The Animal Kingdom: Extreme Abilities and Hidden Superpowers

Question 1

What is the only mammal capable of true powered flight (as opposed to gliding)?

Accepted Answer

Bats

Answer

Flying squirrels

Answer

Colugos (flying lemurs)

Answer

Sugar gliders

Question 2

Veterinary studies have recorded blood pressure readings of around 280/180 mmHg in which land animal — nearly double the normal human reading — due to the cardiovascular demands of its anatomy?

Accepted Answer

The giraffe

Answer

The elephant

Answer

The blue whale

Answer

The hippopotamus

Question 3

Which bird is the only one in the world capable of flying backwards for extended periods?

Accepted Answer

The hummingbird

Answer

The kingfisher

Answer

The swallow

Answer

The swift

Question 4

At peak speed, how many times per second can a hummingbird beat its wings?

Accepted Answer

Up to 80 times per second

Answer

Up to 10 times per second

Answer

Up to 200 times per second

Answer

Up to 40 times per second

Question 5

Tardigrades (water bears) are the only animals confirmed to survive unprotected exposure to outer space. Which other extremes have also been confirmed in experiments?

Accepted Answer

Lethal radiation doses, boiling water temperatures, and conditions near absolute zero

Answer

Boiling water only — they cannot survive radiation or extreme cold

Answer

Extreme cold only — they cannot survive radiation or boiling water

Answer

High pressure only — such as the bottom of the deep ocean

Question 6

Which marsupial has fingerprints so similar to human fingerprints that forensic scientists have genuine difficulty telling them apart?

Accepted Answer

The koala

Answer

The chimpanzee

Answer

The capuchin monkey

Answer

The orangutan

Question 7

An octopus has three hearts and blue blood. What makes octopus blood blue?

Accepted Answer

Haemocyanin — a copper-based oxygen-carrier, unlike the iron-based haemoglobin that makes human blood red

Answer

A blue liver pigment that colours the blood in cold, deep water

Answer

Blue proteins from skin glands that help the octopus camouflage underwater

Answer

Copper absorbed directly from seawater through gill tissue

Question 8

How many different types of colour receptors (photoreceptors) does the mantis shrimp's eye contain — compared to the 3 types in human eyes?

Accepted Answer

16 types of colour receptors

Answer

4 types

Answer

8 types

Answer

32 types

Question 9

The pistol shrimp creates a cavitation bubble by snapping its claw so fast that the bubble briefly reaches an extraordinary temperature. How hot does this bubble get?

Accepted Answer

Around 8,000°C (14,000°F) — nearly as hot as the surface of the Sun

Answer

Around 200°C — roughly the temperature of boiling water under pressure

Answer

Around 1,000°C — similar to molten lava

Answer

Around 3,000°C — similar to the temperature of lightning

Question 10

The electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) can generate electric shocks to stun prey and for navigation. What is the maximum voltage it can produce?

Accepted Answer

Up to 860 volts

Answer

Up to 50 volts

Answer

Up to 200 volts

Answer

Up to 5,000 volts

Question 11

Which jellyfish species is sometimes called the 'immortal jellyfish' because it can revert to its juvenile polyp stage after reaching adulthood?

Accepted Answer

Turritopsis dohrnii

Answer

Aurelia aurita (moon jellyfish)

Answer

Physalia physalis (Portuguese man-of-war)

Answer

Chrysaora quinquecirrha (sea nettle)

Question 12

The platypus is one of the world's strangest mammals. Which of the following is NOT true about the platypus?

Accepted Answer

Male platypuses can breathe underwater for up to 10 minutes using specialised gill-like structures

Answer

Male platypuses have venomous spurs on their hind legs

Answer

Platypuses lay eggs despite being mammals

Answer

Platypuses detect electric fields from prey using electroreceptors in their bill

Question 13

The archerfish (genus Toxotes) is named for hunting prey above the water surface. How does it do this?

Accepted Answer

Spitting a precisely aimed jet of water to knock insects off overhanging branches from up to 3 metres away

Answer

Leaping from the water with extraordinary precision to catch prey mid-air

Answer

Using its tail to splash water that ricochets off the surface to hit insects

Answer

Creating a resonant sound wave that stuns insects and causes them to fall

Question 14

Crows have demonstrated which remarkable cognitive ability that was long thought to be uniquely human or primate?

Accepted Answer

Making and using multi-step tools — shaping sticks into hooked tools to retrieve food from holes

Answer

Understanding written symbols and responding to human language commands

Answer

Counting objects and performing basic arithmetic up to the number 10

Answer

Recognising and recalling specific human faces, remembering people who treated them badly

Question 15

The Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) holds a remarkable longevity record. How long can these sharks live?

Accepted Answer

Over 400 years — making them the longest-lived vertebrate on Earth

Answer

Over 100 years

Answer

Over 200 years

Answer

Over 50 years

Question 16

Sea cucumbers defend themselves against predators using an extraordinary defence mechanism. What do they do?

Accepted Answer

They eject their own internal organs to entangle the predator, then regenerate them

Answer

They inflate to 10 times their normal size, becoming too large to swallow

Answer

They release a cloud of toxic ink that temporarily blinds the predator

Answer

They secrete a paralytic toxin through their skin that incapacitates anything that touches them

Question 17

The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is unique among vertebrates for which extraordinary regenerative ability?

Accepted Answer

It can regrow fully functional limbs, its heart, and even parts of its brain

Answer

It can shed and regrow its entire skin in 24 hours

Answer

It can regenerate its eyes after complete removal

Answer

It replaces all its teeth every two weeks throughout its life

Question 18

Which animal produces the loudest sound made by any living creature, with clicks reaching up to 230 decibels?

Accepted Answer

The sperm whale

Answer

The blue whale

Answer

The howler monkey

Answer

The pistol shrimp

Question 19

GPS tracking studies published in 2013 (Wilson et al., Nature) confirmed which land animal holds the record for highest recorded sprint speed, at 93–98 km/h?

Accepted Answer

The cheetah

Answer

The pronghorn antelope

Answer

The springbok

Answer

The lion

Question 20

Elephants communicate with each other over very long distances using sounds humans cannot hear. What type of sound do they primarily use for long-distance communication?

Accepted Answer

Infrasound — low-frequency rumbles below 20 Hz that can travel up to 10 kilometres through the ground

Answer

High-pitched ultrasonic whistles inaudible to human ears but detectable up to 5 km away

Answer

Subsonic vibrations transmitted through their feet and detected by other elephants through the ground

Answer

A series of very low rumbles transmitted through water sources that elephants drink from

The Animal Kingdom: Extreme Abilities and Hidden Superpowers

What is the only mammal capable of true powered flight (as opposed to gliding)?

Publisher

The Animal Kingdom: Extreme Abilities and Hidden Superpowers