African wildlife is so incredibly brilliant and bizarre we’ve put together a mini quiz for you to test your knowledge...
How many questions below can you get right? You never know, one of them might come up in that pub quiz next Tuesday!
(Scroll slowly, the answers follow each individual question).
Like it? Share it! Test your friends 😀
Q1: How fast can an ostrich run?
A: 35mph
B: 40mph
C: 45mph
A male ostrich stretching his legs
The record holder for the largest & heaviest living bird is also the fastest (on the ground). They can run up to 45mph! They are also the only bird to have only two toes.
Q2: Roughly how many muscles are in an elephant’s trunk?
A: 400
B: 4,000
C: 40,000
Elephants at a watering hole
An entire human body has around 700 muscles. An elephant’s trunk contains over 40,000! Its dexterity and intricacy is a marvel of nature.
BONUS: It takes an elephant calf a long time to fully ‘discover’ how to use their trunk! They will often suck it for comfort – just as human babies suck their thumbs.
Q3: What colour is a giraffe’s tongue?
A: Black
B: Dark Blue/Purple
C: Pink/Red
Giraffe feeding from a acacia tree in the Maasai Mara - Toby Pheasant
Giraffe’s extremely tough tongues have a very high melanin content to stop them from getting sunburnt.
They can be up to 20 inches (50cm) long! The high melanin content gives their tongues a blue/purple hue.
Q4: On average, how long do male lions sleep for every day?
A: 20 hours
B: 14 hours
C: 9 hours
A male lion having a doze
As female lions do the majority of the hunting and practically all of the mothering, male lions are able to sleep for almost the whole day - up to 20 hours! They are most active around dawn and dusk.
Q5: An elephant can only sweat in one small area on its body. Where is it?
A: Temples
B: Between their toes
C: Tip of their trunk
A herd of desert adapted elephants in Namibia
Elephants have very few perspiratory glands on their body. They maintain their temperature by covering themselves in mud (also to protect their skin from the sun) and wafting air over a network of very small veins behind their ears.
The few sweat glands they do have are between their toes! How bizarre!
How did you do?
0 – 2 correct - Hyena: Laughing stock
3 – 4 correct - Elephant: Solid effort
5 correct - Lion: Top of the food chain!
If you enjoyed these questions, we have another quiz for you to play too! Click the button below to test yourself:
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James Handley
Born and bred in the South of England, James is Bonamy’s intrepid traveller. When not honing his skills in London over the last decade, he's spent much of his time on self-planned expeditions and a...
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