Ralph the Llama's Battlefield Adventures Quiz

Answer: Pigs

Pliny the Elder reported the use of pigs to frighten elephants with their squeals, and they were apparently used as a defense against the invasion of Pyrrhus of Epirus, along with ox-drawn chariots that had long spikes protruding to injure the elephants as they passed, and soldiers were allocated the battle task of screaming at the top of their lungs. Procopius also records that the defenders of the Syrian city of Edessa hung a pig over the top of the city walls to frighten away Khosrau's siege elephants during the 6th century CE.

Crafted by looney_tunes, who is more fond of elephants than pigs.

Answer: World War I

During World War I, the United States Signal Corps used 600 pigeons for communications on the battlefield. Cher Ami had delivered eleven messages before being wounded on his last flight. He managed to make it back to his roost with his last message, saving 200 soldiers who were being shelled by their own artillery. The bird was saved by medics, although he lost a leg, and the men that he had saved made a wooden one for him. He died a year later; his preserved body now resides in the Smithsonian Institute. Besides being awarded the Croix de Guerre, he was inducted into the Racing Pigeon Hall of Fame in 1931 (yes, there IS such a thing!)

Crafted by PDAZ.

Answer: The Royal Welch

While this infantry battalion was once known as the Royal Welch Fusiliers, the tradition of including goats in its high-ranking roster has been around since the wars in America in the 18th century, at which time a goat interrupted a battle near Boston, Massachusetts. Since this time, the monarch of the United Kingdom has presented a goat to the unit, always renaming the 'soldier' William Windsor and giving the position of Lance Corporal. In some cases, the goats have won medals for services to the country. Since receiving a line of goats into the Kingdom in the 1830s, the William Windsors have always descended from the same bloodline for posterity and usually retire after an appropriate amount of years of services to the Queen and her country.

Incidentally, in this case "Welch" is pronounced "Welsh".

Crafted by Kyleisalive.

Answer: Gettysburg

Quite a few of the Civil War regiments had animal mascots. Wisconsin and Minnesota had bears. In fact, a bear (along with Confederates troops) was captured by Union forces at West Liberty, Kentucky. The 43rd Mississippi had a camel named Old Douglas that was used to carry supplies. The 8th Wisconsin Volunteers had a bald eagle, named Old Abe, who would fly over the battlefield out of reach of rifle fire and screech at the enemy. The Confederates referred to him as "that Yankee buzzard".

Interestingly, the Union won the war even without the use of llamas.

Crafted by Colonel Deputygary.

Answer: Penguin

Sir Nils Olav, whose official residence is Edinburgh Zoo, was knighted in 2008 after being given the "rank" of Colonel-in-Chief in the Norwegian army. Said penguin has performed these services since the 1980s and thus has had more experience in the army than many of its recruits. Named after a former King of Norway, Nils is the second penguin to fill the role since it was created in the early 1970s. A statue of this noble creature can be found in Scotland near his home in Edinburgh.

Crafted by Kyleisalive.

Answer: John Simpson Kirkpatrick

John Simpson Kirkpatrick, born and raised in England, arrived in Australia after abandoning a merchant navy ship in Newcastle, NSW at the age of 18. He dropped the 'Kirkpatrick' to help conceal his identity, and traveled the country for several years. At the outbreak of World War I he enlisted, hoping to get home to England to see his family before deploying in Europe. Instead, the 22 year old found himself among the first boats to land at ANZAC Cove on April 25, 1915. He and his fellow stretcher bearers carried the injured down steep gullies, under fire, back to the beach for treatment. On the second day, Simpson came across a stray donkey in one of the gullies, and realized that one man and a donkey would be a more efficient approach than several men and a stretcher. Simpson and his donkey quickly became the most prominent symbol of Australian mateship, courage and tenacity at Gallipoli, with Simpson reported to whistle as he led the donkey through fire. They rescued over 300 men in 24 days. Simpson was shot in Shrapnel Gully on the night of 18-19 May, and was buried at Hell Spit the following evening. His donkey was eventually evacuated to Mudros, and disappeared from historical records. Simpson and his donkey have featured on Australian stamps, medallions and currency, and their story is taught to Australian schoolchildren.

Crafted by Looney_tunes.

Answer: Dolphins

The US Navy's Marine Mammal Program trains dolphins in San Diego Bay to perform a number of different tasks. Dolphins can be trained to use their echolocation abilities to detect mines even when they are buried in the sediment on the seafloor. When a mine is detected the dolphins can release buoys marking the spot.

Dolphins can also be trained to detect enemy divers and attach devices to their air tanks; the devices are attached to buoys which show where the intruding divers are located. Sea lions can also be trained to detect intruders and attach buoys to them by handcuffing the device to the divers' wrists.

Flopsymopsy crafted this.

Answer: Traveller

A grey gelding, born in 1857 and outliving his master, Traveller was 16 hands high and weighed 1,100 pounds. After his death in 1871 his remains were interred behind the buildings at Washington and Lee University. However this was not the end of his story. His body was exhumed and the bones were bleached and sent to New York for a display. His remains were later purchased and shipped back to Virginia in 1907 and went through a sequence of events until finally being buried next to the family crypt of General Lee.

This was crafted by Exit10.

Answer: William III

William III of Orange became king of England, Scotland and Ireland following the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688. Many inhabitants of Scotland were opposed to the takeover by this Protestant king and so incited several rebellions. Collectively, these were known as the "Jacobite Rebellions". The term "Jacobite" derives from Jacobus, the Latin for James, in relation to King James VII (II) whom the Jacobites were trying to restore to the throne. These conflicts would last well into the long reign of George II of Hanover, finally officially ending in 1746.

William was said to have died from pneumonia as a result of the broken collar bone he suffered after falling from his horse.

Question crafted by doublemm.

Answer: Clearing land mines

The Gambian giant pouched rat (Crycetomis gambiansis) has a keen sense of smell, allowing it to detect explosives. Its small size means it (usually) doesn't trigger the mines. The non-profit organisation APOPO, based in Tanzania, trains the rats, which offer a low-technology to the problem of leftover landmines in war-torn parts of Africa. The HeroRATS, as they are called, are trained with a clicker to associate the smell of explosives with a food treat. In the field, the rat is harnessed to a rope held by two handlers, who note where it stops, then move the rope sideways for the next sweep. Later the mines which have been detected can be safely detonated by humans.

Looney_tunes and Ralph both agree that rats are more suited to this task than are llamas.