Animals are considered to be one of the building blocks of an ecosystem. They play a vital role in the maintenance and stability of the environment, ecosystem, and human lives – helping with pollination, pest control, and climate control. Beyond food production, animals provide assistance in terms of economic, cultural, and social factors that are essential in our everyday lives. There are five classes of animals consisting of fish, reptiles, mammals, birds, and amphibians. If you are interested to discover more about animals, then you might want to give this trivia quiz a try!
Below are 90 animal trivia questions that will surely blow your mind. The answers to these questions will broaden your knowledge and deepen your understanding of animals and their history. Enjoy!
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Easy Animal Trivia Questions
What is America’s national animal?
Answer: Bald eagle.
Specifically selected as the nation’s emblem for being the only eagle indigenous solely to North America, a bald eagle is regarded as the representation of courage, strength, and freedom of America.
A baby goat is called what?
Answer: A kid.
A goat kid can already stand within a few minutes of being born (if born healthy).
What type of animal holds the title of “a man’s best friend”?
Answer: Dog.
Aside from the 706 people that survived the Titanic disaster in 1912, three dogs were said to have also survived this tragedy, including two Pomeranians and a Pekingese.
Which animal is said to have nine lives?
Answer: Cat.
Existing in many cultures around the world, the myth that cats have nine lives is derived from the fact that they can withstand falls that would easily kill a human.
Who is the leader of a beehive?
Answer: The queen bee.
Considered the heart and soul of the bee colony, the queen bee is the only female bee with fully developed reproductive organs.
A baby dog is called what?
Answer: A pup.
For their first two weeks of life, newborn pups experience the world entirely with both their eyes and ears sealed shut.
What is a group of kittens called?
Answer: A kindle.
A group of kittens is called a kindle and a group of cats is called a clowder.
What color is spider blood?
Answer: Blue.
In spiders, the molecule to which oxygen is bound contains copper, which gives their blood a blue color.
A baby cow is called what?
Answer: A calf.
A calf is born without an immune system, which is why it is a must that it gets colostrum from its mother quickly after birth.
What is the Philippines’ national animal?
Answer: Carabao.
A carabao symbolizes the Filipinos’ hard work, strength, efficiency, and perseverance – making it a national symbol of the Philippines.
What is the most dangerous insect?
Answer: Mosquito.
The mosquito is considered the most dangerous insect because they are disease carriers – transmitting diseases like West Nile and malaria to its victims.
What is a spider web made of?
Answer: Silk.
Spider silk is made up of proteins, having large quantities of nonpolar and hydrophobic amino acids like glycine or alanine.
A baby cat is called what?
Answer: A kitten.
Compared to adult cats having 30 permanent teeth, a kitten is said to have only 26 deciduous teeth.
What is the world’s most poisonous spider?
Answer: Sydney funnel-web spider.
According to the Guinness World Records, the Sydney funnel-web spider is the most dangerous spider, found in moist habitats such as under logs or in gardens.
How big is the largest known ant colony?
Answer: 3,700 miles.
Considered the largest ant colony on Earth, the Argentine Ant Supercolony can be found in the Mediterranean region and stretches more than 6,000 km (3700 mi).
Fish Trivia Questions
Fish eggs are also called what?
Answer: Roe.
A fish roe is the fully ripe and unfertilized eggs of a fish – why by the way, can also be applied to eggs from other marine animals like scallops, lobsters, and shrimp.
What is a group of fish called?
Answer: School.
A single group of fish is called a “school” and a group of mixed species of fish is referred to as a “shoal”.
What is the fastest fish?
Answer: Indo-Pacific sailfish.
The Istiophorus platypterus, also known as the Indo-Pacific Sailfish, is described as the fastest fish in the ocean – clocking in at 68 mph while leaping.
In the movie Finding Nemo, what kind of fish is Nemo?
Answer: A clown fish.
Nemo, Marlin, and Coral are all modeled after Ocellaris Clownfish or False Percula Clownfish.
Which fish is the most famous among all the fishes that migrate to lay eggs?
Answer: Salmon.
