Overground Mammals Trivia Quiz

Answer: Black flying fox

Bats are the only species of mammal that are capable of true flight, but many types of bats are also tree dwellers - roosting (upside down) from the branches before venturing out at night in search of food. The Pteropus genus includes the various species of bats known as flying foxes or fruit bats, which are large and have excellent eyesight and a good sense of smell to offset the fact that they are not capable of echolocation.

Black flying foxes are particularly widespread along the north coast of Australia and the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, with other small pockets of territory on various other Pacific islands. None of the incorrect options can be found there (or anywhere else in the world for that matter).

Answer: Leopard

Leopards are ruthlessly efficient hunters and eat a wide variety of prey from large antelopes down to much smaller insects and fish (although luckily humans don't generally appear on their menu). They are found across Asia and Africa, but are generally more populous in sub-Saharan Africa and south-east Asia. Trees are an important habitat for leopards as they don't just rest in them during the day, but also regularly drag their kills up them to prevent other opportunistic carnivores from stealing their dinner.

The term 'big cat' generally applies to lions, tigers, leopards, snow leopards, jaguars, cheetahs and cougars (although sometimes the latter two species are excluded). The cougar tends to be quite at home up a tree; tigers and cheetahs, although capable of tree-climbing to some extent, tend to keep their paws firmly on the ground.

Answer: Sloth

This particular sloth is a brown-throated three-toed sloth, native to the rainforests of Central America and northern South America and can be clearly identified by the distinctive dark stripe under its eyes coupled with darker brown hair around its throat. Sloths don't venture very far in their lifetime, simply moving (slowly) through the highest tree branches whilst feeding on the leaves and occasionally visiting the forest floor. The sloth's hair is home to various species of algae and fungus as well as the 'sloth moth' Cryptoses choloepi and other insects. Some birds have even been spotted feasting on the insects attached to a sloth without apparently bothering the sloth at all.

All of the incorrect options could be found alongside the brown-throated three-toed sloth in the Amazon rainforest. The saki is a small monkey, the coati is a type of raccoon and the armadillo has a thick 'armoured' shell and is a distant relative of the sloth (both being members of the superorder Xenarthra).

Answer: Lemur

Indris, along with the dozens of other lemurs native to Madagascar, evolved independently from other primates many millions of years ago thanks to their isolated island environment. However, they are now an endangered species thanks to humans who have destroyed their habitat and hunted them for their meat.

Indris live in small family groups generally consisting of a mated pair and their offspring of various ages. The main form of communication between groups is the 'song' they perform, which can last for several minutes and involves synchronising various roaring and wailing sounds. Another distinctive habit that indris share with other species of lemur is a sunbathing ritual that is sometimes described as sun 'worshipping' since the indri will sit facing the sun in the morning with its hands resting palm upwards and its eyes half-closed.

Marmosets, tamarins and capuchins are all species of New World monkey - Madagascar is one of the few places around the world which does not have any native monkeys.

Answer: Orangutan

There are only seven extant (living) species of great ape - the Bornean orangutan, Sumatran orangutan, western gorilla, eastern gorilla, chimpanzee, bonobo and humans. The orangutan (also spelled orang-utan, orangutang or orang-utang) in the picture clue is actually an example of the Bornean species - although the two types of orangutan look very similar and were only classified as separate species in the mid-1990s, DNA sequencing analysis has shown that their populations diverged around 400,000 years ago. Orangutans are endemic to the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra so (other than in captivity) you won't be able to find them anywhere else.

Orangutans are relatively solitary animals and spend most of their lives up in the trees. As (perhaps unsurprisingly) they prefer resting in the relative comfort of a nest rather than clinging to tree branches, they have developed good nest-building skills, which are passed on between individuals with mothers teaching their offspring. The nests can be quite complex with different designs for day and night use and often have added features such as roofs, 'bunk beds' and pillows.

