The Flora and Fauna of the High Veldt Quiz

Answer: Rosettes

Rudyard Kipling wasn't wrong about leopards having spotted coats, as they do have spots on some parts of their bodies, mainly their heads, bellies and limbs. However, leopard coats also have a type of marking called a rosette, a cluster of black spots grouped around a darker patch of fur that vaguely resembles a rose. Jaguars also have them, as do lion cubs, snow leopards, king cheetahs and lion/tiger hybrids such as the ligon.

In 'How the Leopard Got His Spots', the leopard originally has a coat that Kipling describes as 'greyish-yellowish'. He and his human friend, an Ethiopian man, both camouflage themselves so that they can better hunt the local wildlife; the Ethiopian turns his skin black, and gives the leopard spots by touching his fur.

Answer: True

Just as every human has different fingerprints, every giraffe has a different coat. The squarish patches on a giraffe's coat can range from orange to chestnut to brown in colour. South Africa has its own subspecies, the South African or Cape giraffe, which has dark brown, rounded patches on its coat. The different coat patterns enable giraffes to recognise each other, and researchers also use them to determine which giraffes have been born in captivity and which in the wild. The patches also help determine a giraffe's age, as they grow darker over time.

The giraffe in 'How the Leopard Got His Spots', which I assume is a South African giraffe, starts off with a 'rich fulvous orange-tawny' coat. It gets patches on its coat by hiding in a forest, with the shadows cast by the trees giving it its coat pattern. The Ethiopian can smell and hear the giraffe, and recognises its kicks, but he cannot see it until it reveals itself.

Answer: Tree zebra

The common or plains zebra, mountain zebra and Grévy's zebra are the three major zebra species. The Grévy's zebra is the biggest zebra species and the most threatened, and lives in Ethiopia and Kenya; the mountain zebra, the smallest of the three, lives in southwestern Africa and the plains zebra in Southern and Eastern Africa. Plains zebras also have broader stripes than Grévy's and mountain zebras. Like giraffes, zebras have unique coat patterns. While they have been trained to pull carriages, attempts to domesticate them have failed due to their aggressive nature, hence why you'll never see anyone riding a zebra.

In 'How the Leopard Got His Spots', the zebra has a plain coat that is described as 'decliate greyish-fawn'. It hides in the forest and the shadows from the trees create the stripes on its coat. When the leopard and the Ethiopian are in the forest, the leopard catches an animal that smells, feels and kicks like the zebra, but he cannot tell for sure what it is and sits on its head until the morning comes. In the morning, the leopard and the Ethiopian are astonished to see that both the giraffe and the zebra have changed colour. The zebra stands near some thorn bushes and hides in the striped shadows.

Answer: Giant eland

The giant eland is native to Central and Western African countries such as Senegal, Chad and Guinea, while the common eland is native to East and Southern African countries such as Ethiopia, Eswatini and, of course, South Africa. Both eland varieties are among the world's largest antelope species. The common eland's coat is tan in colour, with the male being darker than the female, and its markings vary depending on its habitat; common elands in the northern part of their range have stripes on their torsos and dark patches on their legs. Some males in the Karoo semi-desert region may have white stripes.

Elands communicate by barking, and and a clicking sound can also be heard when eland herds are on the move. This is thought to be caused by their hooves splaying apart.

Answer: Stripes

Kipling describes the eland and the kudu as 'growing darker, with little wavy grey lines on their backs like bark on a tree-trunk' when they go into the forest to hide from the leopard and the Ethiopian. This description of a kudu's coat isn't actually that far off, as both the lesser and greater kudu have thin, grey to white lines on their backs, and the coat does indeed help to camouflage the animal. Female lesser kudus have reddish-brown coats, while males start off that way but grow darker as they age. Greater kudus' coats can be a similar colour, or bluish-grey. Both species have long spiral horns, and the male greater kudu has a white chevron-shaped mark on its head.

The greater kudu is native to Eastern and Southern Africa, so presumably the kudu that Kipling mentions in the story is the greater variant.

