Ralph the Llama's Andean Friends Quiz

Answer: Andean flamingo

Like other flamingos, the Andean flamingo is grey at birth. It develops its pink plumage from the beta carotene in its diet of algae and plankton. The Andean flamingo lives near the lakes of the high Andes, along with another flamingo species, the James flamingo. The main difference between the two is that the Andean flamingo is larger and has yellow legs; it is actually the only flamingo species with yellow legs.

Crafted by PDAZ, the Phoenician pheasant

Answer: Vicuna

Vicunas are the smallest of the camelids and produce very fine and expensive, wool. They live on the grasslands of the Andes, at about 12,000 - 18,000 feet, and their fine wool coats protect them from nighttime temperatures that fall below zero. Vicuna wool is rare as an individual animal produces less than one pound of wool a year - unlike alpacas that produce over 15 pounds. The vicuna is the national animal of Peru.

The dromedary, often called the Arabian camel, is found across North Africa and the Middle East where it has been domesticated for several thousand years. The only truly wild dromedaries live in Australia where animals introduced to carry cargo across the Outback escaped and formed a feral population. Bactrian camels are found in the rocky Gobi Desert and on the grassy plains (steppes) of Asia. Apart from a small population of wild Bactrian camels in Northern China and Mongolia, Bactrian camels are also domesticated. Dromedary camels have one hump, Bactrian camels have two.

Despite its name, the Hippocamelus is actually a deer and not related to the camel family at all. However, they do live in the Andes.

Crafted by flopsymopsy, the lagomorph llama

Answer: A pebble toad

This tiny amphibian is only a few inches long and is therefore vulnerable to the many predators which dwell in the Andes. Being so small, it cannot hop or run very fast, nor can it fight or hop very far due to its small, weak limbs. This particular creature therefore has adapted the odd quality of tensing up and letting go of the rock on which it sits when it encounters even the slightest threat. Because the pebble toad is usually found on the steep cliffs of the Andes, the result of this action is a seemingly suicidal fall. However, due to its tiny size, the knocks and bumps it receives from the harsh rock on its way down deal it little to no damage.

Crafted by doublemm - the border-crossing binturong

Answer: Spectacled bear

Paddington was originally going to be from 'Darkest Africa', until it was pointed out that there were no bears native to the African continent, but Peru had the spectacled bear (also known as the Andean bear from its distribution in the wild) to offer. The last remaining species of short-faced bear, and the only surviving South American bear, the spectacled bear has black fur with a distinctive light-brown pattern across its face resembling (you're way ahead of me on this) spectacles. Their survival is related to their excellent tree-climbing ability, but their population is under current pressure from habitat loss, hunting by farmers who fear they will harm livestock despite their basically-vegetarian diet, and capture to obtain their gall bladders for use in Chinese medicine.

Crafted by Looney_tunes, the Melbourne marsupial

Answer: Chinchilla

While certain pet stores around the world may house these cuddly, little rodents, they're originally from Peru and other Andean countries. However cute they may be, their notoriety comes from the fur industry which, at one point, has used chinchilla fur in astounding amounts causing their hunting in the wild to be banned.
The culpeo is a fox-like animal from the western regions of South America, the oncilla is akin to an ocelot and it inhabits the more Equatorial regions of South America, and the jaguarundi is a wildcat that can be seen as far north as Texas and as far south as Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ralph and Co. may have met all of these animals before, considering their location.

Crafted by Kyleisalive, Torontonian tiger

Answer: Andean condor

The Andean condor is the largest flying land bird of North and South America. It is known throughout the Andes Mountains for its wingspan which can measure up to 10 feet. A captive breeding program has kept the Andean condor off of the endangered species list, but its breeding habits of mating for life and only producing one or two eggs every other year makes its situation precarious when added to local farmers seeing it as a threat to livestock. The Andean condor is a scavenger who seeks out larger carcasses to feed on. The Andean condor was associated with the Sun God and seen as a ruler of the upper world in the mythology of the region.

Crafted by maninmidohio - the buckeye homo sapien

Answer: Andean mountain cat

The Andean cat is one of the least known and most endangered small cats in the world. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru.
Along with the Pampas cat, Andean mountain cats were considered sacred by some Andean cultures as their skins were considered powerful and associated with abundance. In some parts of Bolivia and Chile, a belief that when a person encountered a mountain cat they must kill it to avoid bad luck may have contributed to the species decline. Other reasons for the diminishing population include habitat loss and human encroachment, which causes barriers and creates population pockets.

Crafted by EmmaF2008, the Irish iguana.

Answer: A pair of vestigial hind limbs

Some view snakes simply as limbless lizards, but it is untrue to say that no snakes possess limbs. Whilst no snakes are known to possess any traces of pectoral limbs, some species, such as boas and pythons, do possess tiny spurs located near their pelvic girdle. These large constrictors are therefore seen as "less advanced" than other snakes, such as the pit viper, which is seen as the "most advanced".

These functionless limbs have therefore provided evidence that snakes share a common ancestor with other reptiles, such as lizards. Other evidence, such as the presence of a moveable quadrate bone and the absence of a quadratojugal bone in their skulls, has led scientists to link snakes with a particular family of lizards from the age of the dinosaurs.

Crafted by doublemm - the border-crossing binturong

Answer: Grey zorro

The grey zorro aka the chilla aka the Patagonian fox aka the South American gray fox is a member of the family of so-called false foxes. It is one of the few animals to be found in Chile's Atacama desert, the world's driest desert. Zorro is the Spanish for fox.

Zebras and zorillas (aka striped polecats) are both found in Africa rather than South America. There is no such animal as a zooople zip zap but I wish that there was.

The real name of the fictional Zorro was Don Diego Vega.

Crafted by glenda-the-cat.

Answer: Lizard

You might not expect to see lizards in the Andes, but there are actually more than 200 species of the genus Liolaemus living in the Andean region of South America, with recorded sightings at 16,000 feet (5,000 meters). They are members of the Iguanidae family and vary in appearance and size, with some resembling tree lizards and others looking decidedly more iguana-like. They survive at the high elevations by having the ability to absorb solar radiation and raise their body temperature to 95 degrees F (35 C) even in cold weather.

Crafted by PDAZ, the Sonoran lizard