Fun Trivia » Animals » Mixed Animal Trivia » Mixed Animals for Experts

The three heaviest living reptiles (and eight of the top ten) are all species of crocodile; the saltwater crocodile tops the pile with an average weight of 990 pounds. The heaviest saltwater croc ever caught weighed an amazing 4,400 pounds -- that is more than twice the weight of a Renault Clio!

The Nile crocodile and the Orinoco crocodile collect the minor medals at 900 pounds and 840 pounds respectively. The heaviest non-crocodile is the leatherback sea turtle at 800 pounds. The only other non-crocodile in the top ten, at number eight, is the American alligator (average weight, 530 pounds). The Galapagos tortoise comes in at number 15 with a average weight of 'only' 390 pounds -- still heavier than the average NFL defensive lineman.

The heaviest reptile ever to roam the earth (and the heaviest of all land animals) was a Sauropoda, a family of long-necked plant-eaters, with the largest of those being the 'Argentinosaurus huinculensis' which averaged somewhere between 50-90 tonnes! Difficulty: Hard.

 

Leatherback sea turtle, Galapagos tortoise, American alligator

Lacewings are insects that look much like dragonflies, although they are only very generally related. The antlion though, looks almost as little like the adult as you could possibly imagine - they have a tiny, almost flattened head, plump, oval body, and large jaws. To survive their larval stage, antlions dig themselves a pit, usually in the sand or loose dirt, where they wait for ants or other unfortunate insects to fall in; once the soon-to-be-eaten victim has fallen in, they are unable to crawl back up the sides. This leaves the antlion free to eat or, if they feel the other creature is too dangerous, remain hidden in the sand. Other names for the larva include doodlebug and sand lion. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Agouti, Alligator-wing, Anubis Beetle

The wombat and the koala are the only surviving members of the Vombatiformes suborder. Both are members of the Diprotodontia order which also includes possums, kangaroos, wallabies and bettongs. Like the koala and the wombat, the alternative choices are all marsupials. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Opossum, Bandicoot, Tasmanian devil

The Emperor Bird-of-paradise is endemic to Papua New Guinea and is mainly found in the forests of the Huon peninsula. The bird was discovered by German ornithologist, Carl Hunstein and named Paradisaea guilielmi in honour of the German emperor, Wilhelm II.
Other royal titled birds of this species are the King Bird-of-paradise, King of Saxony Bird-of-paradise, Queen Carola's Parotia and Princess Stephanie's Astrapia. Difficulty: Hard.

 

France, Italy, Denmark

Found on the Chatham Islands of New Zealand, the black robin has made a remarkable recovery from being on the verge of extinction. In 1980, only five individuals and one fertile female (Old Blue) survived. A controlled breeding programme meant that in 2010, the population stood at over 250.

One of the drawbacks of this story is that there now exists a marked lack of genetic variability within the black robin population, making them more vulnerable to being wiped out by disease. Difficulty: Hard.

 

The fin whale, The three-banded armadillo, The pig-nosed turtle

The golden-headed cisticola is a type of warbler and is far too small to be able to chisel through a tree. It is, however, very skilled with its beak, which it uses to stab through live leaves before threading through the spiders' silk which it has collected. The outcome is a nest which is still alive and so blends in with the surrounding vegetation, remaining inconspicuous to predators. Difficulty: Hard.

 

It has a decoy chamber to fool predators, It is two foot long, so as to protect the eggs from predators, It is found inside a large tree, which the cisticola hollows out using its strong beak

The largest basking shark specimen on record measured 41 feet in length and tipped the scales at 17 tons. (Where does a 17-ton basking shark sleep? Anywhere it wants to!) The Pacuma toadfish, while the largest in the order Batrachoidiformes, doesn't get any bigger than 5 pounds or so. The snoozing ray and the bottom-sleeping sturgeon don't really exist. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Snoozing ray, Pacuma toadfish, Bottom-sleeping sturgeon

Brachiation means moving through trees by swinging with the arms from one branch to another. The main example is the gibbon, which can brachiate at speeds as high as 35 mph. Difficulty: Hard.

