Select My Species Trivia Quiz

Answer: Monkey

Marcel is the capuchin monkey owned by Ross on "Friends". He appeared in eight episodes of season one and made a couple of brief appearances later in the show.

Rachel loses him in one episode and reports him missing which angers Ross because it is illegal for him to own an exotic animal and this brings it to the notice of the authorities. He manages to keep him by blackmailing the officer who found him after she shoots Phoebe with the tranquilizer gun.

He didn't get to stay for long as Ross had to give him to a zoo when he reached full sexual maturity.

Answer: Octopus

Aristotle is the pet of Pugsley in "The Addams Family". He stars in a few episodes - when Pugsley neglects him, takes him to school and when he forgets to feed him and he appears in numerous other episodes as a background figure. We see him being washed in the back garden by Gomez, sleeping under Pugsley's bed and often see Morticia knitting sweaters for him.

Other pets of the family include Wednesday's spider Homer, Kitty Kat the family lion and Morticia's two pet vultures Hubert and Henery.

Answer: Horse

Silver was the trusty steed of the Lone Ranger named by Tonto because his white coat looked the colour in the sun. The Ranger's original horse was called Dusty but he was shot by an outlaw the pair were pursuing. While travelling through Wild Horse Canyon they see the white horse being attacked by a buffalo and save his life and nurse him back to health.

Although he wishes to keep him the Ranger sets him free but the horse chooses to stay with him of his own free will and the pair become a formidable duo.

Answer: Chimpanzee

Bear is owned by Billie Joe McKay in "B.J. and the Bear". B.J. is a trucker who travels around in his Kenworth rig helping people in distress - usually pretty girls. Bear is his constant companion and adds the requisite 'cute factor' to the show. He is named after Bear Bryant, University of Alabama football coach, and wears the same houndstooth cap as his namesake.

Other famous chimpanzees on TV include Cheeta, Tarzan's sidekick; Buttons from "Me and the Chimp"; Judy from "Daktari" and J.Fred Muggs who was David Garraway's partner in the early episodes of "The Today Show".

Answer: Lion

Clarence first appeared in a 1965 movie titled "Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion" which led to the three year TV series "Daktari" which commenced the year after. The series is based on veterinarian Dr Marsh Tracey and his daughter Paula who run an animal hospital in Africa. Clarence is adopted by the sanctuary because his eyes made it impossible for him to hunt in the wild.

Clarence (originally Freddie) was born with the strabismus in a US Wildlife reserve and noticed by movie producer Ivan Tors who saw his potential. Training was difficult because of his disability but he was an amazingly gentle lion who would grow to work with both children and other animals.

Answer: Pig

Arnold is the Chester white pig from "Greenacres" who is owned by Fred and Doris Ziffel. The pair have no children and treat Arnold as if he was their son. Arnold watches TV, plays the piano, is writing a novel and also paints. He attends the local school with the other children and everyone in Hooterville accepts him as a human except for Oliver Douglas who keeps trying to tell everyone that he is just a pig.

Arnold was actually a piglet so had to be played by numerous 'actors' throughout the six year series - most of them being female. He also had a union contract and was paid $250 a day for his role.

Answer: Alligator

Elvis belonged to Sonny Crocket on "Miami Vice". He used to be the mascot for the Florida Gators before he bit someone on the opposing team. Crocket kept him to guard his houseboat but Elvis mostly just ate and slept. If he was awake he would scare off intruders but otherwise he let them have free reign.

He also visited other boats in the marina and ate their food and then destroyed the place. Elvis appeared in the first two seasons of the show and then just disappeared without any explanation.

Answer: Bear

Ben was the black bear from the series "Gentle Ben". He made his first appearance in a novel of the same name by Walt Morey and then a 1967 movie "Gentle Giant." The series follows the friendship between the large bear and Mark Wedloe, the son of a wildlife officer.

Bruno the Bear played Ben most frequently although others were used depending on what kind of behaviour was needed - he did not like to run so running scenes were done by a bear named Buck.

Bruno was bought by a reserve that specialised in animal actors after his mother was killed by a hunter shortly after he was born; he was declawed and had his teeth removed on arrival at the centre. During filming of the show he lived with head trainer Monty Cox in an apartment in Miami where he would often shower and sleep with the bear.

Answer: Cockatoo

Fred is the triton cockatoo owned by Detective Tony Barratta on "Barretta". The bird is usually perched on his shoulder and has quite a large vocabulary which he uses throughout the show.

Fred is also played by a number of different birds all owned by animal trainer Ray Berwick but the main star is a female called LaLa. Berwick bought the cockatoo from a man in Hong Kong and she could originally only speak Chinese but learnt English very quickly. Stunt doubles included Harold, Flying Sweetheart, Pookie and Lion Country Sweetheart.

Fred was originally supposed to be a mynah bird but Berwick bought LaLa along for the producers to meet and she got the part. She also increased the number of parrots that people bought as companion pets after the series was aired.

Answer: Kangaroo

"Skippy the Bush Kangaroo" was a 1960's Australian TV show that ran for 91 episodes. It was set in the Waratah National Park and featured the adventures of Sonny Hammond, son of the Head Ranger, and his pet kangaroo who understands everything that is said to her and often saves the day.

Skippy is a female eastern grey and at least nine different kangaroos were used for every episode. They were not 'actors' like the other candidates so they were given chocolate and chewing gum to make their mouths moves so it looked like they were 'talking' with the clicking sound she made. Sometimes a rubber band was placed around the lower jaw to achieve the same effect. This sound is not natural to a kangaroo and was made up to simulate her talking.