Animal quiz questions from the wild side

Quiz nights love an animal round because almost everyone's got an opinion, and most people get at least a handful right without needing to be a zoologist. We've already put together dedicated rounds for cats and dogs, so this one heads further afield, into the mammals, birds, sea creatures and insects that make up the rest of the animal kingdom.

Below are 24 questions split into five sections, running roughly from easy warm-ups to the kind of records and facts that stump even confident wildlife fans. Pick a few from each section for a balanced round, or run the whole thing as a standalone animal quiz.

Mammals

1What is generally recognised as the fastest land animal over short distances?

Answer:The cheetah (it can hit speeds of around 100 km/h, or roughly 65 mph, though only for a few seconds at a time) (Guinness World Records)(click to reveal)

2Which mammal carries its young for up to 22 months, the longest pregnancy of any mammal?

Answer:The elephant. Both African and Asian elephants have unusually long gestations, partly because their calves are born with almost fully developed brains. (National Geographic)(click to reveal)

3Bats are the only mammals capable of what specific type of movement?

Answer:True, sustained flight. Other mammals, like flying squirrels, can only glide.(click to reveal)

4Which Australian marsupial is known for producing cube-shaped droppings, unique among animals?

Answer:The wombat. Researchers found the shape comes from uneven elasticity in different sections of its intestine, which lets the waste dry into flat-sided cubes rather than round pellets. (Smithsonian Magazine)(click to reveal)

5Which marsupial has fingerprints so close to a human's that they're barely distinguishable under a microscope?

Answer:The koala. It's the only non-primate known to have fingerprints at all, likely a case of two unrelated species independently evolving the same solution. (PBS NOVA)(click to reveal)

6Naked mole rats are studied closely by cancer researchers for one particular reason. What is it?

Answer:They almost never develop cancer. Scientists still haven't pinned down a single cause, but several overlapping defence mechanisms in their cells seem to be responsible. (University of Cambridge)(click to reveal)

Birds

7What is the largest living bird, too heavy to get off the ground?

Answer:The ostrich.(click to reveal)

8Which bird holds the record as the fastest animal on the planet, reaching speeds over 380 km/h in a hunting dive?

Answer:The peregrine falcon. Its cruising speed is a modest 55 mph or so; it's the near-vertical dive onto prey, called a stoop, where it hits those extreme speeds. (Guinness World Records)(click to reveal)

9Which seabird has the largest wingspan of any living bird, with confirmed measurements over 3.5 metres tip to tip?

Answer:The wandering albatross. That wingspan lets it glide for hours, or even days, over open ocean without needing to flap. (Guinness World Records)(click to reveal)

10Hummingbirds are the only birds capable of what unusual flight manoeuvre?

Answer:Flying backwards (they can also hover in place, something almost no other bird can manage)(click to reveal)

11Which is the largest species of penguin, breeding through the brutal Antarctic winter?

Answer:The emperor penguin.(click to reveal)

Sea Life

12Which sea creature has three hearts and blood that runs blue instead of red?

Answer:The octopus. The blue colour comes from a copper-based molecule called hemocyanin, rather than the iron-based haemoglobin that makes human blood red.(click to reveal)

13A jellyfish nicknamed the "immortal jellyfish" can do what when it's injured, sick, or starving?

Answer:Revert to an earlier stage of its life cycle and begin growing again. This effectively resets its biological clock, though individuals can still be eaten or killed, so it's not immortal in the sense of being indestructible. (American Museum of Natural History)(click to reveal)

14Which shark species, found in cold Arctic and North Atlantic waters, is believed to live for several centuries, making it the longest-lived vertebrate known?

Answer:The Greenland shark. Recent research puts its likely lifespan at around 390 years, and females may not reach reproductive maturity until they're past 150. (Smithsonian Magazine)(click to reveal)

15Which fish can generate an electric shock of up to 600 volts, more than double what comes out of a UK wall socket?

Answer:The electric eel. It isn't actually a true eel; it's more closely related to catfish and carp. (Discover Wildlife)(click to reveal)

16What's unusual about a blue whale's heart rate while it's diving deep for food?

Answer:It can drop to as low as two beats per minute. That's the slowest heart rate ever recorded in a mammal. (BBC Science Focus)(click to reveal)

17Some starfish species can do more than regrow a lost arm. What's the more extreme version of this ability?

Answer:Regenerate an entire new body from a single detached arm (as long as part of the central disc is still attached to it)(click to reveal)

Insects and Bugs

18Butterflies taste their food using which part of their body?

Answer:Their feet. Chemoreceptors there let them check whether a leaf is right for laying eggs on, or a surface is worth feeding from.(click to reveal)

19Dragonflies have the highest hunting success rate of any predator studied so far. What rough percentage of the prey they chase do they actually catch?

Answer:Around 95%. By comparison, lions succeed roughly a quarter of the time, and peregrine falcons less than half. (Forbes)(click to reveal)

20Depending on the species, ants can carry up to how many times their own body weight?

Answer:Up to 50 times their own body weight. Some documented cases go even higher, largely because being so small gives their muscles a relatively larger cross-section for their size.(click to reveal)

21Honeybees perform a specific dance to tell the rest of the hive where to find food. What's it called?

Answer:The waggle dance.(click to reveal)

Weird Animal Facts and Records

22Which small, reef-dwelling crustacean throws a punch fast enough to shatter aquarium glass, the fastest strike of any animal?

Answer:The mantis shrimp. Its club-like arms accelerate so quickly that the strike briefly boils the water around it, a phenomenon called cavitation that adds a second shockwave on top of the impact itself. (Guinness World Records)(click to reveal)

23A tiny, nearly indestructible creature sometimes nicknamed a "water bear" survived direct exposure to what extreme environment during a 2007 European Space Agency experiment?

Answer:The vacuum of outer space. Some specimens were rehydrated back on Earth afterwards and went on to reproduce normally. (European Space Agency)(click to reveal)

24Which tortoise, living on the island of Saint Helena, holds the record for oldest living land animal at over 190 years old?

Answer:Jonathan. He's believed to have hatched around 1832 and was already fully grown when he arrived on the island in 1882, so his real age could be even higher than the official record. (Guinness World Records)(click to reveal)

Tips for running an animal quiz round

Shuffle the sections. Reading the questions in category order means one team can coast through an entire section if a member happens to be into sharks or birds. Pull two or three questions from each section instead.

Let the weird facts land. Some of these, a whale's heart rate, a shrimp's punch, are genuinely surprising even to people who think they know their animals. Give the room a second to react before moving on.

Build a full animal night. Pair this round with our cats and dogs questions for a complete pet-and-wildlife evening, or put together your own running order with the quiz creator.