Answer: Treeshrew

Although treeshrews are native to the forests of South-east Asia, they are not all arboreal and they are not actually members of the shrew family - so their common name is a little misleading! Those treeshrews that actually spend a lot of time in trees can be identified from their ground-dwelling cousins by the fact that they tend to be smaller (a fact that is admittedly not terribly useful unless a terrestrial treeshrew handily agrees to pose next to an arboreal one).

Treeshrews belong to the Scandentia order, with the majority of species belonging to the Tupaia genus. The picture clue shows a drawing of a ruddy treeshrew (Tupaia splendidula) that can be found on the island of Borneo and several neighbouring island groups belonging to Indonesia. Moles, tenrecs and solenodons are all current or former members of the Insectivora order of mammals - which also used to contain the treeshrews - but there is no such thing as a treemole, tree-tenrec or tree-solenodon.

Answer: Phascolarctos cinereus

An ability with ancient languages would be a definite advantage in identifying the scientific name for the koala, which is often mistakenly referred to as a koala bear (it's a marsupial and definitely not a member of the bear family). The name Phascolarctos can be broken down into "phasco" meaning pouch (a key identifying feature of marsupials) and "arctos" which is Greek for bear, while cinereus comes from the Latin for ashen - a fitting description of the koala's predominantly grey fur.

Despite looking cute and cuddly, koalas are actually fierce, anti-social creatures. They make an interesting array of sounds, with descriptions such as bellowing, grunting, growling, snarling, wailing, screaming and squealing (for baby koalas) often being used. Clearly koalas would make very bad next-door neighbours!

The incorrect options are all scientific names for other famous Australian creatures - Vombatus ursinus is the common wombat, Macropus rufus is the red kangaroo and Dromaius novaehollandiae is the emu.

Answer: Common genet

Common genets are not classified as felines, but are members of the Viverridae family. Viverrids can generally be distinguished from felines by their shorter, stockier legs; the shape of their skull; and because they have five toes on their hind feet (cats generally only have four). Although the common genet is native to Africa, it has been introduced to Europe and is commonly found across the Iberian peninsula and south-west France as well as having isolated populations in the Balearic Islands, Italy and several central European countries including Switzerland and Germany.

The common genet's long, stripy tail probably helps it maintain its balance while lurking about in trees. It tends to be either fully nocturnal or crepuscular (active during twilight) and spends the rest of the day snoozing in a tree, with the holes available in hollow trees being particularly choice spots. The incorrect options are all other members of the Viverridae family, but are from the Indian subcontinent or south-east Asia.

Answer: Domestic goat

Goats have been domesticated by humans for a very long time - evidence suggests that domestication first took place during the Neolithic period, about 10,000 years ago. Clearly that must have been plenty of time for the domestic goat to have evolved into its own sub-species, separate from its wild ancestors. They are generally kept for their milk or hair (particularly breeds such as the Angora goat), but are also farmed for their meat and skin.

The key to their ability to climb trees (despite the difficulties posed by having hooves rather than claws) is their good sense of balance, high levels of agility and boundless curiosity. Admittedly it also helps if the tree isn't entirely vertical...

The incorrect options are all types of wild sheep, which belong to the same family as both wild and domestic goats.

Answer: Flying squirrel

There are around 40 separate species of flying squirrel that are native to various places around the world. The term 'flying' is actually a misnomer as they are not capable of true flight; they simply have the ability to glide once they become airborne (usually when wishing to move from tree to tree). Like other gliders (including the unpowered aircraft used by humans) they can take advantage of thermal air currents, allowing them to remain airborne for lengthy periods of time and attain significant heights above the ground.

The picture clue actually shows a southern flying squirrel, also known as the assapan, which is found in the eastern half of North America and parts of Central America.

Woodchucks (otherwise known as groundhogs), chipmunks and susliks are all classified as types of ground squirrel. Needless to say ground squirrels tend to live on the ground and aren't renowned for the ability to glide through the air.