More Marvelous Mammals! Trivia Quiz

Answer: They are used for defense.

Although warthogs do have two facial glands, the tusk gland and the sebaceous gland, the protrusions serve as both a fat reserve and for defense to cushion blows when males fight for mates. Male warthogs, called boars, live alone as adults; the females, called sows, live in groups called sounders with other females and their young piglets.

Answer: Etruscan shrew

With a body length of just 1.6 inches (excluding the tail), and an average weight of less than a pound, the Etruscan shrew can eat up to twice it's own body weight a day! It has an extremely fast metabolism. Foods of choice for the shrew, also called the white-toothed pygmy shrew, include grasshoppers, earthworms, and young lizards. Larger food is killed with a bite to the head and is eaten immediately; smaller insects are usually taken back to the nest.

Answer: Biting with his razor-sharp teeth.

The pangolin does not have teeth, and really doesn't need them since his food of preference is ants or termites. It can locate its prey, even under soil, and use its front paws to dig tunnels. A long tongue, covered with saliva, collects the food. Pangolin feed this way about ninety times per night, with each feeding lasting about a minute. With a skin that is valued for its leather, and meat that is eaten in some parts of the world or used as medicine, the pangolin is an endangered species.

Answer: Andean bear

The spectacled bear is the only surviving member of the short-faced bear subfamily, which thrived until about 10,000 years ago. Although it is not unheard of to find Andean bears in Panama, they are almost always found in northwestern South America, and live almost entirely in the Andes Mountains. Because of the variation in markings and color, some Peruvians used to think there were two different bear species in their country! Each bear, however, has its own distinctive markings.

Answer: Meerkat

A group of suricates, or meerkats, called a gang, mob, or clan, can contain twenty or more members. They live in burrows with multiple entrances, where they stay during the heat of the day and at night. It is customary for one or more members of the group to stand as a sentry to warn the others of danger, giving a bark or a whistle. Their main predators are eagles and jackals.

Answer: Anteater

The armadillo is most closely related to either the anteater or the sloth. Its distinctive armor is actually made of bones, so it is rather inflexible. Only the 3-Banded Armadillo can roll itself up in a ball for protection; the others, like the 9-Banded Armadillo in the picture, would have to either run or dig their way to safety. Beside being good diggers, armadillos are also great swimmers, able to hold their breath for up to six minutes!

Answer: Mongolian wild ass

The Asiatic wild ass ranged from Germany to northeastern Asia about 40,000 years ago, but has since become regionally extinct in some areas. By far the most plentiful subspecies to exit today is the Mongolian wild ass, accounting for about 80% of the species' population.

The others listed in the choices, Indian wild ass, Persian onager, and Turkmenian kulan, still exist today, but only in very small numbers.

Answer: Sperm whale

Believe it or not, the largest mammalian brain belongs to the sperm whale. On the average, its brain weighs about 18 pounds and can grow to be nearly 500 cubic inches in size. In comparison, a human brain is about 80 cubic inches in size. When the body mass of the sperm whale is compared to the brain size, it doesn't seem that large. It is approximately .02% of the total body mass!

Answer: The color of their fur.

Sacred to the ancient Egyptians, the hamadryas baboon is native to the Horn of Africa and the southwestern Arabian Peninsula. Males can be up to twice the size of females; while males have silver-white fur, the fur of a female is brown. Males also have a cape, which consists of their mane and mantle. Living in harems, consisting of one male and up to ten females, the male leads and guards, while the female does most of the parenting.

Answer: Polymorphism

In order to be classified as a morph, the creatures must live in the same habitat at the same time and must belong to a population with random mating. The black, or melanistic jaguar, less common than the spotted, or light-morph jaguar, occurs approximately 6% of the time.

They are commonly called black panthers, and do not form a separate species. Looking closely at the picture, it is apparent that black panthers still have their spots! In extremely rare cases, the white panther, or albino, occurs.