When Animals Call a Team Meeting Quiz

Answer: Risk

There are over forty species of lobster, all with a hard exoskeleton and ten legs which they use to walk on. There are differences between species though. Some lobsters have huge (and delicious) front claws and some don't. Some species have front claws of unequal size and power. You can find a lobster in every ocean of the world, usually living a single life in rocky areas on the continental shelf.

One species of spiny lobster, the Panulirus versicolor, makes its home in the warmer areas of the Pacific and Indian Oceans and the Red Sea. While the Panulirus versicolor is still considered a juvenile, it moves with up to 100,000 friends to a deeper part of the ocean where it will make its permanent home. These lobsters form a line and migrate miles away from where they were born to a new abode. In the procession, the antennae of one lobster keeps in contact with the tail of the lobster in front. One hundred thousand lobsters would certainly be called a risk!

Answer: Zeal

Zebras are members of the Equine family very recognisable by their black and white striped coats. Their coats are black with white stripes rather than vice versa. The way to remember that is to picture a zebra with its black nose. The nose is the main colour of their coat, hence they are black with white stripes (rather like humans having highlights in their hair.)

Like horses, they are social creatures gathering in zeals across their African territory, but unlike horses, they've never really been domesticated despite attempts by circuses and other performing acts. There are three species of zebra: Grevy's zebra, the mountain zebra and the plains zebra. The latter is the most common zebra seen on the plains of Africa. Grevy's and the mountain zebra are both endangered.

So why are zebras striped? There are numerous theories on this matter. Camouflage is the obvious answer but newer theories suggest that the stripes attract fewer bites from flies such as the tse-tse and other flies.

Answer: Seal

Thirty-three species of seal call the oceans their home. Broadly called pinnipeds, the 33 species can be subdivided again into three families: Odobenidae (only the walrus); Otariidae (eared seals); and Phocidae (earless or true seals). Seals range in size from the smallest, the Baikal seal who is about one metre long (just over three feet) and weighs about 45 kg (99lbs), to the southern elephant seal which can grow to weigh 3,200 kg (7,100 lbs). All seals have four limbs which have evolved into flippers. Blubber keeps them warm in the chilly waters they inhabit. In addition to keeping them warm, the blubber keeps the animal alive while they are on land to breed, often a period of fasting for seals. A sleek fur coat also helps to maintain body warmth. The only exception is the walrus which is devoid of fur, but it does have whiskers.

A seal's diet is meat, eating fish, cephalopods such as octopi, and crustaceans. They can also be prey, with orcas and some larger sharks finding seals a tasty treat. Seals often put up a fight and escape from their predators - an adult walrus is capable of fending off, even killing, a polar bear.

Spending much of their time at sea, pinnipeds sleep while floating belly-up. While they do, only half their brain is asleep, the other half vigilant for any lurking predators. When they are on land though, all of their brain goes to sleep.

Answer: A boil of hawks

Hawks can be seen riding thermal air masses, spiralling around while looking for prey, a mating partner or possible new home. A group of hawks circling around in a thermal is called a kettle and there may be hundreds flying around in optimal conditions. A courting couple may fly around in large circles, the male diving and rising high above the female. Sometimes the claws interlock and the pair begin to spiral to the ground in a formation known as a boil. These displays are most commonly seen in late winter or early spring.

Raptors have their most acute vision to the side of their head. Falling to the ground in a straight line to catch prey means they would have to turn their head to the side to maintain visual contact with their prey. This would mean losing speed due to the poorer aerodynamic form of the turned head creating more drag. If a raptor keeps its head straight but spins to the ground in a spiral, it can keep one eye on its prey as it falls. It sounds as though it would take longer than going straight down, but it's actually quicker, allowing the bird a better chance of catching its meal.

Answer: Stork

These long-legged, long-necked, stout-billed birds can be found almost all the world over in drier areas than their avian cousins such as the ibis and heron. Nineteen species of stork can be found eating delicious food such as earthworms, frogs, insects and even small mammals. Storks have no syrinx, meaning they are mute. They clatter the upper and lower halves of their bill to communicate.

