Title photo by Michael R Perry
Dear Readers, we had a tie for first place this week, with Fran and Bobby Freelove and Anne both getting 13 out of 15. I’m giving both you a half mark for saying 3 British mammals hibernate – if you include bats, though, you get up to 20 species. I’m also giving a half mark for King James’s birds – I was after peregrine falcon, but hawk is definitely in the right ball park. Thank you for playing, and let’s see what i can come up with tomorrow….
- What do we call a baby alpaca? A cria
- What is the most dangerous animal in England, in terms of deaths? The cow
- What is Britain’s fastest land mammal? The brown hare
- Which four groups of animals technically belong to the Queen? Swans, whales, porpoises/ dolphins and sturgeons
- What is a group of pheasants called? A covey, bouquet, nide , nye or head of pheasants
- Owls are zygodactyl. What does that mean? They have two toes pointing forwards and two toes pointing backwards.
- The puffin’s scientific name is Puffinus puffinus. True or false? False! Puffinus puffinus is the Manx shearwater. ‘Our’ puffin’s scientific name is Fratercula arcticus. ‘Puffin’ comes from an Old English word meaning ‘the fat tasty nestling of a shearwater’.
- How many species of UK mammal hibernate (closest answer gets a bonus point!) Hedgehogs, dormice and all of the bat species, so 20 species in total.
- Fieldfares and redwings migrate to the UK every year, but where from? Scandinavia
- Which UK thrush is named after its favourite food? The Mistle Thrush (named for its fondness for mistletoe)
- James II paid over a thousand pounds for a pair of which birds? Peregrine falcons, for hunting.
- Which species of bird, first seen in the UK in 1956, is now the 7th most commonly seen species? The Collared Dove
- What is Britain’s commonest bird of prey? The buzzard
- Which is the only UK snake that lays eggs? The grass snake – smooth snakes and adders give birth to live young.
- The UK has only three native lizard species. Can you name them? Common and sand lizards and the slow worm.