The Desert Truth Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kangaroo

Despite the shape of its legs, the bilby does not hop. When it is in need of speed to make an escape, it will gallop in a similar manner to a horse. Being nocturnal, they will spend most of their daylight hours secreted in burrows and they have been blessed with strong claws and powerful forelimbs to assist them in digging.

They can last for long periods without water, and having poor vision, they are assisted by their acute hearing and a strong sense of smell.

Answer: 3

It is not often that the southern marsupial mole (SMM) will surface. When it does, it is usually after rain and then only for a short period of time. It has enlarged front feet that it uses to propel itself forward. The three grooves left in the sand are created by its trailing hind feet and its bucket shaped tail.

The mole's movements under the ground are described as "swimming through sand". In the course of its burrowing, it does not create tunnels as it backfills behind itself. It uses it front claws in a chopping motion to bring the sand down and then under itself.

The back feet then push the sand behind it and the tail is used to lever itself forward. Despite its name and mole like appearance, the SMM is not a true mole. Whilst it is a great survivor in the desert, scientists have been frustrated in trying to learn of its habits because it has not survived well in captivity.

Answer: True

Spinifex hopping mice live in the dry sand country of central Australia. This is harsh country with infrequent rain. The mouse survives by (a) being nocturnal and spending its days housed in cooler burrows and (b) having highly efficient kidneys that draw every ounce of water from their waste (hence the virtually solid urine).

In addition, they have they have been known to raise their body temperatures during the high heat of summer so that their burrows feel cooler, and they can migrate up 15 kilometres toward rain.

They adapted their diet and become omnivores rather than relying on grain sources such as rodents that live in much more forgiving environments.

Answer: Dawn/dusk

Alternatively known as the chuditch, these little creatures are extremely inquisitive and tend to be hyperactive during periods of dawn and dusk. When they lived in central Australia, they would seek shelter in burrows, hollowed out logs or rock crevices to avoid the heat of the day. During the hottest part of the day, they could lower their body temperatures to conserve energy. Generally they would hunt on the ground for insects, frogs and lizards but they could also climb trees to rob birds' nests.

They had the capacity to draw most of their water needs from the food they ate. Sadly their numbers have decreased markedly due, in small part to land clearing, but mainly from the introduction of feral cats and foxes. They now live in a small pocket of forests in the south-west of Western Australia.

Answer: The securing of the last pig-footed bandicoot specimen

Sadly the pig-footed bandicoot (PFB) is now extinct. Whilst the last specimen was indeed secured in 1901, discussions with the Aboriginal people from the western desert areas indicate that they may have still been in existence as late as the 1950s. The picture on your left is that of a southern brown bandicoot, but it won't give you a true indication of what a pig-footed variety looked like.

The PFB was slightly larger in size and it had long slender front limbs. The back feet had a single toe much like that of a small horse and its front feet were cloven (which led to its name). All of this made for a very ungainly running style with one naturalist having described it as "a broken down hack in a canter".

It was never Australia's national animal and, even though it was widespread, it was never common nor was it seen as vermin. Monotremes are egg-laying mammals (see echidna and platypus) and bandicoots give birth to live young.

Answer: Hare

The scientific name for the mala, Largochestes hirsutus, means shaggy dancing hare though it would be more appropriate to say that the mala is closer in looks to a mix of hare and wallaby. In summer they will camp in burrows as deep as seventy centimetres but they prefer much shallower digs during the cooler months.

At one time they were spread across vast tracts of the sand country in the Northern Territory and both South and Western Australia. Sadly, thanks to those introduced cats and foxes, they are now extinct in the wild and now only survive in captivity and a couple of off-shore islands where their predators can be controlled.

Answer: All of these answers may be true

Even at high speed, the kangaroo has the ability to turn itself 180 degrees in a single hop. This makes it an effective tool in escaping predators. Try to imagine a horse or dingo attempting to do likewise in a single stride, the result may be disastrous for them.

Whilst the kangaroo can be a silent mover, the notion that it comes from its ability to hop is at this point is mere speculation and comes with little scientific backing. The key observations are that kangaroos tend to land softly and briefly touch ground twice in a second, travelling at 50 kilometres per hour.

In contrast, a horse moving at the same speed is likely to touch ground eight times in that second and will always keep one foot on the ground. In the process they create a drumming sound. For many years it was considered that because kangaroos travelled vast distances in oppressive conditions, had little available water and poor quality food to sustain them, it was felt that hopping provided them with the means to conserve valuable energy.

At a 2013 conference hosted by the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences on behalf of the Australian Mammal Society, scientists from the University of New South Wales argued that hopping was an energy intensive activity. With this in mind they stated that whilst kangaroos had a low resting metabolism they were able to increase this markedly in a very short space of time. Essentially, they concluded, kangaroos were super athletes.

Answer: No

Dingoes will moan and they will snuff but their main form of communication is by howling. In this manner they are able to attract pack members (or scare off rivals) over long distances. The alternative question is "Can dingoes bark?" A dingo can bark.

The sound it produces is closer to a cough and it is usually a sharper sound to that made by a domestic dog. The bark, however, is rarely used and generally surfaces in moments of immenent peril or harm. They shelter in dens/caves, enlarged rabbit warrens or rocky gorges, and will feed on a large range of prey from insects to lizards to kangaroos.

Answer: Sticks

Greater stick-nest rats will build communal nests in which to shelter from the oppressive desert heat. They will also use these to hide from predators. Whilst they may be conspicuous, they also hide a range of underground tunnels that lead in various directions and house 10 to 20 animals at a time.

The nest is formed from woven branches that have been meticulously chewed to size by their strong incisor teeth, which, like most rats, do not stop growing. They are nocturnal creatures, they are omnivores and they can obtain most of their water needs from the succulents, leaves and fruits they scavenge.

Answer: Pollinator

The little red flying fox is a fruit bat and, as their name implies, these sweet toothed creatures mainly feed on fruit, flower blossoms and nectar (accordingly termite eradication and vermin control are out of the equation). In their feeding process, they will collect pollen on their fur and, as they can travel up to 100 kilometres in a night, it effectively makes them long range pollinators.

They help to create forests and maintain native plant species. The extra distance they can travel plays a part here because quite a few Australian native plants may struggle to germinate when they in close proximity to their parent.

Whilst fruit bats are widely distributed across the top end of Australia the little red flying fox is the only one that exists in the Australian desert.