Meet the Real Angry Birds Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mute swan

In 2012, after three years of bad behaviour, Mr Asbo (named after the Antisocial Behaviour Order) and his mate were removed from the River Cam, to the protest of local conservationists, and deposited in a local sanctuary. As well as capsizing a scull, he also flew at motor boats. A previous attempt to move him had to be postponed when nesting season arrived, as it is illegal to move swans in the UK during nesting season.

Mr Asbo is not the only swan to have menaced humans; a 37-year-old man drowned in Chicago in 2012 after a swan attacked his kayak. With a wingspan that can reach up to 2.4m (7.9ft), the mute swan is one of the heaviest birds in Britain. When threatened, it hisses and flaps its wings.

Answer: No

The Eurasian magpie belongs to the Corvidae family, along with jays, jackdaws and crows, while the Australian magpie belongs to the Australasia-based Artamidae family, which also includes the black butcherbird and the currawong. A minority of males in urban areas have been known to attack humans, believing them to be a threat to their young. In 2010, a 12 year old boy from Ipswich, Queensland, was hit by a car after accidentally running into the road to avoid a swooping magpie.

As for the Eurasian magpie, one theory behind its habit of stealing objects - particularly shiny and/or metal objects - is because they wish to attract a mate, a behaviour also shown by the bowerbird. One Manchester magpie made the local papers in 2007 when it stole tools from the Victoria Garage in Rochdale!

Answer: Steller's sea eagle

Steller's sea eagle is one of the rarer types of eagle - and it's a big fella, with wings that can be as long as 8ft (roughly 2.5m). It mainly lives in the Kamchatka peninsula and the eastern coast of Asian Russia; in winter, hundreds of the eagles migrate to Hokkaido, some remaining there until May. One major threat to Steller's sea eagle is lead poisoning, from bullets in the carcasses of hunted animals, such as sika deer, on which the eagles feed. Overfishing and habitat loss are also factors in the decline of the population.

The eagle is named after its discoverer, the German biologist Georg Wilhelm Steller. Other birds named after him are Steller's jay and Steller's eider (a type of sea duck).

Answer: Rufous hummingbird

The rufous hummingbird, so-called because of the coppery plumage of the male (females are more greenish in colour), is a chippy little bird who is at its most aggressive during late spring and early summer. It will use threat displays in order to intimidate other hummingbirds and defend its territory, such as spreading the tail and wings, diving at the rival birds or chasing them away. If that doesn't work, it will attack with its bill and talons, or body-slam the enemy in midair. Occasionally, they can injure and even kill other hummingbirds.

Rufous hummingbirds can get very territorial around bird feeders, which is a problem if you want to attract birds to your garden! One tip to prevent rufous hummingbirds squabbling over feeders is to buy several feeders and spreading them around your garden. Just don't put the feeders too close to windows, as hummingbirds can die from crashing into windows.

Answer: Oceania

Australia, the land which gave us the inland taipan, the redback spider and the box jellyfish, is the home of the cassowary, along with New Guinea and surrounding islands. It belongs to the ratite group, along with emus, rheas and ostriches, and mainly lives on fruit, although it is not averse to eating the occasional insect or small mammal. Its fruity diet actually plays a major role in the spreading of seeds, as the seeds of the fruit it eats come out in its dung. The dung keeps the seeds moist, and prevents rats from eating them.

Although cassowaries are generally quite shy and will only attack if provoked or threatened, cassowaries who have been fed by humans are more likely to attack humans, having become emboldened by the prospect of food. In 1926, a 16 year old boy died when a cassowary kicked him in the neck in self-defence, after the boy and his younger brother tried to kill it. Other people have received nasty lacerations to their faces, chests and limbs after being kicked by a cassowary; another man was injured in 1991 after a cassowary jumped up and down on him. The birds have also injured and even killed dogs by kicking them. (Source: Kofron, Christopher P. 2003: 'Case Histories of Attacks by the Southern Cassowary in Queensland', Memories of the Queensland Museum 49(1): 339-342.)

