Game of Zoos: Where Are The Animals Hiding? Quiz

Answer: wallaby

WALL, A BYstander = WALLABY

A wallaby is a small marsupial - a mammal that carries its young in a pouch - which is native to Australia, although some species also live in New Guinea. It looks like a small kangaroo (although a few smaller breeds of wallaby known as pademelons look like long-tailed, short-eared rabbits), and belongs to the same family as the kangaroo. It also moves around by hopping. It is hunted for its meat and fur, and defends itself by kicking out at predators.

One of my earliest zoo-related memories, as it happens, was seeing the wallabies at London Zoo as a toddler.

Answer: macaw

tarMAC AWful = MACAW

A macaw is a type of parrot, often found in tropical countries. They have longer beaks and tails than other parrots, and are often made distinctive by their brightly-coloured feathers. The hyacinth (or blue) macaw is the biggest macaw species, with a beak strong enough to crack coconuts. The scarlet macaw, one of the most recognisable macaws with its bright red plumage and yellow and blue wings, is the national bird of Honduras and lives in the tropical forests of Central and South America. Both deforestation and the demand for wild birds as pets present a threat to the birds' welfare.

Answer: flamingo

FLAMING On = FLAMINGO

Many a plastic flamingo has been seen adorning a lawn in the USA, and the real thing is one of the more memorable species of bird out there, due to its bright pink plumage and long curved beak. Flamingos are wading birds and the only remaining species in the Phoenicopteriformes family, the others having gone extinct. The most widespread of the flamingos, the greater flamingo, can be found in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and even southern European countries, such as Greece and Spain. Other species are native to South America. They use their beaks to suck up water and filter out the shellfish, seeds and algae on which they feed.

Answer: llama

goriLLA MAde = LLAMA

A popular internet meme of the 2000s featured a speeded-up song about llamas, accompanied by photos of llamas, which went as follows: 'Here's a llama, there's a llama / And another little llama / Fuzzy llama / Funny llama / Llama, llama, duck.' With its slight dopey expression and often fluffy coat, it's easy to see why llamas are a source of amusement. They are native to South America, and in the same family as camels. Like camels, they serve as pack animals and mounts, and are also cultivated for their meat and their soft wool, along with their smaller relatives, the alpacas. They also spit when they are angry and defensive, or as a means of dominating other pack members.

Answer: eland

camEL AND = ELAND

Bit of a tricky one, this. An eland is a species of antelope, also known as Taurotragus. There are two species of eland, the common eland - a plains antelope from south and eastern Africa - and the giant eland, which is the largest species of antelope. Both eland species have long, slightly twisted horns. They like flowering plants, and make barking noises when communicating.

A kudu is another type of antelope of the genus, and has longer, curlier horns. They are found in southern and eastern Africa. The lesser kudu's brown striped coat acts as a form of camouflage.

Answer: zebra

maZE BRAzil = ZEBRA

Although zebras are instantly recognisable by their stripy coats, the stripes vary depending on the species. Grévy's zebra, the biggest and most threatened zebra species, is native to Kenya and Ethiopia, and has thin stripes. Mountain zebras, as their name suggest, live in mountainous areas, while plains zebras prefer savannas and scrubland. The plains zebra is also the most widespread species, ranging across southern and eastern Africa. Although carnivores such as hyenas and lions are a huge threat, they are also at risk from humans who hunt them for their meat. Two zebras appear on the coat of arms of Botswana.

Answer: ostrich

lOST RICHard = OSTRICH

The ostrich is a large flightless bird and a member of the ratite group, which also includes kiwis, emus and rhea. They are native to Africa; attempts to introduce them into the wild in Israel failed, and the Arabian ostriches of the Middle East died out due to hunting. The most widespread species of ostrich, the common ostrich, is farmed for its feathers - which are used in fans and feather dusters, amongst other things - its meat, and even its leather. And despite what urban legends claim, they don't actually bury their heads in the sand when threatened! If you see an ostrich with its head in the ground, it's either rotating its eggs or eating sand and pebbles to aid its digestion.

Answer: macaque

MAC, A QUEer = MACAQUE

Macaques are Old World monkeys in the same subfamily as baboons. If you've ever been to Gibraltar, you may have seen Barbary macaques sitting on the cliffs. They can also be found in Asia and North Africa; many of them live on fruit, with some exceptions, such as the crab-eating macaque. In some places, such as Mauritius, they are an invasive species and put other species, including humans, at risk by carrying diseases. They can also have nasty tempers, which inspired Murray Lachlan-Young's poem 'Never Incite a Macaque'.

Also, I should probably add that 'queer' in this context means 'strange' or 'odd'.

Answer: potto

POT TO = POTTO

This is another tricky one! A potto is a small primate and a member of the Strepsirrhini suborder, so called for their wet noses, which also includes lemurs and lorises. They produce their own vitamin C and have a toothcomb, a set of teeth which they use for grooming their fur. The potto is nicknamed the 'softly-softly' as it moves very quietly. Their habitat is the tropical forests of Africa, including countries such as Guinea, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. As it is nocturnal and lives in trees, and local birds of prey are diurnal, it has very few predators, apart from humans and the occasional chimpanzee.

Answer: tamarin

TAM, A RINg = TAMARIN

The tamarin is a New World monkey - i.e. one of the species of monkey found in Central and South America - and tend to be small, with different coat colours ranging from black to brown. Many tamarin species have moustaches, the emperor tamarin being one example. They are omnivorous and live in rainforests. The Brazil-based lion tamarins, their close relatives, are one of the more well-known types of tamarin, due to their orange-gold fur which resembles the mane of a lion.