Animal Quiz Ideas for Non Zoo-lovers?

Scottish Wildcat

Scottish Wildcat

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
So during quarantine, my friends and I are making quizzes for one another to take on weekly skype calls. The week after next is my turn, and they all know me for my knowledge/love/obsession/whatever with animals (why I am not friends with animal/zoo-lovers in the first place is beyond me), so naturally I want to include an animal round. The problem is, I have next to no idea what is/isn't common knowledge among people that don't visit zoos monthly, so I'd like to put the questions I have for now up here to see if you all think they're too difficult/easy (unlikely), and maybe we can share ideas for new questions among us.

Q1. Fill in the missing Bear Species
-
-Asiatic Black Bear
-
-
-
-Sloth Bear
-Spectacled Bear
-Sun Bear

(I think this one is relatively easy? I tried this on my family and they managed to get it)

Q2. Three of these are monkeys, identify the ape (picture round0).
a. Mandrill
b. Barbary Macaque
c. Siamang Gibbon
d. Gelada Baboon

Q3. Which of the following is not a big cat?
a. Tiger
b. Jaguar
c. Mountain Lion
d. Clouded Leopard

Q4. Which of these is most closely related to elephants?
a. Hyrax
b. Tapir
c. Rhinoceros
d. Aardvark

(too obscure?)

Q5. In the movie The Lion King, what kind of bird is Zazu?
a. Parrot
b. Hornbill
c. Toucan
d. Egret

(we all like musicals so the pop culture reference feels smoothly integrated. Zazu is also my favourite fictional character of all time)

Q6. Which of the following is not venomous?
a. Cobra
b. Adder
c. Rattlesnake
d. Python

Q7. Which of the following does not lay eggs?
a. Platypus
b. Ostrich
c. Anaconda
d. Komodo Dragon

(also too obscure?)

Q8. The following animals are representatives of their extinct relatives (e.g. Bears=Ice Age era Bears). Which of the following groups has never been present in the British Isles?
a. Elephants
b. Lions
c. Hippos
d. Gorillas

Q9. Which of these animals is the fastest?
a. Cheetah
b. Blue Marlin
c. Springbok
d. Peregrine Falcon

Q10. (This question is about the city where we live, so it's pretty specific) Which pair of animals appears on the Stirling Council coat of arms?
a. A red squirrel and a bear
b. A goshawk and a wolf
c. A red kite and a wildcat
d. A heron and a stag

(There's a pretty famous statue of a wolf nearby which I always demand to see while drunk so I'm hoping that's a big enough hint)

Thoughts/other ideas for similar 'simple' questions? I want to include a couple more maybe about British wildlife and such, maybe more animals from pop culture
 
Scottish Wildcat said:
So during quarantine, my friends and I are making quizzes for one another to take on weekly skype calls. The week after next is my turn, and they all know me for my knowledge/love/obsession/whatever with animals (why I am not friends with animal/zoo-lovers in the first place is beyond me), so naturally I want to include an animal round. The problem is, I have next to no idea what is/isn't common knowledge among people that don't visit zoos monthly, so I'd like to put the questions I have for now up here to see if you all think they're too difficult/easy (unlikely), and maybe we can share ideas for new questions among us.

Q1. Fill in the missing Bear Species
-
-Asiatic Black Bear
-
-
-
-Sloth Bear
-Spectacled Bear
-Sun Bear

(I think this one is relatively easy? I tried this on my family and they managed to get it)

Q2. Three of these are monkeys, identify the ape (picture round0).
a. Mandrill
b. Barbary Macaque
c. Siamang Gibbon
d. Gelada Baboon

Q3. Which of the following is not a big cat?
a. Tiger
b. Jaguar
c. Mountain Lion
d. Clouded Leopard

Q4. Which of these is most closely related to elephants?
a. Hyrax
b. Tapir
c. Rhinoceros
d. Aardvark

(too obscure?)

Q5. In the movie The Lion King, what kind of bird is Zazu?
a. Parrot
b. Hornbill
c. Toucan
d. Egret

(we all like musicals so the pop culture reference feels smoothly integrated. Zazu is also my favourite fictional character of all time)

Q6. Which of the following is not venomous?
a. Cobra
b. Adder
c. Rattlesnake
d. Python

Q7. Which of the following does not lay eggs?
a. Platypus
b. Ostrich
c. Anaconda
d. Komodo Dragon

(also too obscure?)

