Fractured Endangered Animals Trivia Quiz

Answer: sperm whale

Physeter macrocephalus, the sperm whale, is the largest toothed animal in the world. These whales have exceptionally large heads; macrocephalus comes from Greek for "big head". Their brain can weigh around 7 kilograms, which sounds enormous, but relative to the 50 ton weight that males can achieve, isn't really that large. Sperm whales are actually one of the least endangered of all whale species, with a relatively large population ranging somewhere between 200,000 and 2,000,000 living individuals; nonetheless they're classified as endangered thanks to anti-whaling laws.

Answer: california condor

This species has the tongue-twisting scientific name of Gymnogyps californianus, and at one point as few as twenty were thought to exist. Thanks to a concerted effort to bring them back from the brink, as of 2003 there are about 200 adults surviving. Their wingspread is about 10 feet, and they measure about 4 feet from beak to tail.

Answer: american crocodile

There are 14 varieties of crocodile and most are protected from hunting, but are farmed for their leather and their meat. The American Crocodile is called Crocodylus acutus; their primary habitat is the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Key Largo, Florida. Although they are under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, their numbers aren't increasing very quickly.

Answer: bighorn sheep

Ovis canadensis, the bighorn sheep, is particularly notable for the head-butting combat that takes place between males. These battles have been witnessed to last for longer than 24 hours. The number of bighorns has been reduced to one tenth of what it was before the population was decimated due to exploitation in the Rocky Mountains, their primary habitat. Estimates range as low as 200 in terms of surviving sheep.

Answer: ocelot

Leopardus pardalis roams over South and Central America and was once hunted for its skin, which resembles a leopard's. Hundreds of thousands were killed, resulting in the ocelot being considered endangered in many of the countries it still inhabits.

Answer: african elephant

The African elephant is actually two species, Loxodonta africana (African bush elephant) and Loxodonta cyclotis (African forest elephant). Their large ears are thought to aid in cooling them off. They were hunted to the brink of extinction for their ivory tusks, and the recent reclassification of the African elephant as two separate species means that what was previously thought to be one endangered group is actually two, even more endangered, groups.

Answer: western lowland gorilla

Also known as Gorilla gorilla gorilla (yes . . . 3 of them), they stand about 170 centimetres tall (similar to an average human male) and weigh between 145 and 165 kilograms (about double a human male of comparable height). They're endangered primarily due to poaching by humans, although their natural habitat is also shrinking yearly. Western lowland gorillas are actually the least endangered of the 5 gorilla subspecies, but all are in need of protection.

The remaining wild population of Gorilla gorilla gorilla is estimated in the tens of thousands.

Answer: giant panda

The Giant Panda is also known as Ailuropoda melanoleuca and is native to central china and mountainous regions of Tibet and Sichuan. They subsist mainly on bamboo. Only about a thousand are believed to survive in the wild, due mostly to loss of their natural habitat and an extremely low birth-rate. They're a favourite of the public because of the famous "teddy-bear" look.

Answer: giant armadillo

Priodontes maximus, the giant armadillo, is estimated to have lost about 50% of its population over the period of 1990-2000. They can be found in South America, primarily in the Pantanal region of Brazil. They measure about 5 feet in length and can weigh up to 130 pounds. It must be said; giant armadillos are definitely one of the neatest looking animals in the world.

Answer: blue whale

The blue whale, or Balaenoptera musculus, is most well-known as the largest mammal that ever lived, reaching lengths of 100 feet and weights of 200 tons and possibly beyond. An equally large campaign of death was waged on these animals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Blue Whale hunting wasn't banned until the 1960s by the International Whaling Commission, by which time about 350,000 whales had been slaughtered. Currently there are only about 3-4,000 specimens left in the world.