Love, Hopelessly Trivia Quiz

Answer: Darwin

Your first encounter of the night was Darwin's beetle. He possesses some of the largest pincers/jaws in the insect kingdom and is a real creep-crawly.

These beetles are found in Chile and Argentina and were named after Charles Darwin, who discovered and collected them on his second voyage on the HMS Beagle.

The "violence" and the "hard work" mentioned in the question actually go hand in hand, as Darwin's beetle competes with many males in order to mate with a female. The competitions involve grabbing each other with their enormous jaws and trying to throw each other off of whatever platform they're on. As females are usually found high up in trees, the fall of the losing male is often a long one!

When the strongest male eventually reaches the prize female he will mate with her. After this he will sometimes even throw her from the tree as a force of habit.

Answer: Bubble blowing

Being the largest reptile on Earth, you were probably right to be a bit intimidated when the saltwater crocodile was brought in.

When trying to find a mate, saltwater crocs have been described as uncharacteristically gentle - blowing bubbles, stroking the female, and being careful not to hurt her as he mounts her. The gentleness, however, stops here as adult males are one of the most common predators of young crocodiles.

It is lucky for the female salties that the males do take such care whilst mating, as this species shows great sexual dimorphism - the males being almost three times larger than the females.

Answer: The blue-footed booby

The 1.5 kg bird is found mainly on the Pacific coast of Central America, including on the Galapagos Islands.

Perhaps part of the appeal of the blue-footed booby during the meeting was his clumsy habits whilst trying to get your attention. This is because, whilst the blue feet are stunningly coloured, they are large and cause the booby to appear quite unstable whilst walking.

Indeed the sky-blue feet of the booby are a key feature in its courtship ritual. Coupled with an impressive dance, where the bird spreads its wings and jumps up and down, the blue-footed booby makes himself very attractive to the females of the species. Unfortunately, you're not a blue-footed booby.

Answer: South-East Asia, Southern Africa and North America

The stalk-eyed flies compete for females by gulping bubbles of air which they force into their head and then into the stalks on which their eyes are attached. Once "pumped-up", the stalk-eyed fly straightens out its stalks before presenting itself to the female.

The stalk-eyed fly is largely translucent, meaning you can actually see the bubbles of air pass into its head as well as seeing the effects. When the air has been gulped, the fly's head looks rather like that of a bull's.

Answer: A cuttlefish

The reason for this small male pretending to be female is that it convinces rival males that he is not a threat and so is able to get close to the female without exciting violence.

Cuttlefish are able to perform incredible colour displays using muscular rings which open and close, exposing and hiding pigment filled sacs.

Cuttlefish are similar in appearance to squid and have extremely large brains relative to their body size. This large brain is what allows the cuttlefish to perform such complex visual displays.

Cuttlefish usually live alone and only come together when mating (so, I guess the cuttlefish at this speed dating event was expecting more than just a chat and a coffee).

Answer: The Galapagos tortoise

The Galapagos tortoise is the world's largest tortoise - between 600 and 700 pounds.

Such bulk means that mating is not a generally pleasant experience for the female, not least because it can last for several hours.

Before mating rights are established, rival males will rise up on their hind legs and compare size. If this cannot distinguish which tortoise is the tallest, the two males will fight, biting each others heads. Once the winner is chosen, he will approach the female, barge into her and begin to bite her limbs until she retreats into her shell, allowing for mating to take place.

Answer: The anglerfish

After noticing that all specimens of anglerfish which had been collected were female, scientists were puzzled as to how the males fit in the scheme of things. The answer came from what the scientists believed to be a parasite, which was found on almost all of the females.

Male angler fish are much smaller than the females. They are actually so small that the chances of them surviving independently are very low. Therefore, shortly after birth, male anglerfish attach themselves to the larger female, releasing digestive enzymes which allow the two to fuse. The male then gradually wastes away, leaving only his gonads. This means that the female anglerfish can choose when she wants to spawn, having a ready supply of sperm and so having no need to look for a mate.

Answer: Pretending to be a female

From the thawing ice of Canada following winter, male red-garter snakes emerge first, before the females. They are very slow moving due to the freezing temperatures.

It is essential for these males to warm themselves up, as the warmest can move the quickest and so are the first to mate with the females which will emerge later.

It has been observed that some male red-garter snakes have developed the technique of pretending to be female. This is done by releasing a female-like scent. The advantage of this behaviour is that many other males will crowd round the fake, warming him more quickly.

Answer: A giraffe

The record the giraffe holds is the "world's tallest land animal".

Giraffes are noted for their violent fights which establish mating rights. The two males will knock their necks with tremendous force. This has been known to end fatally. There are no spectacular displays before mating - the male will simply follow the female until she gives in.

The male giraffe will then lower his neck and encourage the female to urinate. When the female does, the male will drink some of it to see if she is suitable for mating.

Giraffe calves are born six foot tall!

Answer: Snow leopard

There are some clues early in this quiz as to your general appearance - "hold out your paw" (Q1), "soft and furry, or at least lives on land!" (Q2), "he walks on two legs, you walk on four, not to mention that you are about 30 times heavier than him (the blue-footed booby)" (Q3).

There were also some references as to where you live - "home back in the Himalayan mountains" (Q4), "both of you come from snowy areas of the world" (Q8).

There were also some more specific clues as to your identity:

- "relatively small member of your own "family"" (Q5). Here, "family" literally refers to the Felidae family. And of the big cats, the snow leopard is one of the smallest.

- "You would yell out in pain, but you are incapable of making such a sound" (Q6). This refers to the fact that the snow leopard cannot roar. It is actually the *only* big cat which cannot roar.

- "you *drift* over to table seven, you *spot* your next partner" (Q7). This is an example of one of the less subtle hints. A drift is the collective noun for snow leopards and "*spot*" refers to the pattern on the snow leopards fur.

- "as you are very shy and secretive, as you have been since you were a cub" (Q9). This talks about the secretive qualities of the snow leopard and the fact that their young are called cubs.