No Llamas Allowed! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bernie "Gabba" Vegas from the Brisbane Lions

Neither llamas nor any other members of the camelid family (which includes dromedaries, Bactrian camels, llamas, alpacas, vicunas, and guanacos) would have much to fear from a magpie, a domestic cat or a swan. A lion, however, is another story. Ralph's distant cousin Desmond (a dromedary resident in Africa) has described some nasty encounters with lions, and Ralph was probably better off avoiding the potentially unpleasant social occasion of spending the evening in a room with one. He also probably wouldn't have been impressed with the close proximity of Tiger "Stripes" Dyer, mascot for the Richmond Tigers.

Looney_tunes would have liked an invitation to meet Moz "Skeeta" Reynolds, mascot of the Essendon Bombers (for which team, for some obscure reason, the AFL chose a mosquito instead of an airplane as the official mascot).

Answer: Cunard

Cunard has transported pets throughout the years on its "Queens"; pictures of Elizabeth Taylor with her small dogs on the Queen Mary are a staple of Cunard memorabilia. Past passengers have included rabbits, guinea pigs and birds, but dogs and cats are the most frequent guests. The Queen Mary 2 provides twelve kennels for the pets, and they have their own indoor/outdoor walking areas (cats are limited to the indoor area). Each pet has its own life jacket and its own assigned staff member during emergencies. If you want to bring your pet along, check with Cunard well in advance; extensive paperwork is necessary to get a "pet passport", and space is limited. Incidentally, service animals are not considered "pets" and are allowed on most cruise lines.

PDAZ has cruised on the QE2 and QM2 and can attest that there were no llamas allowed!

Answer: On a "Monopoly" board

What bad luck! Neither Ralph, nor any other player in the game of "Monopoly", is able to escape Jail when they draw the Chance card informing them of the task at hand: "Go to Jail. Go directly to Jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200." When told to go to jail (by any means), the player is unable to do anything but make their way behind bars as per the official rules of the game. Other cards pulled from 'Chance' and 'Community Chest' will allow player to head to specific squares on the board (purchased or not) and if 'Go' is passed, the player can claim their $200. Ralph can leave jail after three turns if he doesn't roll doubles to get out...or he can pay his fine, of course.

Of course, when Ralph plays "Monopoly", Kyleisalive is always on hand to make sure he's not cheating...

Answer: Watermelon seed spitting contest

For over fifty years Luling has hosted the Watermelon Thump, honoring all things watermelon. The watermelon seed-spitting contest is one of the highlights. The Guinness seed spit record was set in 1989 by Lee Wheels at 68 feet 9 1/2 inches. Ralph feels that he would have no problem beating that record.

Maninmidohio would be there rooting Ralph on if he is ever given the chance to go for the gold.

Answer: Animal Farm

"Animal Farm" has a promising title, in Ralph's opinion; however, the cast of animals includes horses, too many pigs, dogs, sheep, a goat, a cat, chickens, cows, even a raven - and absolutely no llamas. Apparently equality does not extend to New World animals (or their descendants).

None of the other three books, all by Orwell, has any llamas, either. "Down and Out in Paris and London" recounts Eric Blair's early struggles to establish himself as an author (without any llama support); "Homage to Catalonia" is a memoir about the Spanish Civil War (no llamas in the trenches); "1984" portrays a (then) future totalitarian state where individual freedom of thought is virtually non-existent, a situation that is not alleviated by the lack of llamas to show the way to independence. Looney_tunes thinks Orwell may have been llama-phobic.

Answer: Llamas are not truly cloven-hooved

The basic requirements for animals like Ralph to be kosher are laid down in Leviticus 11: "The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Say to the Israelites: 'Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud" (Leviticus 11 v. 1-3).

Llamas chew the cud and might appear to have divided hooves but, in reality, these are more like two-toed padded feet than hooves. Ralph is mightily grateful!

Glendathecat is non-kosher and likes his food, but the thought of eating Ralph is more than he can bear.

Answer: They all appear on national flags

Animals are a common feature of many world flags and by far the most ubiquitous of these are the birds. Depictions of birds feature on the flags of Dominica, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Montenegro, Mexico, Moldova, Zambia and many more.

The two-headed eagle features on the flag of Albania (and Montenegro), the grey-crowned crane on the flag of Uganda, the sword-wielding lion comes from the Sri Lankan flag, and the vicuna from Peru. Whilst the flag of Peru may appear as just vertical bands on red, white and red, the coat of arms is commonly placed in the central band, which features, amongst other things, the vicuna.

Doublemm and Ralph take note of this information in case 'Flags & Symbols' pops up in the Team Heroes game once again.

Answer: It's a Small World

While It's a Small World, Space Mountain, and Cinderella Castle share Magic Kingdom as their home (while Spaceship Earth is in Epcot) only the first of these takes riders through South America (amongst several other countries) on its fifteen minute ride around the world in Walt Disney World. One of the park's most famous attractions it opened in 1966 and has taken millions of riders through its tunnels in many decades. Visitors hop into a flume and travel through large rooms filled with animatronic dolls singing the "It's a Small World" theme in their respective languages.

Ralph is unlikely to make his way into the park, unfortunately. The only llamas allowed in Walt Disney World are from a particular movie in the Disney canon ("The Emperor's New Groove") and I doubt Kuzco is allowed on the rides either.

Kyleisalive will take Ralph's season pass instead.

Answer: American football

As with many sporting teams, the National Football League teams frequently use animals for their team names and mascots. For example, NFL teams are named for big cats (such as the Denver Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars), birds (such as the Arizona Cardinals and the Philadelphia Eagles) and other animals (like the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins). Ralph the Llama was watching a Denver Broncos game, where an Arabian gelding named Thunder was ridden around the field following a score by the home team.

Other teams have also used real animals including the Seattle Seahawks who in 2007 started using an augur hawk named Taima to lead the team onto the field at the beginning of each home game. But PDAZ sadly notes, no llamas.

Answer: A bomb blast blew the Chief Yeoman Warder off his feet during WWII

During an air raid on London during World War II, some incendiary bombs fell on a guard house at the Tower of London while the Ceremony of the Keys was underway. The blast knocked over the Chief Yeoman Warder and his guard but they picked themselves up and went on with the Ceremony. The next day the Officer of the Guard wrote to the King apologising for the delay!

The Ceremony involves the Keys to the Tower being taken under armed guard to the outer gates, which are then locked, then back past Traitor's Gate and the Bloody Tower where the escort to the Keys is challenged with a "Halt! Who comes there?" Members of the public can apply for tickets to watch the Ceremony of the Keys but sadly, no llamas allowed! Flopsymopsy has always wanted to see that, she'll send Ralph a postcard.