Gone the Way of the Dodo Trivia Quiz

Answer: fruit

Flying foxes belong to the genus Pteropus of the family Pteropodidae, also known as megabats because of their size and weight. Another name for these distinctive mammals is "fruit bats", as their diet consists largely of fruit, plentiful in their tropical habitat; this gives them a very important role in seed dispersal.

The small Mauritian (or lesser Mascarene) flying fox (Pteropus subniger) - nicknamed "rougette" by early French travelers - lived on the islands of Mauritius and Réunion, which are part of the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean. According to some 18th-century accounts, these bats were abundant on the islands, where they lived in large roosts - comprising more than 400 individuals - in caves or the hollows of dead trees. Unfortunately, they were actively hunted by both natives and European settlers, while deforestation deprived them of their habitat, eventually leading to their extinction some time during the 19th century. The engraving in the photo dates from 1763; specimens are preserved in various natural history museums around the world.

The only species of fruit bat left on Mauritius is the larger Mauritian flying fox (Pteropus niger), which is listed by IUCN as Endangered (2017) because of habitat destruction, hunting, invasive species (namely monkeys), and persecution due to the bats' fruit-eating habits - which, according to the Mauritius government, are detrimental to commercial fruit crops.

Answer: fossa

The giant fossa (Cryptoprocta spelea) was a member of the family Eupleridae, also known as Malagasy mongooses or Malagasy carnivorans. These slender-bodied mammals, closely related to mongooses (Herpestidae), are believed to have descended from a single ancestor that came from mainland Africa. The fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox), shown in the photo, is the only surviving member of its genus. Based on the remains found in various Madagascar sites (mostly caves - hence the specific name "spelea"), the giant fossa was considerably larger than the extant fossa - probably the size of a wolf or a puma - but otherwise very similar in appearance. Regarding its diet, it is likely that the giant fossa, thanks to its size and powerful jaws and teeth, was able to prey on larger mammals, such as some extinct lemur species.

It is not known when the giant fossa became extinct: some experts believe it happened around 1400, though a later date - possibly the mid-17th century - is accepted as a possibility by others. A large, leopard-like carnivore, named "antamba", was described in 1658 by French governor Étienne de Flacourt (who also described another remarkable extinct species of Madagascar, the elephant bird): it was said to haunt the island's mountain regions, and prey on livestock and people.

All the mammals listed as wrong answers, like the Eupleridae, are feliforms (cat-like carnivores) - even hyenas, which are closely related to euplerids and mongooses.

Answer: Atlas

Located in Northwest Africa, between the coast and the Sahara Desert, the Atlas Mountains are home to many distinctive plant and animal species; sadly, many of the animals that once thrived in this rugged region have died out, some of them in the past 150 years.

The Atlas bear (Ursus arctos crowtheri), a subspecies of the brown bear, became extinct in the late 19th century, probably in the 1870s. Its decline, however, dates back from Roman times, when these animals were hunted and captured to be used in various circus games. A similar fate was shared by the Barbary lion, a population of the African lion (Panthera leo leo), whose males were characterized by darker manes extending down their front legs. Though the Barbary lion has been extinct in the wild since the 1940s, its genes survive, as many of the lions kept in zoos are believed to descend from it. Another population of the African lion, the black-maned Cape lion, died out in the mid-19th century. The only surviving apex predator in the Atlas Mountains is the Barbary leopard, a population of the African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus).

Of the three mountain ranges listed as wrong answers, the Alborz are in Asia (Iran), the Apennines in Europe (Italy), and the Allegheny in North America (eastern USA).

