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Quiz about Its Not Irrelevant Its a Hippopotamus
Quiz about Its Not Irrelevant Its a Hippopotamus

It's Not Irrelevant, It's a Hippopotamus! Quiz


Let's don our pith helmets, hitch up our khaki shorts, roll our puttees, and set off on a Grand Safari in search of the elusive Hippo. Warning: Some questions may cause rolling of eyes and groaning, and they are all utterly irrelevant!

A multiple-choice quiz by Rowena8482. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
Rowena8482
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
313,122
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
2537
Awards
Editor's Choice
Last 3 plays: 10kittens (4/10), Blukitty (7/10), Guest 68 (3/10).
Question 1 of 10
1. The first stop on our Grand Safari is a beautiful English country garden. Unfortunately the English country gardener objects to our peering over his wall looking for hippos, and tells us "Be 'orf with you! Mind yer own slumgum!"
We do a quick spot of research and discover that 'slumgum' is "the residue left behind after the process of purifying a substance made mainly of 6 parts triacontanylpalmitate to 1 part cerotic acid, which is secreted from glands on the sternites" of a particular insect.
What creatures was the irate gardener trying to shoo us away from?
Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. The next port of call on our Safari is in Copenhagen, Denmark. Unfortunately, just as we disembark from the bus, one of our party steps in the gutter and, their foot breaking an old box, ends up with what looks suspiciously like a dead animal on their shoe...Could this be our elusive hippo?
"Ah well" says a passing academic type, "At least we know one way or the other now!"
*Everyone* knows Schrödinger's Cat, but in a Manga comic book called "Ah! My Goddess" a storage room is expanded to infinite proportions and the main character meets a "Schrödinger's ______"
Infinitely more impressive than a dead cat, what is the creature in question?
Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Our Safari brings us to the wilds of northern Canada now, and we climb up on a beaver's dam to admire the beautiful view, and scan the horizon for hippo, just in case.
"Get away from there, if that thing bites you, you might get giardiasis" shouts our local Tour Guide, before calming sufficiently to tell us that 'beaver fever' as it's colloquially known can be very serious.
Just then a passing Priest interrupts to tell us "But that's not a beaver! It's ____"
What did the Catholic Church officially declare beaver to be, in the 17th century?
Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Still in the 'Frozen North' we head for Iqaluit and a nice boat trip round the harbour.
"Look! a qilalugaq" our Inuit guide tells us. "OOO, a rimfish!" says someone else.
For a second our hopes rise - is 'qilalugaq' the Inuit word for hippo? Alas not.
Both people are looking at the same creature; by what name is it more widely known?
Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Whilst walking through a local bazaar on our next Safari stop, we meet a mysterious cloaked lady who offers to tell our fortunes. "I foresee great riches, and a large steak in your very near future" she predicts confidently....
Suddenly we look more closely and realise that she has used 'haruspicy' to make her predictions. No wonder she foresaw steaks!
What has the fortune teller used to tell our fate?
Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Walking back to the Safari bus along the shore we come across a fine specimen of a marine creature. As it isn't remotely big enough for a stray hippo to hide behind, we pick it up for a closer look.
It is Mercenaria mercenaria. Why is this species of clam so called?
Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. We travel next to Darkest Africa where a passing Witch doctor warns us to "Beware the Catoblepas". Could this finally be our hippo? Is a Catoblepas the Swahili name for one? No such luck!
A Catoblepas is an Ethiopian mythological creature, which legend says can kill with its gaze. We question the Witch doctor further, and establish that a Catoblepas actually most resembles a particularly mild mannered, self effacing, not very scary animal.
Which animal is it?
Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. We have almost given up hope of ever finding a hippo and are sadly making our way back to our Safari bus, when we come face to face with another large African animal at a bend in the trail. He has a wise look in his eye, and we are reminded that Aristotle said this was "the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind."
Which animal are we looking at?
Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Next stop Australia! As we scan the countryside for any signs of a hippo, we are disturbed by a sudden scream from one of the ladies in our Safari group. "I HATE them!" she declares vehemently, "The ones at home are bad but look at the SIZE of that thing!"
We all dutifully look and gasp as the Macropanesthia rhinoceros, in this case weighing 30g and 75mm long, scampers off about its business.
Macropanesthia rhinoceros is the largest known species of which insect?
Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Having given up all hope of ever finding our quarry, we end our Grand Safari just in time to watch three hippos walk into the bar of our hotel in Borneo. As they order a cool refreshing glass of fruit flavoured soda pop, a native ape rushes in, slaps their faces, kisses them soundly with a big 'smackeroo', and rushes out again.
"Who was that?" the hippos cry, and "Why did he do that?"
"Well" said the bartender, "you know when you've been...."
Bearing in mind a certain advertising slogan for a particular UK brand of pop, which of these best fits to finish the bartender's pun?
Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The first stop on our Grand Safari is a beautiful English country garden. Unfortunately the English country gardener objects to our peering over his wall looking for hippos, and tells us "Be 'orf with you! Mind yer own slumgum!" We do a quick spot of research and discover that 'slumgum' is "the residue left behind after the process of purifying a substance made mainly of 6 parts triacontanylpalmitate to 1 part cerotic acid, which is secreted from glands on the sternites" of a particular insect. What creatures was the irate gardener trying to shoo us away from?

