50 free Black Cat trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
42 free Black cat trivia questions with answers. Black cat trivia for Halloween parties, Black Cat Day on October 27, or anyone owned by one. The 50 questions start with the animal: why most black cats have gold eyes, why their coats 'rust' in the sun, the only breed that comes exclusively in black, and the gene that decides black over chocolate. Then it gets into the stories: the 1233 papal decree that tied black cats to witchcraft, the Scottish fairy cat with a white chest spot, why sailors wanted a black ship's cat, the Bismarck cat who survived three sinkings, Matthew Flinders' Trim, Poe's Pluto, Karloff and Lugosi, Felix, Salem, Binx, Jiji, Luna and Snowball II, plus Bastet, Egyptian cat mummies and the Black Panther adoption craze. Questions run from easy to expert, and every answer has been checked against a reference source, shown under each question once you answer.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Most black cats have eyes of which colour, thanks to their high melanin content?
Golden
The Bombay breed standard goes further and demands copper-gold eyes; green is a fault.
Q 02Which is the only cat breed that comes exclusively in black?
Bombay
The Cat Fanciers' Association allows solid black as an option in 21 other breeds, but this one is black and nothing else.
Q 03A black cat's coat can 'rust' to a reddish-brown shade after too much of what?
Sunlight
The black pigment eumelanin is fragile, and a shortage of the amino acid tyrosine can cause the same effect.
Q 04A cat whose dark fur has white roots is known by what name?
Black smoke
Faint tabby markings can also show through on a solid black cat in certain light, because the tabby pattern is only suppressed, not erased.
Q 05Which big cat was Nikki Horner's all-black breed, created in Louisville from 1958, meant to resemble in miniature?
A panther
She crossed sable Burmese with black American Shorthairs; her first attempt failed and the second succeeded in 1965.
Q 06In the folklore of Britain and Ireland, a black cat crossing your path is generally a sign of what?
Good luck
The RSPCA confirmed in 2014 that in UK folklore black cats symbolise good luck, and Welsh lore says one brings good health.
Q 07Which pope's 1233 decree describing a demonic ritual linked black cats to witchcraft?
Gregory IX
Vox in Rama claimed heretics' meetings ended with a statue of a black cat coming to life and walking backwards with its tail erect.
Q 08The Cat sìth of Scottish mythology is a fairy black cat with what distinguishing mark?
A white chest spot
It is said to be as big as a dog and to walk on its hind legs when it thinks no human is watching.
Q 09Sailors traditionally preferred a black ship's cat. Why?
It brought luck
Fishermen's wives sometimes kept a black cat at home too, hoping its influence would protect their husbands at sea.
Q 10In Japan, black cats are considered auspicious and are associated with which beckoning figurine?
Maneki-neko
Latvia, Italy and Thailand also count black cats as lucky, and in Germany one walking left to right is a good sign.
Q 11Early US TV stations on which 'unlucky' VHF channel often used a black cat as a mascot?
13
NASA later reworked Shuttle mission numbering to avoid an STS-13; that crew's joke patch showed a black cat and the number 13.
Q 12The arch-backed black 'sab cat' became a symbol of which political movement?
Anarcho-syndicalism
Ralph Chaplin of the IWW said his 'Sab Cat' was meant to symbolise the slow-down as a way of striking on the job.
Q 13Which UK charity designated October 27 as Black Cat Day to encourage adoptions?
Cats Protection
In 2014 the RSPCA reported that 70% of the abandoned cats in its care were black, partly because black cats do not photograph as well.
Q 21Poe's 'The Black Cat' first appeared in the summer of 1843 in which publication?
The Saturday Evening Post
The narrator is awaiting execution after walling up his murdered wife, and the cat gives him away.
Q 22The 1934 horror film 'The Black Cat' was the first of eight films to pair which two horror stars?
Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi
It was Universal's biggest hit of the year, despite having almost nothing to do with the Poe story it was 'suggested by'.
Q 23Felix the Cat, the black cartoon cat created in 1919, holds what distinction in American animation?
Q 14In which month is the US 'Black Cat Appreciation Day', created by Wayne H. Morris?
August
Wayne H. Morris created it in memory of his late sister June, who had a black cat named Sinbad.
Q 15Which 2018 superhero film sparked a fad for adopting dark-coated cats and naming them T'Challa or Shuri?
Black Panther
Shelter staff noticed adopters were mostly regular visitors who simply picked a black cat once the film put the idea in their heads.
Q 16Which black cat sailed with Matthew Flinders as he mapped Australia and now appears on statues beside him?
Trim
As a kitten he fell overboard, swam back and climbed a rope aboard, which is what won the crew over.
Q 17Ship's cat 'Unsinkable Sam' survived the Bismarck and which two British warships in 1941?
Cossack and Ark Royal
A Reuters wire reported he was found floating on a plank after Ark Royal went down, though there is no firm evidence linking him to the Bismarck.
Q 18Which black cat became Chief Mouser of HM Treasury in 2016?
Gladstone
Adopted from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home in 2016, he joined Downing Street's Larry and the Foreign Office's Palmerston; the government has adopted several mousers from Battersea.
Q 19India, also called Willie, was a black cat who lived in the White House with which president's family?
George W. Bush
She was one of the last presidential cats; the Bushes' dogs Barney and Miss Beazley got most of the press.
Q 20What is the name of the doomed pet in Edgar Allan Poe's 1843 story 'The Black Cat'?
Pluto
The narrator gouges out its eye, hangs it, and is later haunted by a second one-eyed black cat with a white patch shaped like a gallows.
First recurring animal character
He was created by Otto Messmer and Pat Sullivan in the silent era, and his refusal to move to sound let Mickey Mouse eclipse him.
Q 24Le Chat Noir, often called the first modern cabaret, opened in 1881 in which district of Paris?
Montmartre
Its famous 1896 poster by Théophile Steinlen is still one of the most reproduced images in the world.
Q 25Marvel's Black Cat, Felicia Hardy, first appeared in 1979 as an adversary of which superhero?
Spider-Man
She is the daughter of a famous cat burglar and later becomes his on-off love interest.
Q 26In 'Hocus Pocus' (1993), in which year do the Sanderson sisters turn Thackery Binx into an immortal cat?
1693
Three centuries later Max Dennison lights the Black-Flame Candle and brings the witches back.
Q 27For how long was Sabrina's Salem Saberhagen sentenced to live as a cat for trying to take over the world?
100 years
In the sitcom he was voiced by Nick Bakay and often played by an animatronic puppet rather than one of the four real cats.
Q 28Kiki's talking black cat Jiji appears in a 1989 animated film made by which company?
Studio Ghibli
It was Ghibli's first film to be a hit on initial release, taking ¥4.3 billion in Japan; Kiki leaves home at 13 as all young witches must.
Q 29Luna, the talking black cat who tells Usagi she is a Sailor Guardian, has what mark on her forehead?
A crescent
Her white counterpart Artemis is also able to speak and secretly guides Sailor Venus.
Q 30Snowball II, the black cat on 'The Simpsons', replaced an original Snowball who had fur of what colour?
White
She has appeared since the series premiere but has had almost no storylines of her own.