Talking Points Quiz - World Wildlife Day Quiz (Answers)
March 3rd is World Wildlife Day, a day to celebrate the world’s wild plants and animals. The date was chosen because on the same date in 1973, the United Nations General Assembly brought the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora into effect, in an attempt to help conserve wildlife.
To mark the occasion, we have written this quiz full of fun and interesting facts about animals. If you are a nature lover, then you should do well in this quiz. You might also want to have a look at our Nature quizzes, which will test your knowledge of animals, plants and even mountains and outer space! Why not give them a go?
But for now, see how many of these questions you can get right. Some might be more challenging than others! Good luck.
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The last wild wolf in Britain died around 1800. We have beavers, although they are endangered. Wallabies and mink were introduced in the early 20th Century and have wild populations to this very day
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Fingerprints evolved to help us grip things and our closest relatives have them too. Koalas are not closely related to us, but they evolved fingerprints separately, whilst squirrels did not
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Sloths have very slow metabolisms (hence their slow movement) and low-calorie food, which mean that their food takes a long time to pass through their digestive systems. The average time is about 16 days, but it can take up to a month
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Rhinoceros horns are in fact made from a protein called keratin. This is the same material that human hair and nails are made from
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The more people there are on the planet, the worse wildlife fares. Habitat destruction to make way for farms is the biggest cause of this
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Human hearts beat something between 60 and 100 times a minute. A blue whale’s heart beats 8 times a minute, or just twice a minute when they are diving for food. In contrast, a pygmy shrew’s heart beats 1,200 times a second!
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Whilst many different types of bird can fly backwards by being ‘pushed’ by the wind, or a short distance by ‘fluttering’, the only ones which can genuinely fly backwards are hummingbirds. Cuckoos can go backwards – when they are in cuckoo clocks!
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The Syngnathidae family includes seahorses, pipefish and sea dragons. The females lay their eggs in the male's pouch and he carries them until they emerge fully developed, but not very large.
Canidae are dogs, ursidae are bears and felidae are cats, all of which are mammals whose mothers give birth to their young |
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Arctic terns travel an amazing 71,000 km (44,000 miles) a year – that’s almost twice the diameter of the earth! Humpback whales have the longest migration of any mammal and travel up to 9,800 km (6,090 miles) – nowhere near as far as terns, but still a long way
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Sperm whales have calls which can be as loud as 230 decibels – a sonic boom is a mere 200 decibels. We can’t hear these because they are at a very low frequency. Despite their tiny size, pistol shrimps can produce sounds as loud as 200 decibels by snapping their claws!
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