Q 01/05

Tortoises make up which family of the order Testudines?

A) Emydidae

B) Cheloniidae

C) Testudinidae

D) Trionychidae

Answer · why

C) Testudinidae

Testudines is simply Latin for 'tortoise'; the family name applies only to the land-dwelling species with domed shells.

Q 02/05

Tortoises are the longest-living what?

A) Cold-blooded animals

B) Land animals

C) Vertebrates

D) Animals

Answer · why

B) Land animals

Land animals, not the whole animal kingdom: tortoises can top 150 years, but Greenland sharks are estimated to live at least 272.

Q 03/05

The smallest tortoise, the speckled Cape tortoise, has a shell only about how long?

A) 6.8 cm

B) 16.8 cm

C) 26.8 cm

D) 36.8 cm

Answer · why

A) 6.8 cm

At the other extreme, the Galápagos giant tortoise grows past 1.2 metres.

Q 04/05

Which country's royal family kept Tu'i Malila, a tortoise said to have been a gift from Captain Cook?

A) Fiji

B) Hawaii

C) Samoa

D) Tonga

Answer · why

D) Tonga

Tonga's royal tortoise Tu'i Malila was a radiated tortoise, a species found naturally only in Madagascar, so a ship must have carried her there.

Q 05/05

Adwaita, an Aldabra giant tortoise claimed to be over 250 when he died, lived at a zoo in which Indian city?

A) Mumbai

B) Delhi

C) Chennai

D) Kolkata

Answer · why

D) Kolkata

Kolkata's Alipore Zoo lost Adwaita in 2006 after a crack in his shell left a wound that led to his death.