In recent years, studies have shown that salmon use the magnetic field of the Earth to guide their migration in the open ocean environment.
In the movie Finding Nemo, what kind of fish ate Nemo’s mother and her eggs?
Answer: Barracuda.
Known for being an aggressive, dominant predator, the barracuda often relies on the “surprise tactic” in order to catch its prey.
What fish is caviar from?
Answer: Sturgeon.
Sturgeons are large, strong fish native to both oceans and freshwater rivers.
What species of fish produces the most eggs?
Answer: Lotta mola.
Regarded as a heavyweight egg producer, a lotta mola produces 300 million eggs over a spawning season.
What type of fish can glide in the air to escape from predators?
Answer: Flying fish.
Flying fishes use their powerful forked tail to escape from underwater predators, launching themselves out of the water at speed.
What is the only freshwater fish in the British Isles that can swim backward?
Answer: Eel.
Unlike most fish, eels do not have pelvic fins, and most species do not have pectoral fins.
What is the most poisonous fish?
Answer: Pufferfish.
Aside from being the most poisonous fish in the world, the pufferfish is also known as the second most poisonous vertebrate after the golden dart frog.
What type of fish requires the male to give birth to their offspring instead of the female?
Answer: Seahorse .
A male seahorse carries its babies in a pouch, fertilizing the eggs after being deposited by the female seahorse.
What is the largest species of fish?
Answer: Whale shark.
Known as the largest fish in the world, a whale shark can weigh up to 41, 000 pounds and grow to be 45 feet long.
Which organ can account for up to 30% of a shark’s total body mass?
Answer: The liver.
A shark’s liver comprises up to 30% of its body weight – storing carbohydrates and fats, releasing sugars for energy when needed, and containing oils that assist with buoyancy.
What part of a fish allows it to breathe?
Answer: Gills.
Instead of lungs, fishes use gills to breathe the oxygen dissolved in water and exhale carbon dioxide underwater itself.
Reptile Trivia Questions
What is the study of reptiles called?
Answer: Herpetology.
Herpetology is a branch of zoology that deals with the study of amphibians and reptiles.
What is the heaviest snake in the world?
Answer: Green anaconda.
The green anaconda holds the record for the heaviest snake in the world, weighing up to 550 pounds and measuring 20 feet long.
What is the world record for the fastest speed achieved by a tortoise?
Answer: 0.6 mph.
Breaking the previous record that was set in 1977, Bertie recorded the greatest speed achieved by a tortoise at Adventure Valley, Brasside, UK on July 9, 2014, clocking in at 0.28 m/s (0.6 mph).
What is a group of alligators called?
Answer: Congregation.
A male alligator can grow up to 15 feet, and a female alligator can grow up to 9 feet.
What is a group of turtles called?
Answer: Bale.
A group of turtles may be called a bale, turn, dole, or nest.
How many eyes does an iguana have?
Answer: Three.
Green iguanas have a third eye known as the pineal gland or parietal eye, which helps them sense movements.
What animal are crocodiles most closely related to?
Answer: Birds.
Crocodiles and birds share a common ancestor that lived around 240 million years ago.
What kind of turtle can’t retract into its shell?
Answer: Sea turtle.
A sea turtle has a flatter carapace, leaving no room for it to retract its head into the shell.
What is the fastest-striking venomous snake?
Answer: Death adder.
Northern Australia’s death adder generally grows to be between 31 and 36 inches long.
Which reptile has super-sticky saliva?
Answer: Chameleon.
Chameleons produce mucus on their tongue that is said to be about 400 times more viscous than human saliva.
What is the most venomous snake on the planet?
Answer: Inland taipan.
With a murine LD 50 value of 0.025 mg/kg SC, the inland taipan is regarded as the world’s most venomous snake.
What is the largest species of crocodile?
Answer: Saltwater crocodiles.
Aside from being the largest species of crocodile, saltwater crocodiles are also considered to be the largest living reptile.
How do bearded dragons show dominance?
Answer: Head bobbing.
For bearded dragons, a quick head bob may signal dominance, whereas a slow bob and an arm wave is a sign of submission.