Answer: aurochs

The name "aurochs" means "primordial ox" in German, a literal translation of its scientific name, Bos primigenius; the Latin name of this very large bovine was "urus", derived from the Germanic or Celtic "ur", meaning "wild ox". An aurochs bull could be up to 1.8 m (71 in) high at the shoulder, and weigh as much as 700 kg (1,540 lb). As the photo shows, a distinguishing feature of this animal was its massive, elongated horns, which could reach a length of 80 cm (31 in); adult males were black with a white stripe running down their spine. There were three recognized subspecies of aurochs: the Eurasian (the nominate species), the Indian (the ancestor of modern-day zebu cattle), and the North African. The auroch was found as far east as Northeast China, possibly even Japan, and as far north as the Gulf of Finland; it lived in forested areas and grasslands. The North African subspecies was the first to die out in Roman times (for the same reasons that led to the decline of the Barbary lion and the Atlas bear - see Q. 3), while the Indian subspecies lasted until the 12th century. The European aurochs survived longer, though in gradually dwindling numbers: the last specimen, a cow, died in Poland in 1627.

The cultural significance of the aurochs in ancient times cannot be overstated. Its distinctive silhouette appears in Paleolithic cave paintings and medieval heraldry, as well as on seals from the Indus Valley Civilization, the walls of Babylon's Ishtar Gate, and a few Greek artifacts. In addition, the aurochs' large horns were often made into hunting and drinking horns.

The three wrong answers are all bovines that live in Southeast Asia. The gayal is the domestic form of the gaur, while the kouprey is believed by some to be already extinct in the wild.

Answer: it was flightless or nearly so

Also known as Pallas's cormorant, the spectacled cormorant (Urile perspicillatus) was a large seabird that lived on Bering Island, the largest and westernmost of the Komandorsky (Commander) Islands located off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, in Russia's Far East. The waters around this desolate, treeless island were also home to Steller's sea cow, a relative of the dugong that became extinct in the 18th century, named after Georg Steller, a German scientist who took part in Vitus Bering's second Kamchatka expedition - which ended tragically with Bering's death on the island later named after him. Steller was also the first to identify the spectacled cormorant, which he described as large, clumsy, and almost flightless.

With beautiful, glossy greenish-black plumage, this bird - which, like other cormorants, fed primarily on fish - could reach a length of 1 metre (3.2 feet), and weigh up to almost 7 kg (15.4 lb) - heavier than the largest extant cormoran species, the flightless cormorant of the Galápagos Islands. Based on the analysis of museum specimens, the spectacled cormorant had almost completely lost the power of flight - which made it more it vulnerable to hunting when whalers and fur traders began flocking to the region in the years following Bering's voyage. It is believed the species died out in the mid-19th century - surviving somewhat longer than Steller's sea cow, which became exinct 27 years after its discovery.

Answer: wetlands

Named after Sir Robert Schomburgk, British consul in Bangkok in the mid-19th century, Schomburgk's deer (Rucervus schomburgki) inhabited the swampy plains of central Thailand, in particular the valley of the Chao Praya River near the Thai capital. During the rainy season, when the plains flooded, the herds sought higher ground - which made them easy targets for hunters, interested not only in the deer's meat and hide, but also in the males' large, many-pointed antlers, sought both as trophy and for medicinal purposes. However, habitat loss was also a contributing factor to this species' extinction - one of the most recent in the large cervid family - when the wetlands that were the Schomburgk's deer's natural habitat were increasingly taken over by rice paddies for commercial production.

While the wild population is believed to have died out in 1932, the last captive specimen died a few years later, in 1938. The photo, taken in 1911, shows a Schomburgk's deer in Berlin Zoo. Another Asian deer species, Père David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus), is extinct in the wild, but has been reintroduced into parts of its original habitat in China.

Answer: Tasmania

The Tasmanian emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae diemenensis) is believed to have been slightly smaller than the mainland emu, but otherwise very similar in appearance - so much that some scholars disagree with its status as a distinct subspecies. On the other hand, the King Island emu (D. n. minor) and the Kangaroo Island emu (D. n. baudinianus) were both noticeably smaller.

Though the Tasmanian emu was believed to be abundant on the island formerly called Van Diemen's Land - where it played an important role in the culture of the Aboriginal population - it became increasingly rarer after the arrival of English settlers. The deciding factor in the extinction of these birds was the introduction of domestic dogs, which could outrun emus, and were thus more effective for hunting than firearms. Another likely cause was habitat loss due to brush fires - often started intentionally in order to claim the land for agricultural purposes. Tasmanian emus died out in the wild around the mid-19th century, while the last captive specimens may have died somewhat later, around the 1860s. The two other subspecies had already become extinct (probably in the 1820s, possibly earlier, and for much the same reasons) when the Tasmanian emu disappeared.