Answer: Bees

The mystery substance from which slumgum derives is beeswax.
"Mind your beeswax" is an old expression meaning "Mind your own business".
If you don't want to use an animal product, Japan wax can be used as a substitute for beeswax. Japan wax is made from the berries of certain varieties of sumac native to Japan and China.
The Patron of Beekeepers is St. Valentine - what a pity the gardener didn't feel any love for us, there could well have been a hippo in those hydrangeas...
2. The next port of call on our Safari is in Copenhagen, Denmark. Unfortunately, just as we disembark from the bus, one of our party steps in the gutter and, their foot breaking an old box, ends up with what looks suspiciously like a dead animal on their shoe...Could this be our elusive hippo? "Ah well" says a passing academic type, "At least we know one way or the other now!" *Everyone* knows Schrödinger's Cat, but in a Manga comic book called "Ah! My Goddess" a storage room is expanded to infinite proportions and the main character meets a "Schrödinger's ______" Infinitely more impressive than a dead cat, what is the creature in question?

Answer: Whale

Schrödinger's Cat was used to "illustrate perceived problems of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics when it is applied beyond just atomic or subatomic systems", and if that sentence made sense to you, you're a 'better brain than I am Gunga Din!'
The Manga "Ah! My Goddess" features Schrödinger's Whale. This is "a rare species with the ability to travel through space-time in a five-dimensional quantum state".
Admit it, you so wanted it to be Schrödinger's Hippo didn't you? I know I did. Hippos and whales are actually pretty closely related, taxonomically speaking. They shared a common ancestor around 54 million years ago.

A little 'factoid' I found - did you know that whale milk consists of 50% fat - some baby whales can put on up to 200lbs in weight a day!
3. Our Safari brings us to the wilds of northern Canada now, and we climb up on a beaver's dam to admire the beautiful view, and scan the horizon for hippo, just in case. "Get away from there, if that thing bites you, you might get giardiasis" shouts our local Tour Guide, before calming sufficiently to tell us that 'beaver fever' as it's colloquially known can be very serious. Just then a passing Priest interrupts to tell us "But that's not a beaver! It's ____" What did the Catholic Church officially declare beaver to be, in the 17th century?

Answer: Fish

In the 17th Century, the Catholic church ruled that the beaver was a fish - thus beaver meat could be eaten on Fridays, during Lent.
The basis for the 'beaver is fish' decision by the Catholic church was based on the "Summa Theologica" written by Saint Thomas Aquinas in the 13th Century.
Barnacle geese were also classed as fish by the Catholic church, on the basis that they "hatched out of barnacles on ships", and could also be eaten during Lent.
Giardiasis is a gastric disease caused by the microscopic protozoan Giardia lamblia.
Also known as "beaver fever" and lambliasis, it affects up to 2.5 million people in the US every year, and is often endemic in developing countries.
4. Still in the 'Frozen North' we head for Iqaluit and a nice boat trip round the harbour. "Look! a qilalugaq" our Inuit guide tells us. "OOO, a rimfish!" says someone else. For a second our hopes rise - is 'qilalugaq' the Inuit word for hippo? Alas not. Both people are looking at the same creature; by what name is it more widely known?

Answer: Narwhal

Narwhal means "corpse fish" in Old Norse, from the colour of the narwhal's skin.
Every single narwhal's tusk ever examined so far has been a left handed helical twist. It is thought that no such thing as a "right handed narwhal" exists.
Hippos have long tusklike canine teeth, and in the past they were used for many of the same things as elephant ivory - up to and including the manufacture of false teeth for humans! Nowadays the trade in hippo ivory is strictly controlled under the terms of CITES as they are an endangered species in the wild.
5. Whilst walking through a local bazaar on our next Safari stop, we meet a mysterious cloaked lady who offers to tell our fortunes. "I foresee great riches, and a large steak in your very near future" she predicts confidently.... Suddenly we look more closely and realise that she has used 'haruspicy' to make her predictions. No wonder she foresaw steaks! What has the fortune teller used to tell our fate?

