Animal Shadows in My Screen Trivia Quiz

Horses arrived in America with Christopher Columbus, and before too long there were horses on every ranch in Spanish Mexico. When Native Americans captured these ranches, the horses escaped and wandered all over the American Wild West for hundreds of years.

There are many breeds of horses, used for different purposes, such as riding or racing. A favorite on ranches in the western United States is the Quarter Horse, named for its swiftness in sprinting a quarter of a mile.

Butterflies have two pairs of wings, with patterns made of tiny, delicate scales. Most butterflies like wide open, sunny spaces, but some butterflies, like the White Admiral, prefer the woods and forests.

Butterflies are closely related to moths, and both kinds of insects are important for spreading pollen from flower to flower. (Pollen helps plants produce seeds). Every year, the orange and black Monarch butterflies migrate from Mexico to Canada and back again, a distance of 2000 miles or 3,200 kilometers.

Penguins cannot fly, but they are excellent swimmers, with wings like paddles. When a penguin stands and waddles, it looks rather like short, fat man dressed in a tuxedo. (The coloring is actually for camouflage.) The largest penguin, the Emperor penguin, lives around the South Pole.

The smallest penguin, called the little blue penguin or the fairy penguin, lives in New Zealand and Australia. The Maori people of New Zealand call them "koror".

Dolphins live around the world in both fresh and salt water, and they are closely related to whales. Most dolphins are 7-10 feet long (or 2-3 meters long), but some species reach 13 feet (4 meters).

Dolphins are mammals with smooth, rubbery skin, and they must come to the surface to breathe through their blowhole. (They are not fish, but mammals, and need air.) Dolphins are some the smartest and most playful creatures on Earth.

A hippo may look cute, but it is actually one of the most dangerous animals in Africa! The barrel-shaped hippo (or hippopotamus) can weigh more than 7000 pounds or 3,200 kilograms.

The name hippopotamus comes from Greek for "river horse". Hippos love to rest in shallow waters with perhaps just their noses above water. They can also walk underwater for several minutes. But they cannot swim!

Today hippos live only in Africa, but in prehistoric times they were in Europe, too, including Great Britain. Hippo fossils have even been found in London!

Kangaroos live mainly in Australia, although you may find them on nearby islands. Kangaroos do not walk but hop around on their hind legs -- and they cannot go backwards! They are marsupials, which means a mother kangaroo carries her young in her pouch. Kangaroos can stand as tall as 6 feet or 1.8 meters, and they can weigh as much as 200 pounds or 90 kilograms.

Kangaroos prefer grasslands. A closely related animal called the tree-kangaroo lives up in the branches of the rainforests in New Guinea, a large island near the tip of Australia. (They can be found in the northern part of Australia, too).

Farmers keep goats for their wool, milk, or meat, but there are also many wild goats in the mountains of Africa, Asia, and Europe. Goats thrive in places that don't have enough grass for sheep or cows. (They also chew the cud like sheep and cows.)

There are many species of goat. Male goats are called bucks or billies. Female goats are called does or nannies. Both may have horns, and most males grow beards.

The donkey belongs to the same family as the horse, but it is much, much smaller. It stands about 40 inches or 102 centimeters at the shoulder, although different breeds may be shorter or taller. It has a short, upright mane and rather long ears.

Donkeys are domesticated animals. Wild ones are usually called "asses". Donkeys in fact descend from the African wild ass, and they are used as beasts of burden all over the world because they can handle rocky, uneven ground better than a horse.

Don't confuse a donkey with a mule. A mule is what is known as a hybrid animal, which has a horse for a mother and a donkey for a father. Mules are the size of horses.

Wolves live in packs, hunt at night, and can travel long distances. They will eat squirrel and mice and also much larger animals such as deer and moose. Native Americans would often name their most powerful warriors after the wolf.

Wolves and dogs are closely related. In fact, dogs descend from wolves. Unlike dogs, all species of wolf are in danger of dying out. Their habitats are being destroyed, and people have a long history of fearing and despising the wolf. There are programs in place, however, to protect wolves.

Bears are large and powerful, and there are many kinds found all over Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Black bears and grizzly bears (large brown bears) live in North America. There are brown bears in Asia and Europe as well. Polar bears live far up north, above the Arctic circle.

Bears don't see very well, but their sense of smell is excellent. Most bears can climb trees and swim, and while they prefer meat, they will eat roots, seeds, berries, insects, and any human food they may find at campsites.

Bears sleep through the winter, and they tend to live alone, except for a mother and her cubs.