Which Mammal is This? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Elephant shrew

These small insectivorous African mammals are all species of elephant shrew also known as jumping shrews or sengis. Although they range in size from only 4-12 inches, it may surprise you to learn that they are more closely related to the elephant than to other types of shrew.
The pictured animal is the black and rufous elephant shrew (or black and rufous sengi). Native to Kenya and Tanzania, it is one of the largest members of its family, adults averaging around 11 inches in length and weighing just over one pound.

Answer: Vicuņa

The four alternatives given here are all "New World camels" as opposed to "true camels". The pictured animal is a vicuņa, one of two species of wild camelid living in the high Andes, the other being the guanaco.
Like its cousin, the alpaca, the vicuņa produces fine wool. Theirs, though, is very expensive: not only to they have to be captured from the wild first, but they can only be shorn every three years. In the days of the Inca, only royalty were permitted to wear garments made from vicuņa wool.
The national animal of Peru, the vicuņa's image appears in the national coat of arms and, thus, on some variants of its flag.

Answer: Mouse-deer

There are six species of mouse-deer, all native to southeast Asia. Their nearest relatives are the four species of chevrotain from the Indian sub-continent and surrounding areas. Ranging in size from 16-30 inches in length are amongst the smallest ungulates. The pictured species is the smallest of the genus, the lesser mouse-deer (also sometimes called the lesser kanchil or the lesser Malay chevrotain).

The Malay name, kanchil, means both 'mouse-deer' and 'clever person'. The world's smallest hoofed mammal grows to only about 16 inches in length and weighs in at an average of only 4-5 pounds.

In the wild, its main predator is feral dogs.

Answer: Pronghorn

There were once more than seventy members of this family, but only four sub-species in a single genus have avoided extinction. The four surviving members are all pronghorns: the Mexican pronghorn, the Baja California pronghorn, the Sonoran pronghorn and the pictured American or common pronghorn.
Often known colloquially as an antelope, in many ways the pronghorn does resemble the true Old World antelopes. Their horns are similar to the bovids, although only pronghorns lose their horns once the breeding season ends. The distinctive white tail, undercarriage and neck markings are common to all pronghorn sub-species.
In the early 20th century, the American pronghorn was in very real danger of following the rest of its family into extinction, with barely 13,000 animals remaining. Hunting bans and habitat protection have brought the pronghorn back from the brink, though, and numbers are now estimated at between half a million and one million. The other sub-species, the Sonoran and Baja California pronghorns, are still teetering on the edge with barely more than 200 surviving in the wild.

Answer: Civet

Although generally small to medium-sized, the largest civet (the African civet) can grow to 33 inches long and weigh in at 40 pounds. Found mostly in tropical rainforests, the civet can also survive in woodland, mountainous regions and on the Savannah.

Although members of the carnivore order, most civets are omnivorous and some of the palm civets are even herbivores. The pictured animal is the masked palm civet also known as the gem-faced civet, a native of southeast Asia and the Indian sub-continent.

Whilst most civet species display spots or stripes on their coat, the masked palm civet is single-colored apart from his facial mask. Medium-sized for a civet, its 20-25 inch tail doubles its body length. Adaptability to changing habit has ensured that this species has avoided endangerment.

Their diet is highly variable too: figs, mangoes, bananas accompany rats and birds, and even snakes, frogs and mollusks.

Answer: Weasel

The least weasel, known simply as a weasel in the UK, is native to Eurasia, North Africa and North America. Capable of living in various types of habitat, the weasel does not dig a den but instead moves into those abandoned by other species such as rats or moles.

It has a wide range of prey, from mice, hamsters, voles and gerbils to frogs, fish, small birds and bird eggs. Rabbit also provides the weasel with a substantial part of its diet, particularly in the spring, when rabbit kits are numerous and rodents are scarce.

Answer: Coati

There are four species of coati, the eastern and western mountain coati, the white-nosed coati and the one pictured here, the South American coati, which is also known as the ring-tailed coati. A native of tropical and sub-tropical regions, mostly in the lowlands to the east of the Andes, it is also known as a quati in Brazil. Chile is the only South American country where they are not found.
The ring-tailed coati weighs in at anything from 4-16 pounds and grows to between 33 and 44 inches long, although half of that length is tail.

Answer: Pangolin

There are eight surviving species of pangolin, although there were once more than twice that number. They all have a covering of overlapping, plate-like scales made of the same material as human fingernails. Able to curl up into a ball when threatened, a pangolin's sharp scales present would-be predators with a serious challenge (although they are hunted for meat throughout Africa and in China). Just for good measure, they are also capable of emitting a noxious-smelling acid similar to that of a skunk. Extremely long tongues are designed for capturing their diet of ants, termites and other insects. The pictured animal is a Chinese pangolin, native of northern India, Nepal, Indochina and Taiwan. Powerful claws enable it to dig an 8-foot deep hole in less than five minutes. An endangered species, it is protected in Hong Kong but not elsewhere throughout its range.

Answer: Quoll

There are six species of quoll, with four species of this carnivorous marsupial native to Australia and two found only in New Guinea. Of the four Australian species, the eastern quoll is now extinct in mainland Australia and survives only in Tasmania. All six species have either brown or black fur and pink noses.

Their diet consists of rabbits, small birds, lizards and insects. The pictured animal is the tiger quoll, also known as the spotted-tail quoll or the spotted-tailed dasyure. Smaller than the Tasmanian devil which is found only in Australia's island state, the tiger quoll is the largest carnivorous marsupial found in mainland Australia.

Its habitat is wet coastal areas ranging from northern Queensland, where it is considered endangered, to the wet forests of southeastern Australia and Tasmania.

Answer: Opossum

The more than 100 species of opossum range in size from little larger than a mouse to the size of a large domestic cat. The only marsupial native to the Americas, opossums have prehensile tails (adapted for grasping) similar to many species of monkey.

They also have amazing immune systems, making them immune to the venom or vipers and rattlesnakes. Opportunistic feeders, they will eat just about anything. They are not big diggers, so rather than excavate their own burrows they will often move into those vacated by other species and can often be found living in holes under houses.

They were once widely hunted and eaten in the U.S.