Q8. The following animals are representatives of their extinct relatives (e.g. Bears=Ice Age era Bears). Which of the following groups has never been present in the British Isles?
a. Elephants
b. Lions
c. Hippos
d. Gorillas

Q9. Which of these animals is the fastest?
a. Cheetah
b. Blue Marlin
c. Springbok
d. Peregrine Falcon

Q10. (This question is about the city where we live, so it's pretty specific) Which pair of animals appears on the Stirling Council coat of arms?
a. A red squirrel and a bear
b. A goshawk and a wolf
c. A red kite and a wildcat
d. A heron and a stag

(There's a pretty famous statue of a wolf nearby which I always demand to see while drunk so I'm hoping that's a big enough hint)

Thoughts/other ideas for similar 'simple' questions? I want to include a couple more maybe about British wildlife and such, maybe more animals from pop culture
Click to expand...
I answer them in this thread or I send you a PM.
 
Scottish Wildcat said:
Q3. Which of the following is not a big cat?
a. Tiger
b. Jaguar
c. Mountain Lion
d. Clouded Leopard
Click to expand...
This one caused controversy a few weeks ago and I'd avoid it. The mountain lion is one of the biggest cats, but belongs to the Felinae. If you use the term 'big cat' to mean 'roaring cats', the clouded leopard is not a big cat. Surprisingly, one of the smallest cats, the black-footed cat, can roar.
 
Dassie rat said:
This one caused controversy a few weeks ago and I'd avoid it. The mountain lion is one of the biggest cats, but belongs to the Felinae. If you use the term 'big cat' to mean 'roaring cats', the clouded leopard is not a big cat. Surprisingly, one of the smallest cats, the black-footed cat, can roar.
Click to expand...
If we are referring big cats as Panthera,then both cougar and clouded leopard are not big cat.
 
Scottish Wildcat said:
Q7. Which of the following does not lay eggs?
a. Platypus
b. Ostrich
c. Anaconda
d. Komodo Dragon

(also too obscure?)
Click to expand...

Scottish Wildcat said:
Q4. Which of these is most closely related to elephants?
a. Hyrax
b. Tapir
c. Rhinoceros
d. Aardvark

(too obscure?)
Click to expand...

Scottish Wildcat said:
Q8. The following animals are representatives of their extinct relatives (e.g. Bears=Ice Age era Bears). Which of the following groups has never been present in the British Isles?
a. Elephants
b. Lions
c. Hippos
d. Gorillas
Click to expand...
These three are the 'offenders' I feel. Even I couldn't answer the 7th one. Nice quiz!
 
What does PM mean? Also, an additional question is:
Which of these animals are endangered?
1. Zebra
2. Deer
3. Antelope
4. Bear
 
@Dassie rat 'Big cats' was maybe too general a term, but I always think of it as 'Pantherinae', so including the clouded leopards but not the cougar and cheetah (unless that taxonomy is outdated?). I might flip that question around to include Snow Leopard, Cougar, Cheetah, and maybe Lynx and ask them to identify the big cat? That seems a little fairer

(Also lmao no way about that black-footed cat thing is there anything I can look up on that because that sounds amazing/hilarious)

@Junklekitteb Good note, but I like the inclusion of the platypus. I feel like the fact they lay eggs should be common knowledge enough thanks to certain tv shows, maybe I should substitute the Komodo Dragon for something more obvious so the process of elimination is easier? Like a crocodile or tortoise?

(And just for the record, this thread is only for workshopping my own quiz, but I will post the answers into the first post if people want to see them!)
 
Scottish Wildcat said:
@Dassie rat 'Big cats' was maybe too general a term, but I always think of it as 'Pantherinae', so including the clouded leopards but not the cougar and cheetah (unless that taxonomy is outdated?). I might flip that question around to include Snow Leopard, Cougar, Cheetah, and maybe Lynx and ask them to identify the big cat? That seems a little fairer.
Click to expand...

I'd replace the snow leopard with a jaguar. The snow leopard doesn't roar and some scientists place it in Uncia, rather than Panthera. I'd wonder how many non-zoo lovers would know about the Pantherinae. I have been to London Zoo quizzes and some answers to questions can lead to bitter arguments.
 
Dassie rat said:
The snow leopard doesn't roar and some scientists place it in Uncia, rather than Panthera.
Click to expand...

Mind you, their placement in Panthera is now pretty much definitive - genetic and morphological analysis put the snow leopard as the closest kin of the tiger, and deeply nested within the genus.

From memory, the only way to retain Uncia would be to split lion and leopard into a new genus, and jaguar into yet another new genus.
 
I've heard that the closest living relative of the snow leopard is the tiger.
Some subspecies of brown bears are more closely related to the polar bear than they are to other brown bear subspecies. Taxonomy can be confusing..
 
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