Werewolves! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Canis lupus

Gray wolves (or just plain wolves) are the largest members of the family Canidae, and are generally the highest-ranking predator in any particular area (barring, of course, Homo sapiens). The heaviest wolves have reached 170 pounds in weight (79 kg), and they share an ancestry with domestic dogs. Canis adustus is a jackal, Canis latrans is a coyote and Australopithecus afarensis is an extinct hominid.

Answer: Someone who dislikes other people

The 'anthrope' part of 'lycanthrope' simply means human, so a 'misanthrope' is actually someone with a hatred of humanity. Another cool 'anthrope' word is 'anthropophagus', which means someone who eats humans (a cannibal).

Answer: Taylor Lautner

Taylor Lautner starred as the werewolf Jacob Black in the "Twilight" movies, and has appeared on the covers of every celebrity magazine out there. In an amazingly cute coincidence, the Michigan actor in 2009 began dating singer Taylor Swift, thus making the couple Taylor Squared. He also used to date singer/actress Miley Cyrus.

Answer: 1981

For whatever reason, werewolves took over all media in 1981, and they didn't slow down for years--a couple years later, Ozzy Osbourne dressed up like a lycanthrope for his "Bark at the Moon" album, "London" and "Howling" pumped out sequels and "The Beast Within" was filmed in 1982. And then "Teen Wolf" came along and changed the world.

I loved "Teen Wolf".

Answer: Fangface

"Fangface" was a great title--the character of Sherman Fangsworth, when he went to wolf form, indeed had one big fang in his face. The other kids were Kim, Biff and Puggsy. I still remember this thrilling introduction to every show: "Every 400 years, a baby werewolf is born into the Fangsworth family, and so when the moon shined on little Sherman Fangsworth, he changed into Fangface, a werewolf! Only the sun can change him back to normal. And so little Fangs grew up and teamed up with three daring teenagers: Kim, Biff and Puggsy, and together they find danger, excitement and adventure! Who can save the day? Who can wrong the rights and right the wrongs? None other than Fangface!"

Answer: Acne

Other signs that your neighbor might actually be the wolf that took out all your chickens last week? A long index finger, being born on Christmas, a crescent-shaped birthmark, or unusually pale skin are all good tip-offs.

Answer: Lozère, France

The Russians call a werewolf an 'oborat', the Argentinians worry about the 'lobizón' and the 'Varulv' howls in Denmark. But the loup-garou is the French name for our shape-shifting friend.

Incidentally, the region of Lozère was previously called Gévaudan, and from 1764 to 1767 the region was besieged by huge wolf-like creatures that terrorized and ate the local population--one author estimates that 113 people died during the three years of horror.

Answer: Ovid

According to Ovid, Lycaon didn't believe that he was entertaining a god, and resolved to test him using this grisly method. Zeus, not pleased, turned Lycaon (note the name) into a wolf and blasted his fifty sons with thunderbolts. A drastic move, perhaps, but understandable. In some versions of the story one of the sons survives.

Answer: Werewolf: The Apocalypse

In "Werewolf: The Apocalypse", the werewolves are the good guys, defending humanity and the planet itself from the forces of darkness--notably those who serve the Wyrm and want to bring about the world's destruction (hence 'Apocalypse'). White Wolf phased out the first version of the game in 2004, replacing it with the new version "Werewolf: The Forsaken" in 2005.

Answer: Getting bitten by a werewolf

It's not easy tracking this kind of stuff down, obviously--the Library of Congress is getting tired of me calling with questions about werewolf virus transmission and what syphilis was called in the fourteenth century--but the modern idea of a werewolf's bite causing one to become a werewolf oneself seems to be fairly recent. Most of the common methods of acquiring lycanthropy involve sleeping outside during a full moon, being the seventh son of a seventh son, wearing a wolfskin belt or making a deal with the devil. Or, of course, the three Native American beliefs I list above.

