Melange of 'H' Animals Trivia Quiz

Answer: aerial

The hamerkop (Scopus umbretta) is the sole member of its genus with pelicans and the shoebill being the closest relatives. A wading bird, it gets its food from shallows in swamps, estuaries, river banks and ponds in Africa south of the Sahara, Madagascar and a small section of the Arabian peninsula.

It is known for its large nests sometimes bigger than 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) across and usually built in the fork of a tree. It has an internal nesting chamber big enough for the adults and young. It takes between 10 and 14 weeks to build and a pair of birds may build as many as five nests a year, whether they are breeding or not.

Answer: aerial

A tropical South American bird, the hoatzin is the only species in its genus. Unusually, its chicks have two claws on each wing which allows it to scramble around tree branches when predators attack nesting colonies. If necessary, a chick will drop into water and swim under the surface to escape, using its claws to climb back out.

It is a folivore, eating mostly leaves, and has a specialised digestive system including serrations on its beak to cut up leaves, specialist bacteria and an unusually large twin-chambered crop with a thickened skin callous allowing it to use a branch to support the weight of the crop.

Answer: aerial

Found in North America, the hackberry emperor (Asterocampa celtis) is a butterfly that lays its eggs on members of the hackberry family of trees, which is also the food source for its larvae. Arguably, it is a parasite since it takes nutrients without benefitting the source.

It does this when feeding from flowers by avoiding touching the plant with its feet or antennae. Any pollen gathering on its proboscis is considered ineffective for pollination. Flowers are a rare source of food for this insect.

Instead the adult is recorded as feeding on hackberry sap, faeces, dead animals and old fruit.

Answer: aerial

Belonging to the hornbill family, the helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil) is found on the Malay Peninsula and into Sumatra and Borneo. It gets its name from the solid casque on its head. Useful in the male bird's flying head-butting contests for territory. It is a fairly large bird weighing around 3 kg (6.6 lb) with around 10% of its weight in the beak and skull. It has mostly black plumage apart from its belly and tail. The casque is the source of hornbill ivory, used in carving.

Answer: aquatic

Some species of the cutlassfish family of predatory fish are known as hairtails. The largehead hairtail or beltfish (Trichiurus lepturus) is found in tropical and temperate oceans where it supports major commercial fisheries. The juveniles perform diel vertical migration, where they rise towards the surface in dense schools during the night to feed on krill, squid, shrimp and small fish before descending to the seabed during the day. Adults will themselves prey on the juveniles.

Answer: aquatic

The Hypoplectrus genus of fish are commonly known as hamlets. There are 17 species which are found in the Caribbean and neighbouring areas. One rare feature of the family is that they are simultaneous hermaphrodites, meaning that adults have both male and female sexual organs.

When they pair up, they take turns in acting as the male or the female during multiple matings over several nights. Their preference is for mates with the same colour pattern. They do not self-fertilise.

Answer: aquatic

Halfbeak is a common name for the Hemiramphidae family of fish, also called spipefish. A common feature is a significantly longer lower jaw, particularly in juveniles. It is a streamlined surface water fish similar to flying fish, needlefishes and sauries. They have no stomach but instead possess a pharyngeal jaw apparatus (PJA). Once caught, the PJA allows a prey to be mechanically broken down prior to chemical digestion.

Answer: aquatic

A large freshwater fish in the Danube basin of Europe, the huchen is also known as the Danube salmon or redfish. It can reach 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) in length and 50 kg (110 lb) in weight. Belonging to the Hucho genus, it is closely related to salmon, trout and char. Human activities, like dam building, have disrupted their ability to range across their habitat. Coupled with overfishing and habitat destruction, populations have been wiped out in places. Reintroduced fish and some habitat restoration has helped.

Answer: terrestrial

A pit viper species, hime habu (Ovorphis okinavnsis) is found in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, including Okinawa which is part of the binomial name. It hunts for rodents and other vertebrates in open areas such as sugar cane fields. Depending on environmental conditions, the female will either lay eggs (being oviparous) or retain the eggs for development internally (acting in an ovoviviparous manner).

Its venom is relatively weak.

Answer: terrestrial

Harvestman is a common name for the Opiliones order of arachnids with others including harvesters, harvest spiders and daddy longlegs. There are over 6,650 species in the order that have been discovered on all continents except Antarctica. Fossils go back 400 million years. They are not actually spiders nor that closely related. They have a fused body region and one pair of eyes compared to spiders which have a distinct abdomen and three or four pairs of eyes.

Answer: terrestrial

The hirola, also known as Hunter's hartebeest, is an endangered antelope only found in Kenya. It is the only living member of the Beatragus genus. They have lyre-shape horns with ridges accumulating with age. Dark glands below their eyes are used for territory marking and lead to the nickname 'four-eyed antelope'.

They also have white 'spectacles' around their eyes. Living in arid areas, they appear to survive mostly on water obtained from the short green grass they prefer to eat.

Answer: terrestrial

The huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus) is an endangered member of species of deer found in the Andean mountains of Argentina and Chile. Other names include south Andean deer and southern guemal. It appears on the Chilean national coat of arms. There is sexual dimorphism with only the males having horns which they lose over winter. Males also have a black heart-shaped 'face mask'. They are found in periglacial scrubland and their diet includes gunnera plants.