Q 01/05

What name is given to the loud call an elephant makes by blasting air through its trunk?

A) Bugling

B) Trumpeting

C) Braying

D) Whinnying

Answer · why

B) Trumpeting

Trumpeting signals excitement, distress or aggression, yet most elephant talk is the opposite: soft, low rumbles made in the voice box rather than the...

Q 02/05

An elephant's boneless trunk is a fusion of its nose and which other part?

A) Upper lip

B) Tongue

C) Lower jaw

D) Forehead

Answer · why

A) Upper lip

Upper lip: fused with the nose, it makes a trunk of some 150,000 muscle bundles and not a single bone, which is why the trunk can bend in any directio...

Q 03/05

What are an elephant's tusks actually?

A) Elongated incisor teeth

B) Modified canine teeth

C) Specialized molars

D) Overgrown premolars

Answer · why

A) Elongated incisor teeth

Elongated incisor teeth: the tusks are upper incisors that keep growing through life, and in a drought elephants use them to dig for water in dry rive...

Q 04/05

Which member of an elephant herd typically takes charge?

A) Oldest female

B) Largest male

C) Youngest male

D) Youngest female

Answer · why

A) Oldest female

Herds are led by a matriarch, the oldest female, whose decades of memory guide the family to water and food; older matriarchs judge threats such as li...

Q 05/05

What is the average gestation period for an elephant?

A) Approximately 5 months

B) Approximately 11 months

C) Approximately 22 months

D) Approximately 44 months

Answer · why

C) Approximately 22 months

Approximately 22 months, the longest pregnancy of any mammal, and it pays off: a newborn is on its feet within minutes and walking with the herd withi...