Answer: Michael Chabon

One of the stories in "Werewolves in Their Youth" was putatively written by August Van Zorn, a fictional creation of Chabon's from "Wonder Boys". The New York Times wasn't a big fan of the collection--reviewer Michael Gorra said that "it's hard to see these stories as an advance on his earlier work."

Answer: Dog Soldiers

Director Neil Marshall (who also wrote "Dog Soldiers") had a tremendous amount of fun with the movie, throwing in references to the Kobayashi Maru, "The Matrix" ('there is no spoon') and many other great sf and horror films--characters are named 'Harry G. Wells' (or H.G. Wells) and Bruce Campbell (as in the star of "The Evil Dead").

The movie is tense and unrelenting, and I fully recommend it to anyone interested in horror and werewolves.

Answer: Warren Zevon

Zevon released the song on his album "Excitable Boy", and it featured Mick Fleetwood and John McVie of Fleetwood Mac on backing drums and bass. The tune hit #21 on America's Top 40 list, Zevon's highest-ranking solo song. When actor and wrestler Jesse Ventura won the governorship of Minnesota, he played "Werewolves of London" (for some inexplicable reason) at his inauguration party. Ah-OOOOO!

Answer: Michael Landon

Landon had one heck of a successful television run--his three consecutive series ("Bonanza", in which he played Little Joe, ran from 1959-1973, "Little House on the Prairie" followed, running from 1974-1983, and then "Highway to Heaven", in which he played the angel Smith, went from 1984-1989) brought him fame and the admiration of his peers, but never an Emmy Award.

In "Highway to Heaven", one of the episodes was called "I Was a Middle Aged Werewolf", and had an in-joke or two referring to the star's past movie performance. Landon died in 1991.

Answer: Give a werewolf Holy Communion

As the story goes, the priest was eventually talked into giving the dying wolf (a human who had been cursed) the wafer, but he later had doubts about whether he had done the right thing. He took the problem to his bishops, and there were several heavy debates on the issue. Eventually, the question went to the Pope, who declared the whole thing a miracle and let it go at that.

Answer: Hypertrichosis

Hypertrichosis (either generalized or localized) can be either inherited or acquired, and the hair can show up in only a few places, or all over the body. Many sufferers of this syndrome have become sideshow performers (including Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Man and Annie Jones, the bearded woman). The disease was also shown in the movie "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus", in which Robert Downey, Jr's character is afflicted with it.

Thanks to Vera2012 for pointing me toward this syndrome!

Answer: Basketball

There are some hilarious scenes in the movie when Fox (in wolf form) starts doing Harlem Globetrotters stuff with the basketball. His popularity grows immensely, and he starts forgetting his true friends (and the girl who's loved him forever), but by the end of the movie he decides to return to the person he once was, and to play the championship game in human form. You can guess what happens, and whom he ends up with.

Answer: Seth Green

Oz was bitten by his cousin Jordy and became a wolf the next subsequent full moon. After a close shave (he was almost killed by a werewolf hunter), he started locking himself in a cage the nights around the full moon. Eventually he learned how to control the changes, using mental techniques learned in Tibet, but Green (and Oz) left the series during the fourth season.

Answer: Rampage

In "Rampage" you climbed buildings and knocked holes in windows so you could get to the food inside. 'Food' included roast chickens, apples and (of course) puny human soldiers. You had to worry about helicopters and tanks, and you NEVER ate a toaster while it was toasting bread. Once your damage got too bad, you turned back into a human and tried to get offscreen.

Answer: Belarus

Polotsk is on the Dvina River in Belarus, and has a long, interesting history: it is first mentioned as existing in 862, at which time it was a heavily fortified city. Vseslav was a warrior-prince, sacking Novgorod in 1067, controlling Minsk for a time, then getting captured and imprisoned.

He was released during the Kiev Uprising in 1068 and became the Grand Prince of Kiev, but was deposed seven months later and fled back to Polotsk.