Q 01/05

Tapirs have a stocky body and a short trunk, yet which animals are their closest relatives?

A) Pigs and peccaries

B) Capybaras and porcupines

C) Horses and rhinoceroses

D) Anteaters and armadillos

Answer · why

C) Horses and rhinoceroses

Horses and rhinoceroses are the tapir's fellow odd-toed ungulates, the only other families left in that group. Pigs belong to the even-toed side inste...

Q 02/05

Every baby tapir is born with which coat pattern, which hides it in dappled forest light?

A) Stripes and spots

B) A white saddle

C) Black and white bands

D) Plain reddish brown

Answer · why

A) Stripes and spots

Stripes and spots cover the young of all four species, and San Diego Zoo likens them to watermelons on legs. The markings fade within the first months...

Q 03/05

A frightened tapir can hide underwater with its flexible snout above the surface, working like what?

A) A periscope

B) A snorkel

C) A rudder

D) A fishing float

Answer · why

B) A snorkel

A snorkel is how San Diego Zoo describes the snout in water, and a tapir can stay under for several minutes. On land the same snout plucks leaves and ...

Q 04/05

In Japanese folklore, the Baku, a spirit that shares its name with the tapir, devours what?

A) Lost souls

B) Evil spirits

C) Stolen memories

D) Nightmares

Answer · why

D) Nightmares

Nightmares are the Baku's food, and a child woken by a bad dream would call on it three times to come and eat. In Japanese, baku is also the word for ...

Q 05/05

Baird's tapir, nicknamed the mountain cow, is the national animal of which Central American country?

A) Honduras

B) Belize

C) Guatemala

D) Nicaragua

Answer · why

B) Belize

Belize counts the tapir among its national symbols, alongside the keel-billed toucan and the mahogany tree. Hunting the animal is illegal there.