Animals of Australia Quiz

1. What type of animal is a kangaroo?

1. A marsupial
2. A monotreme
3. A placental mammal
4. A rodent

2. What does a koala eat?

1. Bark and wood
2. Eucalyptus (gum) leaves almost exclusively
3. Fruit and berries
4. Grass and roots

3. The platypus is one of very few mammals to have which extraordinary ability?

1. It can breathe underwater
2. It can fly short distances
3. It can lay eggs
4. It can regrow lost limbs

4. What is the world's largest marsupial?

1. Koala
2. Red kangaroo
3. Tasmanian devil
4. Wombat

5. Which Australian animal is the world's most venomous spider?

1. Huntsman spider
2. Redback spider
3. Sydney funnel-web spider
4. Wolf spider

6. What is unique about the Tasmanian devil today compared to mainland Australia?

1. It has no natural predators anywhere
2. It is the only carnivorous marsupial
3. It is the world's smallest carnivore
4. It lives only on the island of Tasmania and is extinct on mainland Australia

7. The emu is Australia's largest bird. What is remarkable about the male emu?

1. It can fly despite being very large
2. It never drinks water
3. It runs faster than a horse
4. The male incubates the eggs and raises the chicks alone

8. What is a 'joey'?

1. A young kangaroo
2. A young wombat
3. Any baby marsupial
4. Specifically a young koala

9. Which Australian animal is nocturnal, has a long sticky tongue for eating ants, and rolls into a ball when threatened?

1. Bandicoot
2. Quoll
3. Short-beaked echidna
4. Wombat

10. Which Australian snake is considered the most venomous land snake in the world?

1. Eastern brown snake
2. Inland taipan
3. Taipan
4. Tiger snake

11. What do wombats produce that makes them unique among all animals?

1. They produce a sound too low for humans to hear
2. They produce cube-shaped droppings
3. They produce milk that can last weeks without refrigeration
4. They produce the world's strongest natural adhesive

12. The kookaburra is an Australian bird known for what distinctive sound?

1. A deep booming call that carries for miles
2. A loud call that sounds like human laughter
3. A melodic song at dawn
4. A screaming alarm call

13. What is Australia's wild dog called?

1. Dingo
2. Numbat
3. Quoll
4. Thylacine

14. The thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) was Australia's largest carnivorous marsupial. What happened to it?

1. It became extinct during the ice age
2. It is still alive in remote Tasmanian wilderness
3. It was relocated to zoos worldwide where it still lives
4. It went extinct in 1936 when the last known individual died in Hobart Zoo

15. Which lizard found in Australian deserts can collect water through its bumpy skin?

1. Blue-tongued skink
2. Frilled-neck lizard
3. Perentie monitor
4. Thorny devil

16. How does the frilled-neck lizard defend itself?

1. It bites with powerful crushing jaws
2. It plays dead convincingly
3. It puffs up a large frill of skin around its neck, hisses, and runs on its hind legs
4. It sprays venom at attackers

17. Which Australian sea creature can kill a human within minutes and is considered the world's most venomous marine animal?

1. Box jellyfish
2. Great white shark
3. Saltwater crocodile
4. Stonefish

18. What is the cassowary and why is it considered dangerous?

1. A crocodilian found in northern Australian rivers
2. A large flightless bird with a bony casque on its head and powerful legs with dagger-like claws
3. A large spider with powerful venom
4. A venomous lizard that sprays toxins from its throat

19. The quokka is often called the 'world's happiest animal'. What is a quokka?

1. A small arboreal possum
2. A small wild dog
3. A type of Australian bandicoot
4. A type of wallaby native to small islands off Western Australia

20. What percentage of Australia's reptiles, mammals, frogs, and flowering plants are found nowhere else on Earth?

1. About 10%
2. About 30%
3. About 50%
4. About 80%