Zoo Animals Trivia for Kids
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60 free Zoo Animals Trivia for Kids trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This zoo animals for kids trivia quiz walks the whole zoo: the big cats, elephants, giraffes and zebras on the savannah, gorillas, chimps and orangutans in the ape house, giant pandas and red pandas, kangaroos and koalas, penguins and polar bears, meerkats, flamingos, peacocks and toucans, crocodiles, tortoises, snakes and chameleons, sea otters and sea lions, camels, llamas, sloths, capybaras and lemurs. There are a few questions about zoos themselves too, from the oldest scientific zoo in London to the San Diego Zoo's cage-free exhibits. It is written for kids roughly 6 to 12, for the car ride to the zoo, a classroom animal unit or a rainy-day family quiz. Most questions are easy or medium and every one teaches a fact worth repeating at the enclosure. For a tougher run, try our hard nature trivia; our animal trivia for kids page has the wider mix. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia article on the animal or zoo, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01A group of lions is called what?
A pride
A pride is built around related females, who usually stay for life, while young males are driven out once they are big enough to rival the adult males.
Q 02Outside Africa, which is the only country where lions still live in the wild?
India
India's Gir Forest holds the last wild lions outside Africa, after centuries of hunting and habitat loss wiped them out across the rest of Asia.
Q 03Which two kinds of tiger are the largest?
Bengal and Siberian
Bengal and Siberian tigers are the biggest, and the Siberian grows the longest, thickest coat of any living tiger to get through Russia's snowy winters.
Q 04What is special about every zebra's stripes?
They are unique to each animal
They are unique to each animal, as distinct as fingerprints, and scientists think the stripes may also help keep biting flies away.
Q 05Which animals are the hippo's closest living relatives?
Whales and dolphins
Whales and dolphins are the hippo's closest living relatives, yet hippos barely swim: they get around rivers by walking or bouncing along the bottom.
Q 06When do hippos usually set off to graze?
At dusk
At dusk hippos head out to graze, because their sensitive skin can burn or dry out in the hot daytime sun.
Q 07A rhino's horn is made of the same stuff as what?
Hair and fingernails
Hair and fingernails are made of keratin, just like rhino horn, yet poachers still kill rhinos for horns sold as traditional medicine.
Q 08What is the leader of a gorilla troop called?
A silverback
A silverback makes his troop's decisions, settling fights and leading the group to places to feed and rest.
Q 09Which foods do chimpanzees use sticks to get?
Termites and honey
Termites and honey can both be fished out with sticks, and when Jane Goodall saw a chimp fish for termites with stalks of grass, it challenged the belief that only humans made tools.
Q 10Wild orangutans live on which two islands?
Borneo and Sumatra
Borneo and Sumatra are the orangutan's only wild homes, and each ape usually builds itself a fresh sleeping nest of branches every night.
Q 11What do giant pandas eat almost all day long?
Bamboo
Bamboo is nearly all a giant panda eats, but its gut is built like a meat-eater's, so it must eat huge amounts to get enough energy.
Q 12Which is the only country where giant pandas live in the wild?
China
China is the only wild home of giant pandas, and even cubs born in foreign zoos belong to China and are sent there under its loan deals.
Q 13Which animals are the red panda's closest living relatives?
Raccoons and weasels
Raccoons and weasels are thought to be its closest kin, and although red and giant pandas share a name and a 'false thumb', the two aren't closely related.
Q 21Why are flamingos pink?
Colours in the food they eat
Colours in the food they eat, pigments from algae and tiny crustaceans, turn flamingos pink, so zoos add pigment to their feed to keep them from fading.
Q 22What is a group of flamingos called?
A flamboyance
A flamboyance is the name, and scientists still aren't sure why flamingos often stand on one leg, though tucking one up may help them keep warm.
Q 23What is a female peacock called?
A peahen
A peahen lacks the male's famous train, which isn't really his tail: it's made of long feathers that cover the base of the tail.
Q 14Which is the biggest species in the kangaroo family?
The red
The red kangaroo is the largest of all, and it can go long spells without drinking, getting most of the water it needs from the plants it eats.
Q 15Which leaves give koalas so little energy they sleep most of the day?
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus leaves carry toxins that put most other mammals off eating them, yet koalas eat almost nothing else.
Q 16Which is the only penguin that lives north of the equator?
The Galápagos
The Galápagos penguin survives in the tropics because cold ocean currents keep its waters cool and full of the small fish it eats.
Q 17Which is the largest kind of penguin alive today?
The emperor
The emperor is the only penguin that breeds through the Antarctic winter, when birds huddle together and take turns moving into the warm middle.
Q 18Which penguin parent keeps the egg on its feet all through the Antarctic winter?
The father
The father balances the egg on his feet for about two months without eating, while the mother heads out to sea to feed.
Q 19What colour is a polar bear's skin under its fur?
Black
Black skin under a polar bear's thick fur helps it soak up the sun's warmth in the freezing Arctic.
Q 20Meerkats are a small kind of which animal?
Mongoose
Mongoose family members, meerkats forage in groups while one adult climbs to a high spot and stands guard.
Q 24Which part still shows on a crocodile with its mouth shut, while an alligator's stays hidden?
Its lower teeth
Its lower teeth still show on a crocodile, while a socket in an alligator's upper jaw hides its big fourth lower tooth.
Q 25Which scientist was said to have collected Harriet, a giant tortoise who died in 2006?
Darwin
Darwin was credited with collecting Harriet in 1835, but she appears to have come from an island he never visited.
Q 26Where is the only place ring-tailed lemurs live in the wild?
Madagascar
Madagascar is their only wild home, and there rival male ring-tailed lemurs hold 'stink fights', waving scent-soaked tails at each other.
Q 27What do sea otters use rocks for?
To open shellfish
To open shellfish, a sea otter floats on its back and bangs them against a rock resting on its chest.
Q 28What is one easy way to tell a sea lion from a seal?
Sea lions have ear flaps
Sea lions have ear flaps and can turn their back flippers forward to 'walk' on land, while true seals wriggle along on their bellies.
Q 29Instead of water, what does a camel's hump really store?
Fat
Fat fills the hump as an energy store, so when food runs short and the camel uses it up, the hump shrinks and leans over.
Q 30What is the two-humped camel called?
The Bactrian
The Bactrian camel of Central Asia's steppes grows a shaggy coat for freezing winters, then sheds it in big chunks as summer comes.