The Animals of Kenya Trivia Quiz

Answer: baboons

These are actually olive baboons, which can be found in 25 countries in Africa. An adult baboon can weigh anywhere from 10-37 kg (or 22-82 lb), with males weighing more than females. Males also have a thicker mane of hair than females.

These two immature baboons are picking bugs out of each other's fur. This not only helps keep the baboon free from itchy bugs, but also serves as a snack!

Answer: wildebeest

Wildebeest means wild cattle in Afrikaans and they can grow as large as 270 kg or 600 lb. While most of the time you can see these antelopes in small groups or even by themselves, every year they migrate in massive numbers. These migrations take place at the end of the rainy season, when water becomes scarce and then, when the rainy season begins again, they move back to the areas where drinking water is readily available.

Answer: elephant

African elephants have larger ears than Asian elephants. They use these ears to make themselves appear bigger when threatened, and to help cool themselves down.
Elephants live in herds that are made up of females and younger males. When a male elephant reaches the age of puberty (from 13-16), he either chooses to leave or is encouraged to leave the herd. Adult males tend to live alone or sometimes form boys' clubs.
The male elephant is larger than the female and averages 4,700- 6,000 kg (10,360-13,330 lb) in weight.

Answer: hyena

This is a spotted hyena, and they tend to live and hunt in groups. The day we took this picture, there were several groups of babies being watched by one adult female.
Hyenas have long been thought to be mainly scavengers, taking food that the big cats have hunted. Films taken at night have since proved this to be not true. While hyenas do engage in some scavenging, they hunt approximately 95% of the food they eat and lions have been caught on film taking food away from hyenas.
The female hyena is actually larger than the male, with an average weight of 44.5-63.9 kg (98-141 lb).

Answer: Cape Buffalo

Also known as an African buffalo, the Cape buffalo is a bovine, which means that it is related to the cow. These animals have never been domesticated though, mostly because of their fierce tempers and unpredictable behaviour. When talking to people who live in the area, we learned that this animal is the one that is most feared by the locals because there were tricks you can use to minimise danger from the other wild animals, but none that work with the Cape buffalo.
They can weigh as much as 900 kg (or 2,000 lb).

Answer: lion

Males lions can weigh as much as 250 kg (550 lb), which makes it the second largest cat in the world, second only to the tiger. But since there are no tigers in Africa, the lion is the largest cat in Africa. Lions are considered a vulnerable species, due to poaching and loss of habitat. They live in prides that are made up of young, related females and a small number of adult males.

The pride we saw had only one male. They are primarily nocturnal and the females provide almost all of the food for the pride.

They only live 10-14 years in the wild, with males seldom living more than 10 years because of the fighting they do with other male lions. They have been known to live as long as 20 years in captivity.

Answer: monitor lizard

There are over 70 types of monitor lizards, including the komodo dragon. Some are venomous, some live in trees and some are partly aquatic. All are carnivorous and enjoy eating eggs of other animals, including crocodiles.
Given the size, location and pointiness of nose, this lizard is most likely a Nile monitor lizard. They average about 160 cm (5 ft 3 in) in length but can grow as large as 244 cm (8 ft). Our guide estimated that this one was about 6 ft long.
There have been populations of monitor lizards found in Florida, likely started because of escaped pets. They are viewed as an invasive species here and are providing a threat to native animals.

Answer: warthog

Warthogs are in the same family as pigs. They have four tusks, one pair coming out of the top of their mouth and a smaller pair coming out of their lower jaw. The lower set are very sharp because they rub against the top pair every time the warthog opens or closes its mouth. These tusks are used for protection, digging and fighting other warthogs.
They can grow as large as 150 kg (330 lb). Their diet consists of grass, fruit, berries, fungus, eggs and yes, insects. They have also been known to eat the remains left behind from predators' kills.

Answer: termites

Termites that build mounds like this one live in Africa, Australia and South America. Inside the mound there is a complicated series of tunnels and ventilation shafts that are dug by worker termites. Underneath the mound there is an underground nest which even has a cellar under that. Worker termites are small (about 1 cm in length), wingless and blind and generally never leave the mound/nest.

They find food and feed the other termites. The soldier termites protect the mound and nest. They do this by biting intruders, after spreading their saliva between their mandibles.

The saliva is usually toxic or it can become sticky like glue. Each nest contains one king and queen who produce the rest of the termites. The queen grows to be the largest of all the termites, up to 6 cm (just over 2 in) long. In areas where there are a lot of elephants, termite mounds are smaller and more rounded because the elephants like to rub their bellies on them.

Answer: impala

Although the word impala means gazelle in Zulu, an impala is very different from a gazelle and has its own subfamily status.
They are a medium sized antelope, with the larger male averaging 40 to 74 kg (88 to 165 lb). This impala is clearly a female as males have long, curved, pointed horns. Their diet consists of grasses, leaves, some flowers and seeds.

The Chevrolet Impala was first manufactured in 1958 and has been in almost continual production (with many changes of course) from then right up to the 2014 model.