Fake Gnus Trivia Quiz

Answer: giraffe

Giraffe is the more commonly-used name for a camelopard, which was the name given to the species around 1350-1400 from the Greek kámēlo(s) for "camel" plus pardalis meaning 'pard', an obsolete name for any brown-spotted big cat, especially the leopard.

The giraffe is the tallest living quadruped; having a spotted coat and small horns and very long neck and legs; of savannas of tropical Africa.

Answer: American bison (buffalo)

The photo is of an American bison or buffalo (Bison bison). Some insist that bison is correct and buffalo is a misnomer, because "true" buffaloes are animals like the Asian water buffalo and the African buffalo or Cape buffalo (Synerus caffer). Others say, a common name is a common name, after all. The confusion began when Samuel de Champlain applied the term buffalo ('buffles' in French) to the bison in 1616 after the indigenous Nipissing people showed him skins and drawings of the animals they hunted.

However you call this magnificent creature, standing over 6 feet tall and 10 feet long, it undeniable that before the 1800s some 30-60 million buffalo ranged from Canada to northern Mexico, stretching from the Plains to Eastern forests. By 1890, only a thousand remained, two dozen of which lived in Yellowstone Park. In the 21st century, not only have bison made a comeback in the wild, but they are also being raised as livestock. The fossil record shows that Yellowstone Park is the only place in the USA where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times.

Answer: sea lion

There are about six species of sea lions, ranging from the subarctic to tropical waters in the world's oceans (though not in the North Atlantic). Sea lions are quite social, and are rarely found alone. As carnivores they eat fish and seafood, especially squid, sardines, mackerel, and herring.

In turn, sharks and killer whales may hunt sea lions. They can see well above and below the water, but they cannot smell underwater (they keep their nostrils closed). To balance a ball they use their whiskers. Sea lions can swim at burst speeds up to 25 mph (40 km/h), but most of the time they swim around 11 mph (18 km/h).

It is crime to harass, hunt, capture, or kill sea lions or any other marine mammals in the United States.

Answer: lion

The lion is the second-largest of the big cats, behind the tiger. The average male lion weighs around 400 lbs (180 kg), while the average female weighs around 290 lbs (130 kg). A lion's roar, however, can travel up to 5 miles (8 km), whereas the tiger's roar can travel only 2 miles (3 km).

Although lions can run as fast as 50 mph (81 km/h), they lack stamina and can only maintain such high speeds in short bursts. Lions are the national animal of several countries, including Belgium, Luxembourg, Singapore, and Ethiopia. Members of this most social species of cat live in prides, in which the lionesses do most of the hunting.

There are no lions in tropical rainforests (jungles); rather they roam the savannas of Africa, where they hunt mostly antelopes, zebras, and gnus.

Answer: Mhorr's gazelle

The dama, also known as Mhorr's gazelle or simply Mhorr gazelle, lives in the Sahara desert and the Sahel, a transitional zone of semi-desert, scrubland, and woodland between the Sahara and the savannas of Sudan. Or rather, they used to occupy these areas; livestock farming has rendered the species nearly extinct in the wild. The largest among the gazelles, Mhorr's gazelle has extremely long legs, whose great surface area allow efficient cooling in the hot desert, which is fortunate as the dama is active during the day, unlike many desert creatures which are nocturnal. Damas warn each other by pronking, or hopping stiff-legged so that all four hooves leave the ground at once.

A gazelle is a graceful member of the antelope family. The Bactrian camel has two humps and is not an antelope. The Anglo-Nubian goat is not an antelope. The Chevrolet Impala is make of automobile (though an impala is medium-sized antelope of eastern and southern Africa).

Answer: leopard

A leopard (Panthera pardus) can be visually distinguished from a cheetah by its coat: while a leopard has spots arranged into rosettes, a cheetah has simple spots. (And cheetahs can't climb very well.) An opportunistic hunter, a leopard stalks its prey quietly, then pounces, taking down the hapless monkey or antelope (or gnu) with a bite to the neck, then holding it until the animal asphyxiates. (A mouse or a bird might get a fatal blow to the head instead.) Leopards range throughout Africa and Asia and communicate with distinctive calls.

The other species in the Panthera genus are the lion (P. leo), the tiger (P. tigris), the snow leopard (P. uncia), and the jaguar (P. onca). The cougar (Puma concolor) also known as the mountain lion, is not a member of the panther family and has no rosettes but rather is solid-colored.

Answer: ostrich

Ostriches cannot fly, but they can run up to 40 mph (64 km/h) over considerable distances. They may grow up to 9 ft (2.7 m) tall and weigh as much as 320 lbs (145 kg). Occupying African savannas and woodlands, the omnivorous ostrich eats seeds, roots, leaves, locusts, and even snakes and rodents.

While the males have bold black-and-white coloring, females are a dull brown. When threatened, ostriches might lie down with their heads pressed to the ground, which may have led to the myth that they bury their heads in the sand.

But if pressed to fight, their thin legs are so strong that they can kill a lion with a single blow.

Answer: elephant

Elephants are the largest land mammals and the only remaining species in the order Proboscidea, the mammoth and the mastodon having died out in prehistoric times. Wild elephants live in herds led by a matriarch and made up of female elephants and their juvenile offspring. Bulls (males) leave the herds at about age 15, and may remain solitary or form bachelor herds.

The elephant's trunk (or proboscis) is used for feeding, drinking (up to 60 gallons of water daily), smelling, touching, and communicating. An elephant has such fine motor skills that it can peel a banana with its trunk. Keeping elephants at zoos has become a rather controversial matter, with some zoos getting out of the business altogether. An elephant can recognize itself in a mirror, and it will appear to mourn when it encounters bones of its own kind.

Answer: rhinoceros

The rhino can go up to 4 or 5 days without water. There are five extant species of rhino - white and black (found in Africa), Indian, Javan, and Sumatran (found in southern Asia). The one pictured here from the Quizzyland Zoo is a white rhino. Rhinos have fantastic hearing and a great sense of smell, but terrible eyesight; they struggle to see beyond 90 ft (27 m). So if a rhino detects an unfamiliar noise or scent, it is likely to charge in its general direction. Rhinos wallow in the mud and then let it dry to protect their skin from the sun. Then they rub their bodies against trunks to remove ticks which have stuck to the dried mud.

The word "pachyderm" refers to large thick-skinned animals, particularly rhinos, elephants, and hippos.

Answer: zebras

Zoologists (scientists who study animals) have placed both zebras and rhinos in the order of mammals called Perissodactyla, which are all the hooved animals with an odd number of toes. (These are also called "odd-toed ungulates"). The order Perissodactyla includes horses, donkeys, rhinos, and tapirs. Zebras and horses have one toe on each foot. (Rhinos have three. Tapirs have four toes on on each front foot and three on the back, which itself is an odd thing!) Each zebra boasts a unique pattern of black-and-white stripes. Zoologists have proposed many theories to explain the stripiness of zebras, mostly to do with camouflage.

At only 3.5 to 5 feet tall, zebras are much smaller than most horses. Zebras cannot see the color orange.