Scramble For Your Lives! Trivia Quiz

Answer: White-tailed spider

What a place, where your most dangerous animal is a spider with a bite similar in impact to a bee sting! Considering that New Zealand's neighbor Australia seemingly has hordes of venomous snakes and other fearsome fauna we can deduce two things about them: they never learned to swim as far as New Zealand and never mastered the ability to hitch rides on ships or planes heading to New Zealand. (Furthermore, the white-tailed spider is an Australian native.)

(Question and information submitted by obiwan4)

Answer: Rhinoceros

There are several different breeds of rhino in Africa, but the two major ones are the white and the black. Considered one of the most dangerous animals in Africa, this animal can weigh up to a tonne and more. They have very poor eyesight and rely on hearing and smell to alert them to the presence of predators. Then look out. You'll find yourself fleeing for your life from a pounding enraged equivalent of a Sherman tank. Rhinos lose 50% of their numbers fighting each other. Of the remaining 50%, their major predator, sorrowfully so, is man. We are never going to learn. The rhino, so gloriously majestic in its ugliness, is now on the critically endangered list because of poaching and hunting.

(Question and information submitted by Creedy)

Answer: Asian giant hornet

The Asian giant hornet has a bigger wingspan than many hummingbirds, and can fly at an impressive 25 miles per hour. Referred to in Japan as the Japanese giant hornet, the Asian giant hornet is responsible for 30 to 40 deaths every year in Japan.

(Question and information submitted by CoachInChina)

Answer: Hippopotamus

Appearances can be deceptive, and the hippo is considered one of Africa's most dangerous animals. Enormous, aggressive and unpredictable, they will kill without hesitation to defend their territory or their young. The hippo's secret weapon is its strong jaw and enormous teeth. They weigh up to 8000 pounds and can run at 18mph. Hippos have been known to tip people out of boats and bite them. Despite this, they are classed as a "vulnerable species" and are under threat from loss of habitat (particularly access to fresh water) as well as from poaching for their meat and ivory teeth.

(Question and information submitted by emiloony)

Answer: Herring gull

Herring gulls are extremely aggressive in their behaviour, particularly at seaside holiday resorts. They seemingly have an insatiable appetite and will readily raid garbage bins for any food that has been dumped there by visitors to the beach. Whilst this is not a particular problem, they will also dive-bomb any unsuspecting tourist who is eating, in an attempt to grab their food. These gulls weigh well in excess of 1.0kg and at speeds of 40mph their sharp claws often cause considerable injuries. Reports of such activity indicate people being hospitalised, a person dying of a heart attack, and dogs being pecked to death. The term 'sky rats' has been afforded to these birds, and not without good reason perhaps?

(Question and information submitted by moonraker2)

Answer: Stingray

Although stingrays are thought of as extremely dangerous, particularly since the death of Steve Irwin, in fact they are only responsible for an estimated 17-30 deaths per year. They are not aggressive, and will not actively attack humans. Most stingray injuries are caused when the fish is accidentally stepped on. The barbs on the ray's tail pierce the skin and inject venom into the wound, which causes extreme pain, but is rarely fatal. Because the stingray is normally hidden beneath sand at the bottom of the sea, stings most frequently occur to the lower limbs. In Steve Irwin's case, he was reportedly swimming up behind a stingray so his cameraman could get a photo, when the fish, probably mistaking him for a predator such as a shark, suddenly started stabbing him repeatedly with its tail. Unfortunately the venomous barbs in the tail pierced his heart, which led to massive blood loss and death.

(Question and information submitted by emiloony)

Answer: Tiger

Zoos and wildlife parks are designed to keep wild animals in a safe environment but this is not always the case, sometimes leading to human injury or fatality when an animal escapes into an unfamiliar urban environment. Scared and hungry, it is in their nature to locate food and this can include attacking any unfortunate human being they stumble across.

The flooding at Tbilisi Zoo in Georgia was a natural tragedy which nobody could have foreseen. Over 300 hundred mammals perished when the Vere River burst its banks, the majority by drowning when their enclosures were destroyed, and the remainder shot dead by emergency services to prevent human fatality. A white tiger was shot dead by police when it attacked and killed a man in a warehouse. Luckily, this was the only animal related death on a human.

As animal corpses lined the muddy streets in a pitiful ending, it was a painful lesson to those who strive to conserve the lives of our wild beasts in a man-made habitat.

(Question and information submitted by Plodd)

Answer: Blue ringed octopus

This small creature is so deadly that if you're on your own and it attacks, you'll be dead within a few minutes. It is extremely hard to see in the water and only when it is threatened will its distinctive blue rings appear. By then, however, it has usually struck. The venom this creature injects is one thousand times more powerful than cyanide. If you are unlucky enough to be stung by one, you will be completely paralysed within a couple of minutes and then your breathing will, agonisingly, begin to fail. You will be awake and aware, but won't be able to call out or scream for help. Unless artificial respiration is applied by anyone nearby who can actually figure out what is wrong with you, you will suffocate. There are only two positives regarding the blue ringed octopus. The first is that it usually tries to avoid people. The second is that if you are rushed to hospital in time - with someone frantically giving you artificial respiration along the way - you will be put on a machine to keep you breathing until the venom has eventually left your system.

(Question and information submitted by Creedy)

Answer: Mosquito

Some mosquitoes can be carriers of numerous diseases including malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, and elephantiasis and infect 300 to 500 million people yearly. They are indirectly responsible for the estimated deaths of 500,000 to 2 million people worldwide every year.

Live chickens can be a source of both avian flu and salmonella, but the numbers of infections are small compared to other diseases - and death is rare.

Some ticks carry Lyme disease and the CDC says that at least 300,000 Americans are diagnosed each year, with possibly more being infected. Death is rare, but Lyme disease - when left undetected - can be devastating and difficult to cure.

Cows can be infected with mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) which can be transmitted to humans as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease when the brains and spinal cords of infected cows are ingested. A slowly progressive, degenerative and fatal disease, it is thankfully rare.

(Question and information submitted by VanCoerte)

Answer: Brown bear

Brown bears, in addition to being huge, sometimes have a nasty disposition and have been known to attack people for no discernible reasons. Found primarily in Eastern and Northern Russia, the bears hibernate (at least partially) in the winter (smart move considering how cold the winters are!). Some bears, known as insomniac bears, don't sleep very much and leave their dens to prowl their neighborhood. These sleep-deprived bruins are very short tempered and unpredictable. Watch out! (I must remember to avoid walking in Siberia in the winter time!)

(Question and information supplied by obiwan04)