Answer: Animal entrails

Could this be why we have not yet found our elusive hippo? Are they his entrails? Mmmm hippo steaks...Haruspicy is the prediction of future events from studying the entrails of animals. When human entrails are used it is called splanchomancy or anthropomancy.
6. Walking back to the Safari bus along the shore we come across a fine specimen of a marine creature. As it isn't remotely big enough for a stray hippo to hide behind, we pick it up for a closer look. It is Mercenaria mercenaria. Why is this species of clam so called?

Answer: Historically it was used as currency

The Native Americans made wampum 'coins' from the shells of the mercenary clam, with purple ones being especially valuable. The name mercenaria comes from the Latin word for money, as does 'mercenary'. Still no hippos, but at least we know the fortune teller's animal didn't donate his entrails in vain as she is proved correct in her prediction.
7. We travel next to Darkest Africa where a passing Witch doctor warns us to "Beware the Catoblepas". Could this finally be our hippo? Is a Catoblepas the Swahili name for one? No such luck! A Catoblepas is an Ethiopian mythological creature, which legend says can kill with its gaze. We question the Witch doctor further, and establish that a Catoblepas actually most resembles a particularly mild mannered, self effacing, not very scary animal. Which animal is it?

Answer: All of these answers are correct

In view of the fact that it is said that the gaze of the Catoblepas is fatal, its tendency to hang its head is very fortunate.
There are two species of wildebeest - Black wildebeest and Blue wildebeest - Connochaetes gnou and Connochaetes taurinus respectively.
They are immortalised in the "Gnu Song", written by Flanders and Swan, who also wrote the "Hippopotamus Song".

All together now "So follow me follow, Down to the hollow, And there let us wallow, In glorious mudddddddddddddddd".
8. We have almost given up hope of ever finding a hippo and are sadly making our way back to our Safari bus, when we come face to face with another large African animal at a bend in the trail. He has a wise look in his eye, and we are reminded that Aristotle said this was "the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind." Which animal are we looking at?

Answer: Elephant

Greek academic and philosopher Aristotle, who lived in the 4th century BC, has been called the "Father of biology". Under the patronage of his former pupil Alexander the Great, he documented many species of plants and animals and wrote as many as 400 theses about his observations. Some of his writings survive to this day.
9. Next stop Australia! As we scan the countryside for any signs of a hippo, we are disturbed by a sudden scream from one of the ladies in our Safari group. "I HATE them!" she declares vehemently, "The ones at home are bad but look at the SIZE of that thing!" We all dutifully look and gasp as the Macropanesthia rhinoceros, in this case weighing 30g and 75mm long, scampers off about its business. Macropanesthia rhinoceros is the largest known species of which insect?

Answer: Cockroach

Macropanesthia rhinoceros can grow up to 80mm long, and weigh 35g! They are the largest known species of cockroach, and are commonly known as the giant burrowing cockroach and the rhinoceros cockroach. They are native to Australia, and mainly live in the tropical areas in Queensland. Some people even keep them as pets!
10. Having given up all hope of ever finding our quarry, we end our Grand Safari just in time to watch three hippos walk into the bar of our hotel in Borneo. As they order a cool refreshing glass of fruit flavoured soda pop, a native ape rushes in, slaps their faces, kisses them soundly with a big 'smackeroo', and rushes out again. "Who was that?" the hippos cry, and "Why did he do that?" "Well" said the bartender, "you know when you've been...." Bearing in mind a certain advertising slogan for a particular UK brand of pop, which of these best fits to finish the bartender's pun?

Answer: Orang-Utangoed

Orang-Utangs are indigenous to Borneo and Sumatra, and are critically endangered in the wild. Their numbers are falling further as their habitat in the rainforests is cleared to make way for oil palm plantations.
Tango brand orange soda pop is perhaps more famous for the "You KNOW when you've been Tangoed" advertising campaign than for the actual product, and the 'big orange Tango-man' has passed into popular culture in the UK and Ireland. The original 'face slap' advert was withdrawn after complaints that it encouraged violence among children, and in later commercials was replaced by 'big smacking kisses'.
Tango was first launched in 1950, and the brand is now manufactured by the Britvic company.
Source: Author Rowena8482

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Nannanut before going online.
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