How long can a crocodile go without eating?
Answer: A year.
A crocodile’s body system is designed in such a way that it can conserve all of the energy it gets from its meal – making it possible for them to go foodless for months or even a year.
Which reptile is the sole surviving member of its order?
Answer: Tuatara.
Tuatara are greenish-brown and grey reptiles, which measure up to 80 cm (31 in) from head to tail-tip and weigh up to 1.3 kg (2.9 lb)
Mammal Trivia Questions
What is the only mammal capable of true flight?
Answer: Bat.
Although often mistaken for rodents, bats are more closely related to primates.
What is the gestation period of a blue whale?
Answer: 10 to 12 months.
Female blue whales reach sexual maturity as young as five years old, or as late as 15 years old.
What is the smallest mammal in the world?
Answer: Bumblebee bat.
Discovered by Thai zoologist Kitti Thonglongya in 1974, the bumblebee bat weighs in at just barely 2 grams and measures 1 to 1.3 inches long.
What is the fastest mammal?
Answer: Cheetah.
A cheetah is capable of going from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than three seconds.
Which rodent can go its whole life without drinking any water?
Answer: Kangaroo rat.
A kangaroo rat gets the necessary moisture from the seeds on which he feeds.
What is the only dog that can’t bark?
Answer: Basenji.
The Basenji doesn’t bark, it yodels.
How many times does a giant panda poop each day?
Answer: 40.
Pandas poo an average of 40 times a day.
What species of opossum is found in North America?
Answer: Virginia opossum.
Also known as the North American opossum, the Virginia opossum is the only opossum living north of Mexico.
What is the mammal known for laying eggs instead of giving birth?
Answer: Platypus.
The platypus is the only living representative or monotypic taxon of its family and genus.
What color is a giraffe’s tongue?
Answer: Blue, purple, or black.
The front of a giraffe’s tongue is dark in color (purple, blue, or black) but the back and base of it are pink.
What do bats use to navigate through the dark despite their poor eyesight?
Answer: Echolocation.
To echolocate, bats send out sound waves from the mouth or nose.
Around how many species of mammals are there?
Answer: 6,495.
According to research published in the Journal of Mammalogy in 2018, there are 6,495 recognized mammal species in the world – including 96 recently extinct.
Which mammal has the most extended tongue relative to its size?
Answer: Nectar-bat.
Known for being the mammal with the longest tongue relative to its size, the tube-lipped nectar bat was first discovered in Ecuador in 2005.
Are mammals cold or warm-blooded?
Answer: Warm-blooded.
Normal temperatures for mammals range from 97° F to 104° F.
What classification of mammals has the ability to lay eggs?
Answer: Monotremes.
The only monotremes that are alive today are the spiny anteater, or echidna, and the platypus.
Birds Trivia Questions
What is the fastest-flying bird in the world?
Answer: Peregrine falcon.
A peregrine falcon can reach up to 200 to 240 miles per hour when it enters a hunting dive called a stoop.
Which bird has the largest wingspan?
Answer: Wandering albatross.
Known for having the largest known wingspan of any living bird, the wandering albatross has a wingspan that extends up to 12 feet.
What color are the American robin’s eggs?
Answer: Blue.
The blue color in robin eggs is a result of a pigment called biliverdin, which is deposited on the eggshell when the female lays the eggs.
What is a group of owls called?
Answer: Parliament.
Owls are zygodactyl, which means their feet have two forward-facing toes and two backward-facing toes.
One ostrich egg is equivalent to the weight of how many chicken eggs?
Answer: 24.
Weighing between 3½ and 5 pounds, the shells of a giant ostrich egg are thicker and a little tougher to crack than a standard chicken egg.
Which bird can fly backward?
Answer: Hummingbird.
The unique structure of a hummingbird’s wings enables it to fly forward, backward, straight up and down, or to remain suspended in the air.
Which bird has sometimes been called an “honorary mammal”?
Answer: Kiwi.
The kiwi is sometimes referred to as an honorary mammal because of its un-birdlike habits and physical characteristics.
