Marsupial Madness Trivia Quiz

Answer: Long-tailed planigale

The long-tailed planigale (Planigale ingrami) is a tiny mammal with grey fur, long tail, slightly pointed nose, flattened head and small black eyes. They can weigh up to five grams each. Native to the savannah woodland and grassland areas of northern Australia, these tiny creatures search cracks in dry soil for tasty insects and lizards, burrowing with their sharp little claws as they scent out their prey.

The female can have as many as 12 young in one litter, with each tiny baby developing in her backwards-facing pouch.

Answer: False

The Australian possum and American opossum are both marsupial and have omnivorous diets, but that is where the similarity ends. The Australian possum (Diprotodontia) is a tree loving mammal with thick gold to silvery-grey fur, long tail, short, prominent ears and large eyes.

The American opossum (Didelphimorphia) are slightly smaller and semi-arboreal, enjoying tree life but not afraid to scavenge from dustbins and open kitchen doors as they search for food. The most common is the Virginian opossum (Didelphis virginiana), with its distinctive white face and many sharp teeth on display when they "play possum" (as shown in the image).

Answer: Numbat

The numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) is a small mammal which is native to Australia and can be identified by its pointed nose, medium-sized body and bushy tail. It has distinctive white stripes on its grey to reddish-brown fur. The long snout enables it to dig around for ants and termites which is the main component to its diet. The female does not have a covered pouch like most marsupials. Instead her young, born bald and helpless, cling to skin where her four teats are situated, protected in a nest of golden fur.

The majority of marsupials have enclosed pouches. Marsupials which jump, such as the kangaroo, have front facing pouches for the joey to hop in and out when it is old enough. Marsupials which dig, such as the wombat and bandicoot, have rear facing pouches to stop dirt from gathering inside.

Answer: Carnivore - including birds, snakes, fish and insects

As its name suggests, the Tasmanian devil is native to the island of Tasmania. The name "devil" is quite apt as these seething lunatics can fly into a rage if angered, threatened or simply defending their food. They are the size of a small dog, but with thick neck, strong jaws and ferocious teeth that can attach itself to their prey. Nothing is left behind as meat, fur, bones and gristle all get consumed.

Their breeding habits are also ferocious, with the insatiable female mating several times during the breeding season, but always preferring a dominant male.

They give birth to around 30-40 young, with many not surviving as they all jostle for only four nipples within the pouch.

Answer: Quokka

Willem de Vlamingh was a Dutch sea captain who first saw the quokka with its irresistible smile in December 1696 and described it as "a kind of rat as big as a cat." First seen on Rottnest Island, Western Australia, these medium-sized marsupials are stocky with a short tail and grey, coarse fur.

Their diet consists of plants and leaves. They may appear to be happy animals but are not all innocent looking as they have sharp claws and teeth. The human has become a threat to the quokka, with many tourists feeding them tidbits (human food can be poisonous to these animals) just to obtain a selfie to put on social media.

Answer: Potoroo

The potoroo is a marsupial about the same size as a rabbit, with three species still living in the wild; Gilbert's potoroo, long-footed potoroo, and the long-nosed potoroo (image shown). Gilbert's potoroo is Australia's rarest mammal with an estimated 100 still left living in the wild. Potoroo belong to a family called Potoroidae, or rat-kangaroos, and similar to their grown-up cousins, they use their strong hind legs to hop along.

They live in a wet habitat and forage the damp forest floor for fungus and especially truffles which make up a large chunk of their diet.

Answer: Bandicoot

The small to medium-sized bandicoot (Perameles) has brown-grey fur, short but strong rear legs for scurrying around, thin tail and a long snout for sniffing out insects. They are nocturnal creatures, coming out at night to search for food, preferring to live in or near dense bush which provides cover from predators.

They have one of the shortest gestation periods of all animals, with their young being born just under two weeks after conception, then spending around 8-10 weeks in their mother's pouch until venturing out on their own.

The average litter size is four. These marsupials, which call Australia and New Guinea their home, are either endangered or critically endangered, depending on the species.

Answer: Woylie

The brush-tailed bettong (Bettongia ogilbyi) is commonly called a woylie. These small marsupials used to live in abundance throughout south-east Australia but their numbers have dwindled and their status is now critically endangered. The main predator of the woylie are red foxes and feral cats. Several breeding programmes are in place by conservation groups to increase their numbers, as they have declined up to 90% in the last decade. Woylie are herbivores, their main habitat is open forests and grassland where they can scavenge for fungi and seeds.

Their brush-tail is strong enough to grip, and they use this for gathering nesting material.

Answer: Bilby

The bilby (Macrotis) is a cute looking marsupial, with small body, white tipped long tail, long rear legs for hopping, pointed snout and large sensitive ears. They grow to the size of a domestic cat and weigh approximately two kilos. They live in the dry, arid desert regions of Australia, digging long burrows underground, replacing their homes with newly located burrows once a fortnight.

They come out at night, searching for termites, spiders, grubs, bulbs and tubers. Only one or two babies are born at once, and they stay latched to their mother's teats in her rear-facing pouch for around two months.

They then stay in the burrow for a further two weeks until starting to venture out on their own. The Easter bilby has become popular in modern culture, with some chocolatiers donating their profits to bilby conservation.

Answer: Tiger quoll

The tiger quoll (Dasyurus maculatus), or spotted-tail quoll, is a nocturnal marsupial native to Australia with its main habitat in the south-east of the country and Tasmania. Their fur comes in various shades of red-brown, with creamy-grey underbelly and white spots covering their back, sides and tail.

They are the largest of the quoll specie, with adult males weighing up to 3.5 kg. They are semi-arboreal, spending time in the trees hunting for food as their preferred diet consists of small birds, reptiles and snakes.

They also scavenge carrion including dead kangaroo, pigs and cattle. They give birth to joeys that are no bigger than a grain of rice, their tiny bodies staying in the protective pouch for around two months as they grow and nourish.