 

frog, snake, elephant

The Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) displays this odd behavior. He may have to steal a stone from another penguin, since stones are pretty scarce to come by. The stones are needed when the penguin builds walls around their rocky nests. Once a female accepts the stone from the male, they stand, with their bellies touching, while they sing their mating melody. The mating season is in October during the short summer weeks. There is a lot of competition for the nesting sites and it is one of the Adelie penguin's favorite pastimes to steal rocks and pebbles from the nests of its neighbors. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Woodchuck (Marmota monax), Indian mongoose (Herpestes nyula), Cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus)

A giraffe has the same amount of bones in the neck as humans; however, they are a lot bigger than ours. Giraffes can also kill a lion with a single kick. These animals have to slowly do the splits to get a drink of water. Because of this, other giraffes wait in line to get a drink, and watch out for predators in the meantime. Difficulty: Hard.

 

anteater, koala, lion

Wallaroos live among rocky outcrops on the Australian plains. They grow to about 4ft tall and are more sturdily built than the more common gray or red kangaroos. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Rat kangaroos, Wallabies, Rock kangaroos

All arachnids have eight legs. Many spiders have eight eyes though some have just six. Difficulty: Hard.

 

8 legs and 6 eyes, 6 legs and 8 eyes, 6 legs and 6 eyes

Humans can only detect up to 20 kHz. Difficulty: Hard.

 

50-90 kHz, 30-70 kHz, 40-100 kHz

 

Salmon, Pike, Cod

The Wild Dog of Africa is also know as the Cape Hunting Dog because of the unique way they bring down their prey.(National Geographic) Difficulty: Hard.

 

St. Bernard, Brown Hyena, Golden Jackal

 

Felis, Puss, Panthera

Genets are said to have the ability to memorize their own range. Difficulty: Hard.

 

house cat, tiger, otter

The sea trout is also known as the weakfish. It was given this name because fishermen have lost many fish due to their weak jaws. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Strongfish, Fishercrown, Rainbowfish

 

Pen, Drake, Gander

All 37 known African species of agama are small, long-tailed lizards. The smallest species grow to around five inches in length and the longest to around one foot. Mostly insect-eaters, although they will also eat some grass, berries and fruit, agamas can be found in forests and bush as well as in the desert, and many have now adapted to live in the walls and thatched roofs of human habitats. If caught in the open, agamas can often be seen scurrying upright on their hind legs to find shelter.

The best-known species is the common agama, also called a rainbow agama. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Tortoise, Snake, Salamander

Known for its aggressive nature, the bull shark has been found in several surprising locations - such as the Potomac River in Maryland, Iquitos in Peru, and Alton in Illinois. This is due to their remarkable ability to live in both salt and freshwater environments. They are, however, not considered true freshwater sharks. Bull sharks are viviparous (live-bearing), generally birthing 4-10 pups; the pups take ten years to reach maturity. Despite this long period of immaturity, theses sharks are often considered one of the most dangerous species to humans. This comes in large part because they inhabit the warm coastal waters that we are also attracted to, and also in part due to their aggressive nature. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Blue whale, Borneo shark, Bluefin tuna

Although termites might easily be considered an intrusion, the collective noun for those little critters is a 'swarm' or a 'colony'. Those same two terms can also be applied to both bees and ants, although they also have more specific terms too. Ants in large numbers can also be referred to as an 'army' or, less well-known, a 'bike of ants'. Bees come in a 'hive' or a 'nest' but can also be referred to as a 'drift of bees', an 'erst of bees' or a 'grist of bees'.
When they congregate in large numbers you get a 'constituency of caterpillars' although perhaps a 'constituency of voters' might seem more appropriate for the politically minded. Curiously, in similar vein, you get a 'coalition of cheetahs'. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Ants, Termites, Bees

This family (Salticidae) includes 5,000 species, making it the largest of all spider families.

These impressive (and surreal) displays are viewed by other jumping spiders, which possess some of the most advanced eyes of all arachnids. If a male jumping spider's dance fails to impress the female, he will be her next meal. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Daddy longlegs, Pseudoscorpions, Camel spiders

Some katydids are capable of "tapping" tree sap, and will constantly suck the liquid which emerges. The sap contains fairly little protein (which is desired by the katydid), but lots of sugar (of which only a small amount is required). The result is a large amount of honeydew produced. This will attracts ants, which can become troublesome, so some katydids are capable of flicking the honeydew away from the tree on which they are sat, using a catapult-like organ located on their abdomens. Hungry moths and geckos will position themselves by the back end of the katydid, waiting for the sweet liquid to be flicked out. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Aphids, Leaves, Tree bark

You're not likely to see this matchup in real life, since the two species inhabit different continents. Pronghorns make their "home on the range" in western and central North America. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Wildebeest, Gazelle, Zebra

The chukar is a Eurasian relative of the chicken and the turkey. Dial observed how it used its wings to run up a ramp, even when the ramp was tilted backwards at an angle of 105 degrees.

