What marking separates a jaguar's coat from a leopard's?

Its rosettes have small spots inside them

Its rosettes are ringed in white

Its spots are solid and evenly spaced

It has no rosettes below the shoulder

A wild wolf pack is usually built around what?

A breeding pair and their offspring

A group of unrelated adult males

A hierarchy of unrelated females

A rotating leadership shared by several pairs

Spotted hyenas sit in which branch of the carnivores?

The cat-like branch, alongside mongooses and civets

The dog-like branch, alongside foxes and wolves

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Animals & Wildlife Medium ⚡ 10 Questions ⏱️ ~7 Mins +100 XP

Big Cats and Other Hunters

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Predators are talked about more than almost any other group of animals, which means plenty of what gets repeated about them is decades out of date. These ten stick to what is well established.

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~7m

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About this topic

Hunting is an expensive way to make a living, and it shows in the anatomy. A cheetah gave up retractable claws for grip. A leopard developed the neck and shoulders to haul a carcass up a tree. A polar bear traded the omnivore diet of every other bear for a life spent waiting at a hole in the ice. This quiz covers the cats first, since that is where most of the confusion sits, then widens out to wolves, hyenas, snakes and the largest dolphin in the sea. Several answers overturn something people are fairly sure they already know, and the explanations say where the old idea came from.

Questions & answers

Big Cats and Other Hunters: all 10 questions and answers

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1Which is the largest of the big cats?
- A Leopard
- B Tiger Correct
- C Lion
- D Jaguar
Answer: B. Tiger

Why: Tigers are the heaviest living cat species, with the Siberian and Bengal populations at the top end. A tiger's stripes grow from pigmented skin, so the pattern would still be there if you shaved one.
2Which cat cannot fully retract its claws?
- A Cheetah Correct
- B Leopard
- C Jaguar
- D Snow leopard
Answer: A. Cheetah

Why: The cheetah's claws stay semi-extended and dig in like a sprinter's spikes. Cheetahs also cannot roar, which is why they chirp, yelp and purr instead.
3What marking separates a jaguar's coat from a leopard's?
- A Its rosettes are ringed in white
- B Its spots are solid and evenly spaced
- C It has no rosettes below the shoulder
- D Its rosettes have small spots inside them Correct
Answer: D. Its rosettes have small spots inside them

Why: A jaguar's rosettes enclose one or more small dots, while a leopard's are empty in the middle. The jaguar is also the stockier animal and the only big cat native to the Americas.
4Which bear lives almost entirely on meat?
- A American black bear
- B Sun bear
- C Polar bear Correct
- D Brown bear
Answer: C. Polar bear

Why: Polar bears feed mainly on seals and are classed as marine mammals because of how completely they depend on sea ice. Their hairs carry no white pigment at all, and the skin underneath is black.
5The killer whale is the largest member of which family?
- A The seals
- B The dolphins Correct
- C The baleen whales
- D The porpoises
Answer: B. The dolphins

Why: Orcas are dolphins, despite the name. Groups hunt in ways that are learned rather than instinctive, and separate populations use distinct calls that pass down the generations.
6Which is the longest snake in the world?
- A Reticulated python Correct
- B Green anaconda
- C King cobra
- D Black mamba
Answer: A. Reticulated python

Why: The reticulated python of Southeast Asia is the longest; the green anaconda is shorter but far heavier. The king cobra holds a narrower title as the longest venomous snake.
7A wild wolf pack is usually built around what?
- A A group of unrelated adult males
- B A hierarchy of unrelated females
- C A rotating leadership shared by several pairs
- D A breeding pair and their offspring Correct
Answer: D. A breeding pair and their offspring

Why: Most wild packs are simply a family: two parents and the young of one or more years. The old idea of an alpha wolf fighting its way to the top came from studies of unrelated captive animals thrown together in an enclosure.
8Which cat is adapted to high, cold mountains and uses its very long tail for balance?
- A Caracal
- B Serval
- C Snow leopard Correct
- D Clouded leopard
Answer: C. Snow leopard

Why: Snow leopards live on the steep ground of the Central and South Asian ranges, where a tail nearly as long as the body earns its keep. They cannot roar either, despite the name.
9Which predator regularly drags its kills up into trees?
- A Spotted hyena
- B Leopard Correct
- C Lion
- D Cheetah
Answer: B. Leopard

Why: Leopards cache carcasses in branches to keep them away from lions and hyenas, and can haul prey heavier than themselves. It is one reason leopards survive alongside larger competitors.
10Spotted hyenas sit in which branch of the carnivores?
- A The cat-like branch, alongside mongooses and civets Correct
- B The dog-like branch, alongside foxes and wolves
- C The bear family
- D The weasel family
Answer: A. The cat-like branch, alongside mongooses and civets

Why: Hyenas look dog-like but belong to the feliform side of the order, closer to cats, mongooses and civets. Their clans are led by females, and every adult female outranks every male.

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