What is the largest known parrot vocabulary?
Answer: 1,728 words.
Owned by Camille Jordan of Petaluma, California, USA, the budgerigar Puck was accepted into the 1995 Guinness Book of World Records as “the bird with the largest vocabulary in the world” – knowing 1,728 words before its death in 1994.
Which species of woodpecker is known for hoarding?
Answer: Acorn woodpecker.
Measuring 21 centimeters long with an average weight of 85 grams, acorn woodpeckers are medium-sized birds notable for their unique behavior of storing acorns in holes in trees.
What group of birds are known to have sharp talons and a rather large body?
Answer: Raptors.
Raptors can be found on every continent worldwide, except Antarctica.
What is known to be the most aggressive breed of bird?
Answer: Cassowary.
Aside from being the most aggressive breed of bird, the southern cassowary is often referred to as the world’s most dangerous bird.
What is known to be the largest bird in the world?
Answer: North African ostrich.
Male North African ostrich can grow up to 9 feet tall and weigh 345 pounds.
What is the tallest bird in America?
Answer: Whooping crane.
North America’s tallest bird, the whooping crane, is an endangered crane named for its whooping sound.
Lovebird is the common name for what type of bird?
Answer: Genus Agapornis.
Native to the African continent, the genus Agapornis is a small group of parrots in the Old World parrot family Psittaculidae.
What is the fastest bird on foot?
Answer: Ostrich.
Ostriches are considered the fastest running birds in the world, sprinting up to 43 miles per hour.
Amphibians Trivia Questions
What is the largest among all the amphibians?
Answer: Chinese giant salamander.
The Chinese giant salamander belongs to a small and ancient group of salamanders that diverged from their closest relatives during the Jurassic period over 170 million years ago.
How many groups of amphibians are there?
Answer: 3.
There are three groups of amphibians consisting of Urodela (salamanders), Anura (frogs), and Apoda (caecilians).
Almost all amphibians go through what?
Answer: Metamorphosis.
In typical amphibian development, eggs are laid in water, and larvae are adapted to an aquatic lifestyle.
What is the biggest threat to amphibians?
Answer: Habitat loss and degradation.
Amphibians’ bodies are much more sensitive to environmental factors such as disease, pollution, toxic chemicals, ultraviolet radiation, and habitat destruction.
What type of amphibian is an axolotl?
Answer: Salamander.
Having a rare condition called ‘neoteny’, the axolotl retain most of their larval features into adulthood.
Amphibians are known to be descendants of what?
Answer: Lobe-finned fish.
Considered the earliest land vertebrates, amphibians are said to have evolved about 365 million years ago from a lobe-finned fish ancestor.
Are amphibians cold or warm-blooded?
Answer: Cold-blooded.
Amphibians like frogs, toads, salamanders, and caecilians all need to utilize the sun and shade balance to regulate their internal temperature.
What group of amphibians do frogs and toads belong to?
Answer: Anura or Salientia.
Frogs don’t need to drink water as they absorb it through their skin.
What group of amphibians do salamanders belong to?
Answer: Urodela or Caudata.
Unlike frogs, salamanders have tails and teeth in both jaws.
What group of amphibians do caecilians belong to?
Answer: Gymnophiona or Apoda.
The caecilians are a group of legless, tropical amphibians, which superficially resemble earthworms or some limbless lizards like snakes and amphisbaenians.
What is the most dangerous amphibian in the world?
Answer: The golden poison frog.
A single two-inch golden poison frog contains enough venom to kill 20,000 mice or 10 people.
What is the national animal of Panama?
Answer: Panamanian golden frog.
Panamanian golden frogs create a nerve toxin that hurts their predators when attacked.
A group of frogs is called what?
Answer: Army.
An army of frogs usually comes together in one place for mating and laying their spawn in fresh pools of water.
From which language did the word amphibian originate?
Answer: Greek.
The word amphibian comes from the Greek word amphibios, meaning “to live a double life.”
What is the larval form of a frog?
Answer: A tadpole.
Tadpoles have short oval bodies with broad tails, small mouths, and no external gills.