Answer: Kicking, stamping and pecking them to death

The secretary bird's greatest weapon is its feet, which it uses to kick and stamp on snakes, stunning them and then breaking their necks (though a stab to the neck with its beak will also do the trick). Sometimes, it also uses its sharp curved talons to tear its prey apart. The scales on the bird's lower legs act as protection against snake bites. It can also use its feet to flush prey out of hiding by stamping on the ground.

As for how the secretary bird got its name - the black feathers on the head of the bird give it the appearance of an 18th century secretary with a quill pen tucked behind his ear. Another theory behind the bird's name is that it is a French corruption of an Arabic term, 'saqr-et-tair' (lit. 'hunter bird'), which sounds similar to the French 'secretaire'.

Answer: Kleptoparasitism

Urban seagull populations have plagued British coastal towns such as Brighton and Scarborough for decades. Thin rubbish bags and abandoned food give them ample opportunity for scavenging, not to mention food being eaten outside by humans. Building their nests in densely populated areas results in inter-species tensions, with seagulls seeing unwitting humans as potential threats to their chicks - hence the divebombing tactics. Various efforts to prevent the birds from nesting on roofs, such as spikes and netting, have been unsuccessful thanks to the gulls' tough feet protecting them. In 2013, Tollbar Academy in Grimsby, Yorkshire, employed a Harris hawk named Squeaker to scare away gulls who were stealing the pupils' food and defecating on the playground.

It might come as no surprise to learn that Daphne du Maurier's short story 'The Birds' was inspired by aggressive seagulls. Du Maurier wrote the story after watching seagulls following a farmer ploughing a field, at Menabilly Barton Farm in Cornwall. Although nothing on the level of the attack in 'The Birds' has happened in real life, an 80 year old man from Anglesey in Wales died of a heart attack in 2002 after being surprised by a flock of aggressive seagulls.

Answer: It attacks and kills lambs

The term 'Lammergeier', or 'lamb vulture', came from the mistaken belief that the bearded vulture preyed on lambs, and its numbers drastically decreased thanks to humans killing the birds (mainly by feeding them poisonous carcasses). They have been known to drive mountain-dwelling ungulates, such as ibex and chamois, to the edge of a cliff in order to force them off and eat their corpses, and they also kill tortoises by dropping them from a great height and shattering their shells. They do the same thing to bones in order to break them into smaller pieces and make them easier to eat; bone marrow makes up about 85-90% of its diet. The bird that was said to have killed the playwright Aeschylus by dropping a tortoise on him may well have been a bearded vulture.

The term 'cainism' comes from the Biblical story of Cain and Abel in Genesis, in which Adam and Eve gave birth to two sons. Cain, the older brother, murdered Abel in a fit of jealousy, and G-d cursed him to wander the earth.

Answer: True

It's true - geese can be used as guards. In 2013, the National Geographic reported that in rural areas of the Xinjiang province in China, police had started using geese as guards. Another prison in Brazil employed two guard geese to alert prison guards to potential breakouts, while the Ballantine's whisky warehouse in Dumbarton, Scotland, also used guard geese, known as the 'Scotch Watch'. A Roman legend tells of geese who thwarted a night-time attack by Gauls in 390BC, during the Gallic siege of Rome. When the sacred geese at the Temple of Juno heard the invaders, they honked and alerted the Roman Consul, Marcus Manlius Capitolinus, and the Gauls were defeated. The legend also claims that the local guard dogs were crucified for failing at their jobs.

So what makes geese an ideal alternative to dogs? Besides the fact that they're vocal, territorial and have excellent eyesight (due to an extra light sensor in their eyes) and hearing, they're also less likely to be bribed or distracted by potential burglars.

Answer: True

The hooded pitohui is found in Papua New Guinea and is one of the deadlier varieties of pitohui, along with the variable pitohui. The poison in its feathers and skin acts as a defence against predators. The birds do not actually produce this toxin themselves; it is thought to be caused by the ingestion of Choresine beetles which form part of the birds' diet. The toxin has been likened to the poison secreted by poison dart frogs.

Although touching a hooded pitohui cannot kill humans, it does cause sensations of numbness, as naturalist Jack Dumbacher found out the hard way when one bit him and he licked his finger. If you wish to eat one of these birds, you must skin and wash it first.