Q 01/05

Which country chose the unicorn as its national animal and shows it wrapped in gold chains in heraldry?

A) Ireland

B) Scotland

C) Netherlands

D) Norway

Answer · why

B) Scotland

Scotland picked a beast that folklore casts as the sworn enemy of the lion, the national animal of England. The gold chains are a long-standing herald...

Q 02/05

Which bird did Benjamin Franklin call more respectable than the bald eagle in a 1784 letter to his daughter?

A) Osprey

B) Raven

C) Turkey

D) Pheasant

Answer · why

C) Turkey

Turkey praise stayed in that private letter: Franklin never publicly suggested the bird as a national symbol. He did write that the bald eagle had a b...

Q 03/05

Which island nation, the only place the extinct dodo ever lived, shows the bird on its coat of arms?

A) Mauritius

B) Madagascar

C) Seychelles

D) Maldives

Answer · why

A) Mauritius

Mauritius lost the dodo fast: Dutch sailors first recorded it in 1598 and the last accepted sighting came in 1662. It still appears as a watermark on ...

Q 04/05

Which nation's flag shows its national symbol, a red dragon, walking across a green and white field?

A) Bhutan

B) Malta

C) Georgia

D) Wales

Answer · why

D) Wales

Wales gets the flag's green and white from the Tudors: Henry VII carried a red dragon standard at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.

Q 05/05

Which animal, once trapped across Canada for the fur trade, is a national symbol shown on the Canadian nickel?

A) Moose

B) Beaver

C) Caribou

D) Polar bear

Answer · why

B) Beaver

Beaver numbers once ran to an estimated 100–200 million before the fur trade; protection has since brought them back to some 10–15 million.