Answer: Yes

Yes, a 'bonte-buck' is a real animal, but Kipling spelled its name wrong! 'Bonte-buck' is an Anglicisation of bontebok, another species of antelope found in South Africa. The bontebok has a dark chocolate brown coat with white patches on its legs, belly and rear, and a white stripe or 'blaze' down its face. Unlike other antelope species, bontebok are not very good at jumping, although they can crawl under things to hide; this actually saved them from dying out, as Alexander van der Bijl, a Dutch farmer, managed to corral a herd of the animals with fences. The herd was subsequently moved to the Bontebok National Park in 1931 in order to preserve the species, and numbers grew again.

'Bok' is an Afrikaans word meaning 'antelope', 'deer' or 'goat'. Oher antelopes with 'bok' in their name include the grey rhebok, which gave its name to the sportswear company Reebok, and the springbok, the national animal of South Africa. As rugby union fans will know, 'the Springboks' is the nickname of the South Africa rugby union team.

Answer: Kongoni

The hartebeest is a type of antelope with a long face similar to that of the wildebeest. The red hartebeest, or Cape hartebeest, is the most common species and has a reddish-brown coat. The hartebeest was initially thought to be a deer, hence its name, which comes from the Dutch for 'deer beast'. Hartebeest live in packs and when predators (such as leopards) chase them, they run in a zigzag pattern to try and throw the predator off. Although the red hartebeest had been eliminated from several areas of South Africa in the past, it was later reintroduced. 'Kongoni' is the Swahili name for the hartebeest.

Gnu is an alternative name for the wildebeest, while the topi and sitatunga are other species of African antelope; the topi is a relative of the hartebeest.

Answer: Hyrax

Despite its nickname of 'rock rabbit', the hyrax actually looks more like a chinchilla or guinea pig and is not remotely related to rabbits. It is native to Africa and, in the case of the rock hyrax, the Middle East as well. Despite not looking anything like an elephant or manatee, it has some physical similarities. For example, male hyraxes do not have a scrotum, while female hyraxes have teats near their armpits. The hyrax also has incisor tusks like an elephant.

According to Jewish law, the hyrax is not considered to be kosher as it does not have cloven hooves (Leviticus 11:5 and Deuteronomy 14:7). It also gets a mention in Psalm 104 and Proverbs 30:26, where it is referred to as a 'coney' or 'badger' in some translations.

Answer: Chacma baboon

The chacma baboon was originally lumped in with the hamadryas baboon and then the yellow baboon, but is now classified as its own species. With its long muzzle, it does have a dog-like face, as well as a long body. Their coats are brown, and vary in colour depending on subspecies. Cape chacmas have darker coats, while grey-footed chacmas have lighter ones. One chacma baboon, named Fred, gained notoriety for leading a gang of baboons that attacked tourists and locals in Cape Town, and would raid homes and cars as well. Another chacma baboon called Jack assisted a disabled signalman at Port Elizabeth, after being trained to push his wheelchair and operate railway signals. (Maybe he was one of Baviaan's descendants!)

The Kinda baboon is native to Angola, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and possibly Tanzania as well. The hamadryas baboon can be found in the Horn of Africa and the southwestern Arabian Peninsula, and featured in Ancient Egyptian mythology; it was associated with Thoth, the god of scribes and the moon. The red or Guinea baboon lives in Western African countries such as Guinea, Mali and Senegal.

Answer: No

Sadly, unlike the other animals in this quiz at the time of writing, the quagga died out long ago. Rudyard Kipling was born in 1865, so the quagga would have been alive during his lifetime, but not for long; it was hunted to extinction in the late 19th century and had died out in the wild by 1878. Unlike other types of zebra, the quagga was not striped all over; only the front part of its body was striped, while its rear was plain and brown. While attempts were made to breed quaggas in zoos, they were unsuccessful. The last quagga in captivity died in Amsterdam in 1883. Only one quagga, a female at London Zoo, was photographed while alive.

Of the subspecies of zebra living today, Burchell's zebra is genetically the closest to the quagga, and the Quagga Project in South Africa is an attempt to recreate the quagga's coat by selectively breeding Burchell's zebras. The Quagga Project's first zebra foal was born in 1988; Henry, a foal with a quagga-like coat, was born in 2005.