NML Skeletons Trivia Quiz

Answer: GIRAFFE

The giraffe is the world's largest ruminant, a mammal with multiple stomachs, and is the tallest of all the world's animals. It has been called a camel-leopard because of physical features it shared with both of those creatures.

Answer: WILDEBEEST

The wildebeest, also known as the gnu, is an antelope, and its populations are currently the most abundant source of wild game in East Africa. The name "wildebeest" comes from the Dutch for "wild cattle."

Answer: COYOTE

The coyote is also known as the prairie wolf, the brush wolf, and the American jackal. The animal's range extends from Panama in Central America all the way to certain parts of Alaska and Canada. The name "coyote" is a Mexican Spanish word derived from the Nahuatl word for "trickster." Several Native Americans used the coyote in their tales as a deceptive prankster.

Answer: CHEETAH

The cheetah is the only surviving species of the genus Acinonyx, which is from the Greek for "no-move-claw." This term refers to the rare quality of semi-retractable claws, a characteristic of only a few felines. These claws and the cheetah's muscles are what enable the animal to reach speeds of 70 to 75 miles per hour, thus making it the fastest land animal on the planet.

Incredibly, the cheetah can accelerate from 0 to 62 miles per hour in only three seconds! The cheetah and all of its subspecies exist in most all of Africa and in parts of the MIddle East and India.

The name "cheetah" is derived from Sanskrit and Hindi words meaning "variegated."

Answer: BABOON

There are five different species of baboons. Some mistakenly think of baboons as apes because of their size; however, baboons belong to the category of Old World monkeys. While Old World monkeys do have tails, they are not prehensile as are those of the new world monkeys. Baboons exist in parts of Africa and Arabia.

Answer: ANACONDA

"Anaconda" is often used to refer to any South American non-venomous constrictor; however, the term is more accurately used to refer to the snakes of the Eunectes genus, particularly the Eunectes murinus or green anaconda. The green anaconda is the world's heaviest snake, reaching in extreme cases 150 pounds, and one of the world's longest snakes, reaching in extreme cases twenty feet or a little longer.

They live in wetlands, such as marshes or swamps, and prey on fish, other reptiles, birds, and small mammals; however, they have been know to devour mammals as large as tapirs and capybaras.

Answer: EMU

The emu is the largest bird native to Australia, and it is the second tallest bird in the world (the tallest being the ostrich). According to some Aboriginal creation myths, the sun was created when an emu's egg was thrown into the sky.

Answer: ECHIDNA

The echidna is a monotreme, which means it is an egg-laying mammal. While it is sometimes referred to as the spiny anteater and its diet does consist of ants and termites, it is not truly related to the anteaters of North and South America (or to the aardvarks of Africa either, for that matter).

The echidna is named for the Greek goddess Echidna, a half-woman and half-snake being referred to as "the Mother of All Monsters."

Answer: OCELOT

The ocelot exists throughout South America, including some of that continent's nearby islands, as well as Central America, Mexico, and Texas. While the colors and patterns of its fur resemble those of a jaguar, the ocelot more closely resembles the house cat in size and shape. The ocelot is a nocturnal animal, and the female usually breeds once every two years.

Answer: EARWIG

The earwig exists on every continent of the world but Antarctica and is categorized into at least 2,000 species. The name earwig comes from the combination of two Old English words meaning "ear" and "insect." Long ago, many believed that the earwig entered a person's head from the ear and then laid eggs in that individual's brain. Earwigs do like holes and crevices and some on very rare occasions have found their way into the human ear, but they never make it past the eardrum nor lay eggs in human beings' bodies.

The female earwig lays from twenty to eighty eggs in her nest and then will consistently clean them and protect them from predators, making the female earwigs some of the only non-social insects that possess something akin to a maternal instinct.

The females also assist their nymphs in hatching and may continue to protect them for a while after they hatch.