Q 01/05

Otters belong to which animal family, also known for weasels and badgers?

A) Mustelidae

B) Canidae

C) Ursidae

D) Mephitidae

Answer · why

A) Mustelidae

Mustelidae is the weasel family, and it used to hold the skunks as well, until genetic evidence moved them into a family of their own, Mephitidae.

Q 02/05

In the Harry Potter books, whose Patronus takes the shape of an otter?

A) Hermione Granger

B) Ginny Weasley

C) Luna Lovegood

D) Nymphadora Tonks

Answer · why

A) Hermione Granger

Hermione Granger casts a silver otter because J.K. Rowling gave the character her own favourite animal.

Q 03/05

In southern Bangladesh, fishermen have bred smooth-coated otters for generations to do what job?

A) Guard the fish ponds

B) Herd fish into nets

C) Dive for river pearls

D) Retrieve lost hooks

Answer · why

B) Herd fish into nets

Herd fish into nets is the job: smooth-coated otters naturally hunt in groups that drive shoals together, and the fishermen breed and train them to us...

Q 04/05

Otters hunting in dark or murky rivers track their prey with which sensitive feature?

A) Nostrils

B) Whiskers

C) Tongue

D) Tail tip

Answer · why

B) Whiskers

Whiskers do the tracking: the long, stiff hairs pick up the pressure changes a moving fish makes, so an otter can hunt in cloudy water or in the dark.

Q 05/05

What is a common term for an otter's den or burrow?

A) Lodge

B) Sett

C) Drey

D) Holt

Answer · why

D) Holt

A holt is the otter's den, fitted into almost any cavity near the bank, from tangled tree roots to piles of boulders, then lined with moss and grass.