The lithograph in the photo (dating from about 1910) is based on a skin of Tasmanian emu held by London's British Museum. The marsupial mentioned in the question is the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus), the only predator of the Tasmanian emu besides humans, which became extinct in the 1930s.

Answer: it was one of the smallest eagle species

The Haast's eagle (Hieraaetus moorei) was the largest eagle species known to have existed - a massive raptor that could weigh as much as 15 kg (33 lb), with huge talons and a wingspan that - while somewhat short relative to the bird's size - could reach 3 m (10 ft). These shorter wings helped the eagle when hunting in the dense forests that covered New Zealand's South Island. As is the case with most eagle species, females were considerably larger than males. The Haast's eagle's massive size has been explained as a case of island gigantism, as well as an evolutionary response to the size of its main prey, the moa, a flightless (and wingless) bird whose weight could easily exceed 200 kg (441 lb).

As New Zealand had almost no native land mammal species before the arrival of the first Māori, in the early 14th century, the Haast's eagle was the island's apex predator, while the moa replaced ungulates as its natural prey. When moas were hunted to extinction by the newcomers, the eagle - deprived of its main food source - quickly followed suit. Both species are believed to have become extinct around 1400.

The Haast's eagle was first described in 1871 by Julius von Haast, a German-born scientist whose name was given to the bird, from remains found in a former marsh near the city of Christchurch. In Māori legends there is mention of a huge bird, called "pouakai", which could kill and eat humans - a very likely reference to the Haast's eagle. Though there is no evidence that this giant raptor preyed on people, it was definitely large and strong enough to do so.

Answer: South America

Though often referred to as "Andean fox" or "Andean zorro" ("zorro" being the Spanish word for "fox"), the culpeo (Lycalopex culpaeus) is not a true fox: as its generic name (meaning "wolf-fox") points out, it is more closely related to wolves, coyotes and jackals. It is, therefore, not too surprising that this animal, native to the Andean region of western South America, was domesticated by the Yahgan people of Tierra del Fuego, the archipelago off the southernmost tip of the continent. The Fuegian dog (called "perro fueguino" or "perro yagán" in Spanish) was important in the everyday life of the Yahgan, not only for hunting, but also - according to some accounts - to keep people warm at night in the harsh climate of those southerly islands.

The first to describe the Fuegian dog was French explorer Louis-Ferdinand Martial, who visited Tierra del Fuego in 1883. Less than 20 years later, however, the dogs were reported to have disappeared completely. An Austrian missionary who visited Tierra del Fuego in 1919 was told that the dogs had been exterminated because they had become very aggressive and dangerous to both people and livestock. Pictures like the one shown in the photo try to reconstruct these animals' appearance, based on written accounts and the two or three specimens (generally in poor condition) held by local museums.

Answer: volcanic eruption

Also known as Martinique giant rice rat and Desmarest's pilorie, the Martinique muskrat (Megalomys desmarestii) was a species of West Indian rice rat endemic to Martinique, an island in the Lesser Antilles that is one of France's overseas departments. This rodent, about as large as a cat, and probably semi-aquatic, was common on the island until the late 19th century - even though it was considered a pest by those who worked in coconut plantations, and consequently targeted by eradication attempts. The Martinique muskrat was also hunted for food, although it required careful preparation in order to eliminate its strong musky smell.

In May 1902, the extremely violent eruption of Mount Pelée - one of the deadliest in history - destroyed the city of Saint-Pierre, killing almost 30,000 people, as well as the Martinique muskrat, which became extinct during that year. However, some experts believe that the actual cause of this rodent's extinction was predation by mongooses, introduced on the island from India to control the population of highly venomous fer-de-lance snakes. The Martinique muskrat, in any case, was one of the first mammals in the Caribbean to die out in the early 20th century.