Mammals big and small
Mammals are animals with hair or fur, and mammal mothers feed their babies milk. They come in every size, from tiny mice to huge elephants. This round visits the tallest, the biggest and some of the strangest mammals on Earth, including one that lays eggs. Watch out for the last two questions, because they surprise a lot of grown-ups too.
Q1.What is the tallest animal in the world?Tap to reveal
Answer: The giraffe
A giraffe's long neck has just seven bones, the same number as a human neck.
Q2.What is the biggest animal that lives on land?Tap to reveal
Answer: The African elephant
Elephants use their trunks to smell, drink, pick things up and even greet each other.
Q3.What is a baby kangaroo called?Tap to reveal
Answer: A joey
A newborn kangaroo is about the size of a jelly bean and keeps growing inside its mother's pouch.
Q4.Which black-and-white bear eats mostly bamboo?Tap to reveal
Answer: The giant panda
Bamboo gives very little energy, so a panda spends around half of every day eating.
Q5.Which furry mammal with a bill like a duck lays eggs?Tap to reveal
Answer: The platypus
A platypus closes its eyes underwater and finds food by sensing tiny electric signals with its bill.
Q6.What color is a polar bear's skin under its white fur?Tap to reveal
Answer: Black
A polar bear's outer hairs are see-through, not white, and they only look white because of the way light bounces off them.
Q7.What is a group of lions called?Tap to reveal
Answer: A pride
The lionesses in a pride are usually sisters, mothers, aunts and daughters, and they help look after each other's cubs.
Q8.What does a camel store in its hump?Tap to reveal
Answer: Fat
When a camel goes a long time without food, it uses up the fat and its hump gets smaller and floppy.
Q9.How many parts does a cow's stomach have?Tap to reveal
Answer: Four
A cow brings swallowed food back up into its mouth to chew it again, which is called chewing the cud.
Q10.Which very slow mammal can have tiny green plants called algae growing in its fur?Tap to reveal
Answer: The sloth
Sloths spend almost their whole lives up in trees and climb down only about once a week to go to the bathroom.
Birds and flying creatures
Every bird has feathers and a beak and lays eggs, but not every bird can fly. This round covers birds that run, swim, talk and even fly backward, plus one furry flier that is not a bird at all. Kids will also meet a bird with nostrils on the tip of its beak and a tiny traveler that flies from one end of the Earth to the other.
Q1.What is the biggest bird in the world?Tap to reveal
Answer: The ostrich
Ostriches cannot fly, but they are the fastest runners of all birds.
Q2.Which colorful bird is famous for learning to copy words that people say?Tap to reveal
Answer: The parrot
Parrots make sounds with a special voice box deep in their chest called a syrinx.
Q3.Which black-and-white bird cannot fly but is an excellent swimmer?Tap to reveal
Answer: The penguin
Penguins flap their stiff flippers underwater, so they look like they are flying through the sea.
Q4.Which bird can turn its head much farther than a person can and is mostly awake at night?Tap to reveal
Answer: The owl
An owl cannot move its eyes around, so it turns its whole head to look in a new direction.
Q5.Which is the only mammal that can truly fly?Tap to reveal
Answer: The bat
A bat's wing is made of thin skin stretched between its very long finger bones.
Q6.Which tiny bird can fly backward?Tap to reveal
Answer: The hummingbird
Its wings beat so fast that they make the humming sound the bird is named after.
Q7.Which bird is the national bird of the United States?Tap to reveal
Answer: The bald eagle
Bald eagles are not bald at all, and their name comes from an old word that meant white-headed.
Q8.Which pink bird often stands on one leg?Tap to reveal
Answer: The flamingo
Flamingos are born gray and turn pink from the tiny shrimp and algae they eat.
Q9.Which New Zealand bird lays the biggest egg for its body size of any bird?Tap to reveal
Answer: The kiwi
The kiwi is the only bird with nostrils at the very tip of its beak, which it uses to sniff for food in the soil.
Q10.Which seabird makes the longest trip of any animal, flying from the far north of the Earth to the far south and back every year?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Arctic tern
Because it follows summer at both ends of the Earth, the Arctic tern sees more daylight than any other animal.
Ocean animals
The ocean covers most of our planet, and it is home to some of the most amazing animals anywhere. In this round kids meet giant whales, clever octopuses, fathers that carry their babies and a whale with a tusk like a unicorn. Some of these sea creatures are not fish at all, so ask children to read or listen to each question carefully.
Q1.What is the biggest animal alive today?Tap to reveal
Answer: The blue whale
Even though it is so huge, the blue whale eats mostly tiny shrimp-like animals called krill.
Q2.How many arms does an octopus have?Tap to reveal
Answer: Eight
An octopus has three hearts and blue blood.
Q3.Is a dolphin a fish or a mammal?Tap to reveal
Answer: A mammal
Dolphins breathe air through a blowhole on top of their head, so they swim up to the surface to take a breath.
