Animal Word Chain Trivia Quiz

Answer: wasp

There are two kinds of wasps, solitary and social. The largest wasp is the Asian giant hornet with a body length of two inches (50 mm) and a wingspan of three inches (76 mm)--not to mention a stinger a quarter of an inch (six mm) long! Wasps do not make honey or wax, but like bees they do pollinate plants.

They are most aggressive between August and October (in the Northern hemisphere), when they may attack human beings.

Answer: spoonbill

Spoonbills are long-legged wading birds that indeed have a spoon-shaped bill, and they are related to the ibis. A group of spoonbills is called a bowl. Spoonbills tend to form monogamous pairs, and although only the female can lay eggs, the two sexes otherwise perform the same duties, including building the nests, sitting on the eggs, and feeding the young.

The African spoonbill has claimed territory throughout the continent and Madagascar, too. The roseate spoonbill of the Americas is sometimes mistaken for a flamingo, especially as they tend to associate with them in the same waters.

Answer: llama

The Incas domesticated the llama about four to five thousand years ago. The llama may have wool colored brown, black, grey, or white, with a multitude of patterns. Llamas prefer mountainous terrain whether desert or grassland. Llamas are gentle, shy, curious, and intelligent, and they are very social and communicate with each other through various ear, tail, and body postures and through vocalizations, from a soft hum to a shrill alarm call.

They can be used as beasts of burden, but only to a point -- then they will simply refuse to budge.

Answer: mahi

Don't mistake the iridescent blue-green and yellow dolphinfish, sometimes shortened to dolphin, for the silvery aquatic mammal called the dolphin or porpoise! The Hawaiian name mahimahi (also mahi mahi or mahi-mahi) means "strong-strong". Mahimahi or dolphinfish live in tropical and sub-tropical waters of Hawaii, Indonesia, Japan, and Central and South America, not to mention the Red Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean.

They can weigh anywhere from five to fifty pounds (2-23 kg) and can swim 50 nautical miles per hour! (And they are delicious.)

Answer: hippo

The hippopotamus or hippo is generally considered the third largest land mammal (after the rhinoceros and the elephant). They spend most of their time in the water, including lakes, swamps, and rivers; the name hippopotamus comes from the Greek for "river-horse".

Although hippos might look a little pudgy, they can easily outrun a human being, and they are regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa! They can get extremely aggressive when they feel threatened. Habitat loss and poaching threaten the existence of hippos, who when unmolested can live up to 45 years in the wild.

Answer: polar bear

The polar bear is the largest carnivore living on land, although it spends most of time at sea. It uses sea ice as a platform to hunt seals, which comprise the bulk of a polar bear's diet. A polar bear can smell a seal almost a mile away (1.6 km). Male bears can weigh up to 1500 pounds (680 kg). Polar bears have black skin; although their fur looks white, it is actually transparent. Polar bears stay warm in the Arctic thanks to nearly four inches (10 cm) of blubber under the skin.

Answer: armadillo

Armadillos range from southern North America through Central and South America. Strong, jointed bony plates cover most of their bodies. With peglike, rootless teeth, armadillos are among the edentates, a group of animals that have few or no teeth including anteaters and sloths.

There are several armadillo species, from the giant aramdillo to the screaming hairy armadillo to the pink fairy armadillo, a mere six inches (15 cm) long. Only the the Brazilian and southern three-banded armadillos can roll up into a ball.

Answer: lobster

Lobsters tend to live on rocky shores and have stalked eyes. Spiny lobsters lack the claws of more familiar lobsters like the American lobster, and whereas clawed lobsters live in cold waters, spiny lobsters live in warm waters. A lobster in the wild can grow to over three feet (91 cm) in length, and they can live up to 100 years!

Answer: ermine

Ermine are nocturnal, meat-eating creatures that live in northern climes within woodlands, marshes, scrublands, and riverbanks. In the summer their coat is reddish brown (when they are often called stoat), but in the winter it turns white. (An ermine coat or ermine-trimmed robe uses the white coat and the black tailtips.) Ermine have good smell and vision and are ferocious hunters that run easily through snow. Very nimble, they can descend a tree headfirst like squirrels.

Answer: newt

Newts are brightly-colored amphibians that can regenerate not only limbs, but also jaws, spinal cords, and eyes. In the Middle Ages, newts were associated with evil spirits. When threatened, the Spanish ribbed newt rotates its ribs forward, breaking them through the skin to form protective spikes that are coated with poison. Even deadlier is the rough-skinned newt, whose skin contains enough poison to kill 25,000 mice.