Their homes are a nest made of twigs and other vegetation, and can endure for many years, the storks adding to it as necessary. A stork's next can be up to three metres (ten feet) high and have a two metre (almost seven feet) diameter.

Answer: Maelstrom

There are hundreds of species of salamander on Earth, all members of amphibious members of the order Caudata. Lizard-like animals, they have varying features between the species. Variables which distinguish one species from another include the number of toes on each leg, the presence or absence of hind limbs, and whether the animal lives exclusively in water, on land or spends time in both. While salamanders lives almost exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere, they do live south of the Equator on the west coast of South America.

Salamanders are the only animal with a backbone, i.e. a vertebrate, which can regenerate a limb if it's amputated. Some lizards can regenerate a tail, but not a leg.

Answer: A consortium

Over 850 species of crabs can be found in oceans all over the world. Crabs are usually distinguished by having ten legs (hence being decapods), a hard, thick shell and a single pair of claws. Crabs can also live in fresh water and on land. The smallest variety is the pea crab which is only a few millimetres wide, while the gigantic Japanese spider crab can stretch its legs to a vast four metres (13 ft) width.

Males usually differ from females in that they usually have larger claws and an abdomen shaped differently to a female's. A male's abdomen will be slightly more triangular than a female's, the rounded female abdomen having room for the eggs.

Answer: Squid

About 300 species of squid populate the world's oceans, most measuring less than sixty centimetres (two feet) long. There are exceptions to this rule though, most notably in the form of the giant squid. The longest specimen of squid ever accurately documented was caught in Antarctic waters by a Kiwi fishing vessel. Approximately ten metres (33 ft) long, it weighed an impressive 495 kg (1,091 lbs).

Squid are similar to octopi in that they have eight arms, but squid have the addition of two tentacles, bringing their total limb count up to ten. They propel themselves through the water at a good pace, and some squid have been known to propel themselves out of the water and 'fly' through the air for short distances.

Sea cucumbers apparently gather in a 'pickle'!

Answer: Clutter

If you're arachnophobic, you probably don't want to know that there at least 30,000 species of spiders, with some resources stating there are over 40,000, perhaps over 50,000. They aren't generally a social animal but there are species which live in groups of up to 50,000 on a single web. (You definitely didn't need to know that!)

Spider fossils have been found in rocks which are 300 million years old so clutters of spiders have been around for longer than we mere humans. Of all the species of spiders, there are maybe only twelve which have venom potentially harmful to humans. The most deadly is the Brazilian wandering spider, closely followed by Australia's funnel-web spider.

You may already know that a spider's body come in three segments: the head, thorax and abdomen. You probably already know that every spider has eight legs. Did you know that each of those eight legs are composed of seven segments? Somewhere on a spider's head will be eight eyes. Despite that, spiders don't see very well at all. I'd say that was a design flaw but as they've been around for millions of years, it can't have disadvantaged them too much.

Answer: Shiver

Pick a shark, any shark. You can select one from any of the 470 species ranging the six inch long dwarf lantern shark to the whale shark which, at 39 feet long, is the biggest fish in the world. Only about thirty species of shark have been known to attack humans, and girls, while sharks have killed women, they attack nine men for every one woman attacked.

No matter what their diet, they are efficient denizens of the all the world's oceans. Their skeletons are made of cartilage rather than bone, making them lighter and more flexible in the water. A shark's jawbone which you might have seen on display is actually cartilage which has been ossified, but cartilage it remains. Rather than having a swim bladder like their fishy cousins, they have a large liver filled with oil which helps keep them afloat. The liver can comprise up to 25% of a shark's weight in some sharks which spend their lives close to the surface, such as whale and basking sharks. For a basking shark, that means the liver can weigh over 1,800 pounds (over 800 kg)!

To catch their prey, sharks have several adaptations which help them in their quest for food. They can use their senses to detect low-pitches sounds made by prey, they can smell blood in the water, and their bodies sense electrical fields and vibrations. And you thought spiders were bad!