Oh My Kodkod! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Guina

The kodkod is a small wild cat (many domestic cats are bigger) of the Americas. It is often called the guiņa, which translates to 'witchcraft' or 'bad luck'.

Answer: Chile

Brazil might be huge, but the kodkod's habitat does not typically reach that far. The majority of the kodkod's range is in southern Chile, which is why it is often called the "Chilean cat". Its habitat also extends into Argentina a little ways, but for the most part the kodkod lives in Chile.

Answer: Its natural food source is diminishing

The kodkod actually is most prevalent in southern Chile because of the lack of larger predators that would compete with the kodkod for food, or otherwise eat the kodkod itself. In fact, one of the biggest issues in the decline of the kodkod is the diminishing food source. As a kodkod's prey decreases in population, the kodkod's food source is therefore reduced. Without the main prey of the kodkod in the region, it has nothing to eat!

Logging also has a great impact on the kodkod's declining rate, due to its habitat being destroyed.

Answer: It is the smallest wild cat in the Americas

The kodkod is special because it is the smallest of any wild cat in the Americas (though there are smaller wild cats elsewhere in the world). It also has the smallest spread of any of the North or South American wild cats, ranging in only a small part of Chile and Argentina.

Answer: False

Actually, albino white kodkods are very rare, and black kodkods are fairly common. Similar to jaguars and panthers, a melanistic kodkod is not actually all black; rather, it is a very dark gray with dark spots, so it appears solid black until you get close.

Answer: Colocolo

The colocolo is another small cat of South America that lives in the Andean mountains, though the distribution is a far more extensive than the kodkod. Conservation status of the colocolo, however, is not known.

The dikdik is actually a type of small deer, the huet-huet is a South American bird that the kodkod feeds on, and, of course, the dodo is an extinct flightless bird of Mauritius.

Answer: True

The kodkod is not a fish-eating cat. In fact, the kodkod feeds mostly on birds, though this source of prey is not very abundant in the kodkod's natural habitat. The birds they feed on, however, are quite abundant elsewhere; but that doesn't help the kodkod any, since they don't tend to live where the kodkod does.

Answer: This is the treeline, and the kodkod does not like to be exposed

The treeline of the Andean mountain range in southern Chile is approximately 6,200 feet, or 1,900 meters. Trees refuse to grow beyond this point, and therefore, the kodkod refuses to travel any higher up the mountain. The kodkod would prefer to stay sheltered by the forests than travel through the open, barren landscape.

Answer: False

Some wild cats (such as tigers and jaguars) are only able to birth one kitten at a time, and twins are extremely rare. However, the kodkod is different, because an average litter size is one to three, so twins and even triplets are common.

Answer: Codcod

The kodkod is also often spelled as codcod, though it still has absolutely nothing to do with fish. It is not spelled as "qodqod", however (though it may be deceiving since there is a cat, kat, and qat!).

Hopefully, someday, conservation can bring the kodkod back to being a thriving population, and I hope that perhaps this quiz has opened the general population to such an interesting and unique cat.