Previous theories of the evolution of dinosaurs into birds fell into two camps: the "arboreal theory", that early birds leaped from tree branches and glided to the next branch, and the cursorial theory, that early birds learned to fly by running on the ground and learning to take off from the ground. Difficulty: Hard.

 

penguin, roadrunner, crane

The grasshopper (Melanoplus differentialis) can woo his partner with many different types of songs. The male grasshopper has different songs for each step of the mating period. The grasshopper's mating songs are created by a form of friction when he presses his hind legs or his strong and tough front wings against other parts of his body. He then move his legs or wings back and forth. He can make different music for other reasons too. An example of this is when he attempts to defend his territory. Another example is when he is calling to locate other grasshoppers. The autumn is when most of the courting songs are heard. Difficulty: Average.

 

Night crawler (Lumbricus terrestris), Eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus), Figeater beetle (Cotinis mutabilis)

The chukar is a type of partridge, and although native to Eurasia, was introduced to many other parts of the world. The chukar prefers to eat cheatgrass, but will eat whatever it needs to survive if there is a shortage. The chukar also drinks twice a day. Difficulty: Hard.

 

cat, dog, fish

One of these was found to have had enough poison in it to kill 25,000 mice. Its skin contains enough of the powerful neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin to kill 30 humans. The only creature that can eat it and survive is the common garter snake, though the snake is paralyzed for hours after ingesting the newt. Difficulty: Hard.

 

axolotl, hellbender, red-backed salamander

The species range in size from ones as small as a rat to ones about the size of a pig. Difficulty: Hard.

 

30, 10, 40

The ferret (Mustela putorius furo) is the domesticated subspecies of the polecat (Mustela putorius putorius). The ferret was most likely domesticated around 2500 years ago and probably in the region around Greece. In these 2500 years the ferret has become so dependent on man that he wouldn't survive in the wild anymore.
Difficulty: Hard.

 

weasel, mink, ermine

The ostrich comes from Africa. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Cassowary, Ostrich, Kiwi

The cheetah is one of very few cats, wild or domestic, and the only big cat that cannot fully retract its claws; they are semi-retractable. Difficulty: Hard.

 

boar, deer, bird

 

light, season, humidity

 

Swan, She, Swarn

These are all birds.

There are more than 80 species of barbet ranging across Asia, Africa and the Americas. They are close cousins of the toucan. Just to confuse you, there is also a medium-sized French water dog called a barbet.

There are 30 species of piculet, 27 of which are native to South America. They are part of the woodpecker family.

There are five species of koel that are native to the Pacific region from Asia to Australia. They are part of the cuckoo family.

Trogons are found through the world's tropical regions. They belong to the same family as the quetzal.

The limpkin, also called a courian or crying bird, is an American shorebird related to rails and cranes. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Insects, Fish, Arhropods

Found in the western United States and, according to some sources, Canada, the Cascades frog is indeed an unusual frog. As their name suggests, they are found mostly in the Cascade Mountains, although they sometimes also live in the Olympic Mountains. Their normal range is well above sea level, averaging between 2,182 to 8,038 feet (665 to 2,450 meters). Both males and females are believed to live over five years, possibly up to seven, in the wild. The female will lay only one brood a year, which may have up to 425 eggs; mortality rates are high for the tadpoles though. They are currently being studied for various pharmacological uses, including a peptide which acts as a 'blood thinner' in humans. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Carpenter frog, Cape caco, Cajun chorus frog

Although there have been as many as 18 species that were members of the Giraffa genus, the only two that survive today are the giraffe and the okapi. Native to the Congolese rainforests, the okapi has markings that suggest it should be related to the zebra rather than the giraffe. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Zebra, Musk deer, Goat

Often also called 'mutton', the meat of an adult domestic goat is more often known as 'chevon' to distinguish it from domestic sheep meat. 'Cabrito' is the meat of a young domestic goat. Pigeon meat is called 'squab'; the meat of a water buffalo is 'carabeef', dogfish meat has numerous names -- 'capeshark' in America, 'rock salmon' in the UK, 'flake' in Australia, and 'kahada' in Canada.
Difficulty: Hard.

 

Pigeon, Water Buffalo, Dogfish