Q4.Which ocean animal with a hard shell crawls onto the beach to lay its eggs in the sand?Tap to reveal
Answer: The sea turtle
Many sea turtles come back to lay their eggs on the same beach where they hatched.
Q5.In which sea animal does the dad carry the babies in a pouch?Tap to reveal
Answer: The seahorse
Seahorses swim standing up and hold on to sea grass with their curly tails.
Q6.Which sea creature has no brain, no heart and no bones, and is made almost completely of water?Tap to reveal
Answer: The jellyfish
Jellyfish were drifting in the oceans long before the first dinosaurs appeared.
Q7.Which orange-and-white striped fish makes its home among the waving arms of a sea anemone?Tap to reveal
Answer: The clownfish
A clownfish is covered in a special slimy coat, so the sea anemone's stinging arms do not bother it.
Q8.Which fish can puff itself up into a big round ball?Tap to reveal
Answer: The pufferfish
A pufferfish puffs up by gulping lots of water into its very stretchy stomach.
Q9.Which whale has one long, twisty tusk like a unicorn's horn?Tap to reveal
Answer: The narwhal
A narwhal's tusk is really a very long tooth that grows out through its upper lip.
Q10.Which ocean animal, usually with five arms, has a tiny eye at the tip of each arm?Tap to reveal
Answer: The sea star (starfish)
Starfish are not fish at all, which is why scientists like to call them sea stars.
Bugs, reptiles and amphibians
Small creatures can do big things. Insects have six legs, reptiles have dry scaly skin, and amphibians like frogs usually start their lives in water. This last round mixes all three groups, from honeybees and fireflies to chameleons and the biggest lizard in the world. It is a great round for kids who love turning over rocks in the garden.
Q1.A caterpillar hangs inside a chrysalis. What comes out when it is ready?Tap to reveal
Answer: A butterfly
Butterflies taste their food with their feet.
Q2.How many legs does an insect have?Tap to reveal
Answer: Six
Insects have no bones inside their bodies and instead wear a hard outer covering called an exoskeleton.
Q3.What does a tadpole grow up to become?Tap to reveal
Answer: A frog or a toad
Frogs do not need to sip water with their mouths, because they soak it in through their skin.
Q4.Which insect makes honey?Tap to reveal
Answer: The honeybee
Honeybees do a wiggly waggle dance to tell other bees in the hive where to find flowers.
Q5.Which lizard can change the color of its skin and move each eye on its own?Tap to reveal
Answer: The chameleon
A chameleon's sticky tongue can be longer than its whole body.
Q6.Which insect makes its own light and glows on summer nights?Tap to reveal
Answer: The firefly
A firefly's light comes from a chemical mix inside its body and gives off almost no heat.
Q7.What body part does a snake flick in and out to smell the air?Tap to reveal
Answer: Its tongue
Snakes have no eyelids, so their eyes stay open even when they are asleep.
Q8.Which of these is an amphibian: a lizard or a salamander?Tap to reveal
Answer: A salamander
Salamanders have soft, damp skin, while lizards have dry skin covered in scales.
Q9.What is the biggest lizard in the world?Tap to reveal
Answer: The Komodo dragon
Komodo dragons live in the wild on only a few islands in Indonesia.
Q10.Spiders are not insects. What group of animals do they belong to?Tap to reveal
Answer: Arachnids
Spiders have eight legs and bodies split into two main parts, and they spin silk from body parts called spinnerets.
Frequently Asked Questions
What age is this animal trivia for kids best for?
The questions are written for children aged 6 to 12. Younger kids will know most of the easy questions at the start of each round, like the tallest animal or what a tadpole becomes. Older kids will enjoy the last two questions in each round, which are harder. With a mixed group, let the youngest children answer first, then open each question to everyone.
How should I run this quiz with a class or at a party?
Split the children into small teams and let each team pick an animal name. Read one question aloud, give the teams a few seconds to agree, then share the answer and the fun fact before moving on. Keep score on a board or a sheet of paper. On a car ride, skip the teams and let everyone call out answers together.
Can I use these questions in my classroom for free?
Yes. You can read the questions aloud, print this page or copy them onto a whiteboard for your class, club or home school group without paying anything. The fun facts make it easy to turn the quiz into a short science lesson, so feel free to pause after a question and talk about the animal with your students.
Which question is the hardest?
The hardest one is probably the Arctic tern, the seabird that flies from one end of the Earth to the other and back every year. The kiwi's giant egg and the sea star with an eye on each arm are tricky too, even for older kids. If nobody knows an answer, give a clue, such as the first letter or the part of the world where the animal lives.
Where can kids play this animal quiz online?
Right here. This page has a free interactive quiz widget with these questions, so kids can tap their answers and play on a phone, tablet or computer. If your family enjoys it, try the other kids quizzes on Trivio.NET. Grown-ups who love trivia too can find even more quizzes in the Trivio.NET app.
