.

As its name implies, its carapace is not hardened as in most turtles and tortoises, but soft and olive coloured. Its small eyes are very close to the tip of its snout, enabling the turtle to lie underwater, completely buried in sand apart from its eyes and mouth. It will emerge twice daily to breathe.

It is estimated that it will spend 95% of its life in this position, only emerging to pounce on crustaceans or molluscs, to breathe occasionally and to breed annually.

Answer: They pull the stinger off scorpions, roll millipedes in sand

Meerkats are very fast hunters. They teach their young how to catch and immediately pluck the sting from a scorpion's tail, turning it into a harmless and tasty snack.

Millipedes are nutritious food for meerkats, but contain powerful toxins in their glands - some of these creatures can spray a strong hydrochloric acid. The toxins would make a predator very ill indeed if swallowed.

The meerkat's technique for dealing with this is to roll the millipede in sand first.

Answer: Pistol or snapping shrimp

The pistol or snapping shrimp (Alpheus digitalis) is a tiny shrimp with assymetrical claws; a joint allows the "hammer" part of the dominant claw to move into a right-angled position, and is released as on a powerful spring. This creates a powerful wave of bubbles, which can stun quite large fish, or smash a glass container.

I once saw a documentary showing one of these shrimps being placed in a small aquarium (presumably not plate-glass). With one snap of its claw it shattered a side of the container. Impressive!

Answer: It grows its brain for autumn and winter

During the autumn (fall) if you see the bird greedily collecting large amounts of seed, it is storing, rather than eating, most of it. The chickadee will gather seeds and store it in little caches, in cracks in tree bark or other tiny gaps in houses, etc., within its territory.

In order to remember where all this food is stored, the chickadee will grow its brain! Neurons are added to the hippocampus region (the memory area) at the start of its foraging season. This enables the bird to remember where it has hidden the food, and it retains this memory throughout the winter, so it can unerringly retrieve its supplies.

Once winter is over, the chickadees lose the extra neurons, and they become typical bird-brains again.

Answer: By supporting the egg on its feet for 10 weeks

Female Emperor penguins lay their eggs in winter, typically late May or June. When she has laid her single egg, the female returns to the sea to feed, and is absent for the incubation period.

During this time, typically 72 days, the male stands in his colony with the egg supported on his feet, keeping it off the ice and snow. He drapes a large fold of loose downy skin over the egg to insulate it from the cold. During this time, a male will lose about half his body weight. Just about the time that hatching occurs, the mother will return from the sea, bringing much needed food, and taking over the initial care of the young chick while the hungry father heads out to sea to feed.

Answer: By keeping hidden in grass and being very still and quiet

Cheetah cubs, usually a litter of three to five, rely on their mother's milk for the first 6-8 weeks of life. During this time their mother will leave them for sometimes two days at a time while she hunts. The cubs will be left, camouflaged in grass, where they remain silent and still if danger looms. They are vulnerable to attack by lions and hyenas.

Once weaned, they will accompany their mother until they are old enough to hunt on their own.

Incidentally, cheetahs are regarded as lesser cats, as they are incapable of roaring, because they lack a hyoid bone. They can purr, growl or make birdlike cheeping noises.

Answer: They live on their blubber

Blubber is the thick layer of adipose (fatty) tissue which covers most of the whale's body. It can be as much as twelve inches thick on some larger species of whale.

Its primary function is as stored energy, enabling the whale to take on long journeys, sometimes through waters that offer little nutrition. It provides insulation and also serves as a buoyancy jacket, enabling the whale to conserve energy that would otherwise be expended in staying afloat.

Answer: By pretending to be a female

A smaller cuttlefish, when faced by a larger, stronger rival for the female's attentions, will change its colour and take on a softer textured skin to give it the appearance of a female. The larger male will let its guard down, enabling the smaller male to reach the female without a fight.

They do say that brain beats brawn every time!