Strange Animal Rituals Trivia Quiz

Answer: Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)

The Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) displays this odd behavior. He may have to steal a stone from another penguin, since stones are pretty scarce to come by. The stones are needed when the penguin builds walls around their rocky nests. Once a female accepts the stone from the male, they stand, with their bellies touching, while they sing their mating melody.

The mating season is in October during the short summer weeks. There is a lot of competition for the nesting sites and it is one of the Adelie penguin's favorite pastimes to steal rocks and pebbles from the nests of its neighbors.

Answer: Grasshopper (Melanoplus differentialis)

The grasshopper (Melanoplus differentialis) can woo his partner with many different types of songs. The male grasshopper has different songs for each step of the mating period. The grasshopper's mating songs are created by a form of friction when he presses his hind legs or his strong and tough front wings against other parts of his body.

He then move his legs or wings back and forth. He can make different music for other reasons too. An example of this is when he attempts to defend his territory.

Another example is when he is calling to locate other grasshoppers. The autumn is when most of the courting songs are heard.

Answer: Green lynx spider (Peucetia viridans)

The green lynx spider(Peucetia viridans) is generally found on grass, low plants and hedges. This type of spider has long legs which aid in the hunt for prey. This spider is an excellent hunter. Due to its ability to run and jump onto its victims, like a cat does, the spider is called a lynx spider.
This spider doesn't make webs because it is an active hunter. The lynx spider has two large eyes in the front of its head as well as a smaller pair. It has two eyes on the sides of its head. It also has two large eyes looking above and backward which gives it a very wide range of view. The lynx spider generally hunts in the day time and prefers it when it is sunny outside. It can run and jump over grass and leaves in its pursuit of victims.
The male is quite large for a male spider. His palpal organs, which are located on his head on each side of his jaw, are used to transfer the sperm to the female spider. The male uses a special sperm web, which he produces, to pull a drop of semen from his rear to the palps on his head. He then uses these palps to insert the semen into the female.

Answer: Desert kangaroo rat (Dipodomys heermanni)

The kangaroo rat (Dipodomys heermanni) is a really unique creature. It can survive with very little water due to the fact that it has the ability to convert the dry seeds that he eats into water through a process called oxidative phosphorylation. All mammals have this ability, however the kangaroo rat is more adept at conserving the water that he produces.

This creature does not pant or sweat in order to keep cool. It has a kidney system that is very specialized and allows waste materials to leave its body without much water output.

It lives in moist and humid burrows, only coming out at night. Although the kangaroo rat does not store water, it still has a water content in its body that is about the same as other animals.

Answer: emits a localized positive electric field

The female round stingray (Urolophus halleri) has spiracles (gill slits) behind each eye. From here, she emits a positive electric field which attracts the male. Once he is attracted then the behavior of mating begins. He will often bite the front of her body along the disc.

She does not like that and will often escape from the male. When that happens there is no mating. He will then bite the rear area of the female. She does not make any attempt to escape from him when he is biting at her posterior.

This biting maintains the contact between the male and the female during the time that they are mating.

Answer: Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus)

When the mating season begins, the male Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) attracts his female partner by making bellowing sounds accompanied with the slapping of his snout on the water. He blows water out of his nose and makes many other noises. This is quite a display to attract his mate.

A larger male has much more success than a smaller one. When a female accepts the male's ritual they then make warbling noises while rubbing the underside of their jaws together. The mating quickly follows this courtship procedure.

Answer: Squid (Loligo duvaucelii)

The squid (Loligo duvaucelii) does a circling dance around a large 'spawning bed'. The pair engage in mating at daybreak and continue to mate all day. The only time they actually take a break is for the female to dive down quite deeply to deposit her eggs.

When she returns they continue mating until twilight. Night is the time when they go feed and then rest offshore until morning. At daybreak they go back to their mating spot to continue mating. They repeat this same routine several times for approximately two weeks. Through this odd behavior they make certain that a very healthy population of squid will emerge.

Answer: Gastric brooding frog (Rheobatrachus silus)

The female gastric brooding frog (Rheobatrachus silus) incubates her young inside her stomach. The babies remain there past the tadpole stage. Once they are ready to emerge, the baby frogs hop out of the mother's mouth. Somehow, the mother can shut off the production of hydrochloric acid in her stomach while she incubates these baby frogs.

This type of frog is from Australia but is now believed to possibly be extinct.

Answer: Capybara (Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris)

The capybara (Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris) is native to South America and lives along the rivers of tropical forest areas. It enjoys the flooded Savannah and grassland. It reaches its sexual maturity around the age of eighteen months. The male capybara will pursue a female until she stops in the water.

He will then mate with her. The female will find an area on land, which is covered, to give birth to her little ones. She rejoins the group with her babies as soon as they are mobile. This is usually within a week.

The babies can eat grass by this time and they suckle from different females of the group for a few weeks. The capybara is the largest rodent in the world. He can grow up to four feet long and weigh more than one hundred pounds.

Answer: Ichneumon wasp (Itoplectis alternans)

The ichneumon wasp (Itoplectis alternans) mother selects her victim, which is most often a caterpillar. She injects her eggs into the victim's body. Sometimes she will inject a paralyzing poison, which keeps the victim alive but motionless. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae start to eat the caterpillar.

They keep it alive by eating the fatty deposits first and then the digestive organs. They save the central nervous system and the heart for last.