Hardest Two Birds, One Stone Trivia Quiz | Animals

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The mirror test is designed to test whether an animal recognises itself in a mirror. This bird is said to be the only non-mammal to pass the test. If the photo doesn't help, there used to be a British children's TV programme, which ran from 1968 to 1980, with the same name. What is the bird's name?

Answer: Magpie

The test is one of self-awareness. A dot is placed in the bird which can only be seen by the bird when it looks in the mirror. Attempting to remove the dot suggests self-awareness. The common magpie (Pica pica), a member of the crow family of birds, is considered to be one of the more intelligent birds. Pigeons have also passed the mirror test but only after training.

2. Now we are looking at an elaborate house-maker. The photo shows a couple of examples. If you want to find a fancy nest builder, look no further than this bird. Which bird is this?

Answer: Weaverbird

Some researchers consider nest-building to be an innate skill however others believe that there is a learned element to it. The weaverbird builds many elaborate nests each season and will vary the technique used from nest to nest, apparently learning from experience.

3. If your car parked at Fox or Franz Josef Glaciers in New Zealand has survived undamaged, you are doing well. This bird is not shy and seems to enjoy stripping rubber off cars. It is also one of the more intelligent birds around, being adept at solving puzzles. What is the name of this parrot?

Answer: Kea

Native to New Zealand, the kea is the world's only alpine parrot and is known for its intelligence and curiosity. Not normally a tool-user, the kea has been shown to use multiple approaches to solving problems including the use of tools.

4. Dropping bones onto rocks probably doesn't qualify as using tools, however using stones to crack open ostrich eggs does. This bird of prey has been recorded as doing both. What is the name of this scavenger?

Answer: Egyptian vulture

Considered sacred to Isis, the vulture was a symbol of royalty in ancient Egypt. Their protection by law made the species common and is said by some to have given rise to the alternative name for the bird: Pharaoh's chicken. Another example of its intelligence is the use of sticks to roll up wool for use on nests.

5. "Clever girl ..." were the last words to be heard from the hunter Muldoon when outsmarted by a pair of velociraptors in "Jurassic Park" (1993). This bird can do the same sort of thing: one bird distracts the mother bird whilst the other one snatches a chick. Which flightless rail bird, endemic to New Zealand, is shown in the photo?

Answer: Weka

Also known as the Maori hen or woodhen, the weka is known for its feisty curiosity which sometimes sees it invading your house. It will often make off with anything transportable and potentially of interest - food, shoes, bits of silver foil. As a flightless bird in New Zealand, it is vulnerable to introduced mammals such as dogs.

6. One story about this bird is that if it were to disappear from the Tower of London, the Crown of England would fall. Recognised as an intelligent bird, some have argued that it demonstrates linguistic displacement - an ability to communicate about something other than things occurring in the here and now. Considered by some to be a bird of ill omen, which bird is this?

Answer: Raven

The example given for linguistic displacement was where a young unmated raven, on discovering some carrion guarded by adult ravens, returned the following day with a flock of young ravens to drive off the adults.

Ravens have developed a variety of other techniques to obtain their food. Where competing with other predators for carrion, they learn at an early age how much room to give predators and still obtain some of the food. They will also observe where food caches are placed by their competitors and then raid the stores.

7. This passerine bird has quite a memory. During a season it may store as many as 98,000 pine seeds (according to one source) and has the ability to find most of these from the previous autumn. The European one is on the left and the North American one is on the right. What is it called?

Answer: Nutcracker

The North American bird, the Clark's nutcracker, is named after the American explorer of Lewis and Clark Expedition fame. Its caching habit is the main method by which the whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) spreads. It tends to store more seed than required to allow for losses due to theft and, presumably, forgetfulness. It does have the ability to find most of its seed caches up to nine months afterwards, even when buried under as much as a metre of snow.

8. The woodpecker finch uses a tool to extract grubs from crevices in various trees. It may use a twig or cactus spine, often sizing it for ease of use. Visited during the 1830s by a ship bearing a budding naturalist, what island group does the finch share with the marine iguana, a giant tortoise and the flightless cormorant?

Answer: Galapagos Islands

The budding naturalist was Charles Darwin, who visited the islands on HMS Beagle (hence the photo). The woodpecker finch is probably the best known of the Darwin's finches, a group of 15 or so species of passerine birds mostly found on the islands. The woodpecker finch makes most use of tools during the dry season when food is scarcer and it makes the effort involved more worthwhile. Up to 50% of its food may be obtained this way.

9. A traditional fishing technique, used in Japan and China and going back over a thousand years, involves using these birds to catch the fish on behalf of the fishermen. It also suggests that they have the ability to count. What is the bird?

Answer: Cormorant

In "The calculating cormorants" from the "Biological Journal of the Linnean Society" (Vol. 12, Iss. 2, Pp: 181-186, Sept. 1979), the authors observed traditional fishing with captive cormorants on the Li-Kiang River. The birds were allowed to eat every eighth fish caught. Once the quota of seven was filled, the birds would refuse to fish until their neck rings were loosened.

The neck rings prevent the birds from swallowing the fish. Other cormorants, still short on their quota, would continue to fish.

10. Aesop's Fables from the 5th century BC tell how this bird put pebbles into a pitcher to raise the water level so that it could quench its thirst. It turns out the fable could be based on real-life observations. Reported in "Current Biology" (Vol. 19, Iss. 16, Pp: 1410-1414, Aug 2009), birds from the Corvus genus performed the same feat. Which of these birds demonstrated this behaviour?

Answer: Rook

The fable is "The Crow and the Pitcher". Rooks were used in the experiment and were demonstrating goal-directed behaviour. The rook is one member of the crow family of birds. The Roman author and naturist Pliny the Elder, from the first century AD, narrated a similar tale in his " Naturalis Historia" encyclopaedia.

The crow family has many intelligent species within the genus. They make use of tools and even make tools to solve problems. One crow has been filmed using bread crumbs as fishing bait. Their abilities also extend to recognising individual people.

Source: Author suomy

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Tizzabelle before going online.
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Two Birds, One Stone Trivia Quiz

No two birds are alike. Some have that extra spark of intelligence or behaviour that sets them apart. The question is which of these birds will pick up the stone.

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