Roar Trivia Quiz

Answer: Roar

King of the Jungle, the lion is the second biggest of the large cats. Once these beautiful creatures ranged throughout Africa, Eurasia and right across to India, but can only be found in the southern regions of Africa now, with a smattering still to be found in India.

The male lion is noted for his famous mane which makes him look a little like a member of the Amish church, while the lioness is much neater looking, as though she's just stepped out of a beauty salon. A lion has a larger than normal larynx and vocal cords which contribute to its ability to roar. Those larger vocal cords, because they oscillate less (lack of room) during its vocalisation, are what gives the roar its manly bass-baritone depth.

Its hyoid bone is also more flexible than that of the smaller cats and this enhances that mighty roar that can be heard five miles away by humans. Roars evolved through sexual selection, so we are told, because the ladies are attracted to it.

Its indicated strength and ability are genetically irresistible.

Answer: Growl

Even though the hippopotamus looks a little like a pig, it is actually descended from the family of whales, dolphins and porpoises (the cetacean family). None of its far distant ancestors verbalise with growls today, so how the hippo's sounds came to be described as such is perplexing. Hippos are the third largest of the land mammals in existence (the elephant and the rhino outrank it in size), but in spite of its size, this stocky animal can run quite fast for short distances.

The sight of a huge hippo pounding after you with its gigantic mouth wide open would be a terrifying sight indeed.

These animals spend as much time as possible in water, even to the extent of mating and giving birth in it. Its feet are described as being web shaped in form and this helps somewhat in its ability to climb quite steep river banks. Because of its size, and like the elephant and the rhino, and probably several other species of animals, the hippo lacks the ability to jump.

A jumping hippo would look rather comical really - from a safe distance.

Answer: Bleat

A giraffe is the tallest living animal on land. It has a wide range throughout Africa and can usually be found on savannahs and/or low density treed areas. Giraffes live in herds but these are partly gender based, with the females living with other females and their calves, while bachelor males also live together in separate herds.

They feed off food, such as leaves, flowers and fruit available from trees out of reach of other animals. During mating season, males become involved in what is known as necking duels while competing for the affections of their fair maidens. That has nothing to do with kissing, but whacking each other with their long necks instead until one of the combatants concedes defeat.

The sounds most attributed to giraffes are bleats, but they also are known to snort, hiss, moan and moo. If she's calling her calf, the female will bellow at times, and, during the courtship period, males will cough to draw attention to themselves.

These last two sounds are almost human-like in behaviour, don't you think?

Answer: Boom

A bittern is a bird from the heron family of avians, but one with a considerably shorter neck than the majority of others in this group - such as storks, herons or spoonbills. Usually found in marshlands, the bittern's normal diet consists of frogs, insects, fish and snakes (ugh). Normally found in colours of different combinations of brown, these help this small bird blend in easily with its backgrounds, so it can be quite difficult to spot.

This has earned it a reputation for being secretive. Graceful in flight, it's only when it lands and begins to walk away that one realises how comically big are its feet. How and why its vocalisation came to be called a "boom" is unknown - but rather incongruous.

Answer: Dook

A ferret is described as a domesticated polecat belong to the Mustelidae family of animals. Its average length is about twenty inches and it only weighs, on average, one and a half pounds. The word ferret comes from the Latin word "furittus" which means "little thief". Ferrets can come in colours of brown, black, and white, or a combination of all three colours.

When they are excited and in the mood for play, ferrets perform what is known as a weasel war dance, which is a combination of jumps, leaps, hops sidewards and knocking anything over in their way.

This is so clumsy that it's hilarious, and, during this dance, they often make their unique sound known as "dooking". Other lesser sounds attributed to this little animal are hisses and squeaks when upset or frightened.

Answer: Click

Dolphins are aquatic mammals from the Cetacea order of animals. Found in oceans all over the world, there are forty different species of these lovely creatures, that, astonishingly so, were once part of the same group of animals as the hippopotamus. Because of their streamlined bodies, dolphins can move through the water at speeds up to 55 kilometres per hour.

They also have very developed levels of hearing. The most common sound attributed to dolphins is a click, but they are also capable of making another lesser known sound often described as a whistle.

Answer: Chatter

Magpies have one of the loveliest songs in the family of birds when they sing, but they also have another harsher sound by which they communicate and this is described as a chatter. It isn't particularly pleasant to hear, but their lovely singing more than compensates for this.

These striking black and white birds belong to the crow family and they are considered the most intelligent of all the birds. They can actually recognise themselves in the mirror. It is believed that no other non-mammal creature has the ability to do this, although there is some suggestion that the giant manta ray can. How did they test that, one wonders? We've only ever seen the black and white magpie in Australia, but to my amazement tonight, I read that these birds can come in quite a range of colours.

Answer: Trill

We don't have raccoons in Australia, so can admire the lovely little things from a distance. It is believed though that they're quite a pest in North America where their extremely dexterous front paws easily enable them to break into rubbish bins and other areas out of bounds to them.

Their vocalisation is known as a trill, and the distinctive masking across their eyes make them look like cute little burglars, so they're really "dressed" for the part of muscular furry criminals. Capable of living up to twenty years in captivity, the life span of raccoons in the wild is very short indeed - just over a year in fact.

They are preyed on by bobcats, coyotes, owls, eagles, bears, and, down south, by jaguars and alligators. They are also prone to starvation in winter, and to epidemics of distemper which can kill thousands of them at a time - so perhaps, just now and then, you could turn a blind eye to them raiding your rubbish bins?

Answer: Groan

From the sublime to the ridiculous, from the lovely sound of the raccoon to a loud rumbling groan of a walrus. This creature is a large, blubber filled marine mammal from the Arctic oceans of the world. There are, however, two other subspecies that can be found lower down in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

This creature is notable for its long distinctive tusks and whiskers which makes it look a little like the old Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898). It can weigh up to an astonishing 4,400 lbs, and if I had to drag that amount of weight around all day long, I'd be groaning too.

In addition to that, it has been hunted for many centuries by indigent peoples for its blubber, bones, skin, ivory (tusks) and meat.

Answer: Pipe

A curlew is a member of a species of bird with eight different subspecies. It is noted for its mottled brown feathers and long curved beak, and can be found at various times of years in most regions of the world except for the Arctic and Antarctic. Curlews can normally be found wading in these areas in shallow areas of seashore and rivers where it uses its beak to forage for worms and crabs and other small water dwellers.

Their vocalisations are usually described as pipes or piping, a high, rather mournful sound.