Match the Animal to its Voice Trivia Quiz

Answer: bleat

A lamb is a baby sheep. Sheep, like cows and goats, are ruminant mammals, which means they digest their food in a stomach which has four compartments. A male sheep is known as a ram and the female sheep is a ewe. Sheep are farmed in many countries across the world for food and also for their fleece, which is shorn to obtain wool. Lambs are generally born in the springtime; their birth is referred to as 'lambing'.

The popular nursery rhyme 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' was written by the American author Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1879).

Answer: buzz

The bee has a four-stage life cycle; egg, larva, pupa, adult. The bees in the hive are made up of one queen bee, whose job it is to lay the eggs, drones whose sole task is to mate with the queen, and the female worker bees. These worker bees, as their name suggests, are responsible for the construction and upkeep of the hive, collection of pollen and feeding the new larvae once they have emerged from their eggs.

A person who keeps bees is called an apiarist. Bees have many valuable benefits to the world. They make honey by collecting pollen from flowers, which in turn helps to pollinate crops and flowers, and also the beeswax can be harvested to be used in furniture polish. They also produce a substance called royal jelly, which is used in some cosmetics and, most importantly, in health care.

Answer: hiss

The snake, or serpent, is mentioned in the Bible, in Genesis, Chapter 3, as the creature which tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.

Snakes are found on every continent in the world with the exception of Antarctica. There are, however, no snakes in New Zealand or Ireland and some other islands. In Great Britain there are only three native snakes; the grass snake and the smooth snake, which are non-poisonous, and the adder, which is venomous. There is also the slow worm, which is often mistaken for a snake, although it is technically a legless lizard. This too is completely harmless.

Answer: meow

Our pet cats have many distinct sounds which they use to communicate with us, including of course, the purring of a contented cat, which is hard to resist. On the other hand, they can growl and spit when displeased about something! When you include the 'chattering' noise a cat makes when it sees a mouse or a bird through a window and the chirruping sounds they can make to welcome you home, as well as all the other vocalisations they are capable of, you will see that your cat has many ways in which to communicate with us vocally.

Cats were revered as sacred animals in ancient Egyptian culture. The goddess Bastet is often shown with the head of a cat, and as cats were sacred to her many cats used to be mummified after their death. Cats are also depicted in many other ancient cultures. They played a prominent role in Norse mythology, as the chariot driven by the goddess Freyja is said to have been drawn along by cats.

Answer: hoot

Harry Potter's owl, Hedwig, made her first appearance in the first book of the series, 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'. Hagrid bought her for Harry at Eeylops Owl Emporium in Diagon Alley when he was taking Harry to select his wand, cauldron, books and other items he would need to take to Hogwarts for his first term. She was a faithful companion to Harry and sadly met her end when hit by a Killing Curse in the last book 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'.

An owl is featured in the charming 'nonsense' poem 'The Owl and the Pussycat' by Edward Lear, in which the two animals 'sailed away in a beautiful pea green boat' to the 'Land where the Bong Tree grows' in order to get married.

Answer: croak

Both frogs and toads croak. Both start life as an egg, which hatches into a tadpole before metamorphosis further changes them into their mature adult form. A tadpole is essentially the larval stage, when the limbs are grown and the long tail is gradually reabsorbed into the body. Also at this stage the breathing organs change from the gills of the tadpole, which enable it to breathe underwater, to the lungs that are needed to breathe air in the frog or toad's adult form.

The croaking voices of frogs and toads can be unexpectedly loud for such a comparatively small creature! Most active at dusk and night time, if you have a pond in your garden you may hear them croaking, particularly during the breeding season.

Probably the best-known fictional frog or toad is Mr Toad of Toad Hall, the character immortalised in Kenneth Grahame's 'The Wind in the Willows'.

Answer: neigh

Horses have been domesticated for over five thousand years. As well as being trained for sporting events such as racing, dressage etc. they have been used for many working purposes, which can vary according to the breed. Some breeds have particular areas of fame, such as the Budweiser Clydesdales which are featured in their promotions. A horse's height is measured in hands.

Horses are equine animals, belonging to the Equidae family which includes ponies, donkeys and zebras. Female horses, called mares, have a gestation period of around eleven months, which seems a long time to wait for a baby! An interesting fact is that unlike humans and many other animals, they lack a collarbone (clavicle).

Answer: sing

The largest animal in the world is the blue whale, which can reach nearly a hundred feet long. Although they live in the sea, whales are not fish, they are mammals. Mammals are distinguished from fish because they give birth to live babies, which they suckle, as opposed to fish, which lay eggs. Blue whales feed on krill, which is a small crustacean sea-dwelling creature.

The sound a whale makes is called singing, because the sound is reminiscent of music. It is a very peaceful sound and is sometimes recorded to play back to help people relax.

Answer: bark

There are so many different breeds of dogs to choose from, when choosing a new puppy or dog you can feel quite spoilt for choice! Dogs have been kept by humans either for working purposes or as pets for thousands of years. They are highly intelligent animals. As well as popular pets and companions, some breeds are used as working dogs, which could involve anything from herding farm animals, guide dog work, medical detection, police and security work and many other purposes.

There are so many dogs that have appeared in films, they are too numerous to mention. Just a couple of very well-known examples are Toto the cairn terrier, played by a dog named Terry in 'The Wizard of Oz', and the huge Saint Bernard dog in the film 'Beethoven'. Dogs frequently appear in cartoons too - who can resist the spaghetti-eating scene in Disney's 1955 animated film 'Lady and the Tramp'?

Answer: squeak

The three other animals in this quiz who might want a mouse for a tasty snack are the snake, cat and owl. Mice are mainly nocturnal animals, meaning that they are most active at night time. They don't have very good eyesight, but their senses of both hearing and smell are highly developed, which help both in finding food and avoiding predators when living in the wild.

As well as being wild creatures, domesticated mice are sometimes kept as pets. They are playful and can be very entertaining, and are quite easy to keep. Mice are herbivores and therefore like to eat vegetables, and there are also many commercially-produced foods available at your local pet shop.