Trivia Time: 20 questions on pets

We know there are plenty of animal fans out there! So who’s ready for Expat Living’s Weekly Quiz all about pets? You can get together with a small group, have a glass of wine and try these out – or stick to Zoom, of course.

#1 What was thought to be the first animal domesticated by humans: horse, goat, dog or cow?

#2 What two dog breeds go together to make each of the following hybrids: Schnoodle; Puggle; Gerberian Shepsky?

#3 Are guinea pigs related to pigs? 

#4 Mr Bigglesworth is the name of the cat belonging to which character in the Austin Powers films?

#5 What are the four most popular types of house pet in the US? (Hint: they all have a single syllable.) 

#6 What’s the average life span of a tropical fish kept in an aquarium: two to three years, five to six years, nine to ten years?

#7 Dalmatian puppies are born with spots: true or false?

#8 The act of a pet rabbit jumping excitedly in the air and flicking its head is known as bunking, binking or bonking?

#9 What, starting with “T”, is the name of the handheld digital pet created in Japan in 1996?

#10 Hamsters originally came from where: Syria, Lithuania or Nepal?

#11 Television personality and animal trainer Cesar Millan is better known as what? 

#12 What is the most popular breed of pet spider?

#13 A well-known novel about pet ownership is Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the… what?

#14 What’s another name for a parakeet?

#15 Which of these is not the name of a cat breed: Munchkin, Ragamuffin, Garfunkle, Pixiebob?

#16 What, starting with “C”, is the name of the famous international dog show held in the UK each year?

#17 What was the name of singer Michael Jackson’s pet chimpanzee?

#18 Are cats or dogs mentioned more often in the Bible? 

#19 The British synth-pop band Pet Shop Boys worked in a pet shop before they hit the big time: true or false?

#20 Well-known Presidential dogs in the White House have included Richard Nixon’s cocker spaniel Checkers and Barack Obama’s Portuguese water dogs Bo and Sunny. Does President Trump have a dog?

BONUS

(If you can answer correctly on the first clue, you get 10 points, but you lose a point for each additional clue you require after that.)

I was born in 1820 in an opulent Italian villa. (10)
My family was British, and we moved back to England when I was one. (9)
I once rescued a juvenile owl from a group of children who were tormenting it; I named the owl Athena and often carried it my pocket. (8)
There are lots of stories about other pets I owned in my lifetime, including a cicada called Plato, two tortoises Mr and Mrs Hill, and as many as 60 cats, according to some reports. (7)
Fittingly, my surname is also the name of an animal. (6)
Despite this, I’m not best known for working with animals, but rather with people. (5)
I’m especially famous for my work during the Crimean War in the 1850s, and for improving sanitary conditions for wounded soldiers. (4)
I’m sometimes referred to as “the lady with the lamp”. (3)
I’m considered the founder of modern nursing, and I also pioneered the use of animals in therapy for patients. (2)
I am Florence who? (1)

All the answers (no cheating!)

#1 Goat
#2 Schnauzer and Poodle; Pug and Beagle; German Shepherd and Siberian Husky
#3 No, even though male guinea pigs are referred to as “boars” and females are referred to as “sows”, they’re not related to pigs at all – they’re rodents
#4 Dr Evil
#5 Dog, cat, fish, bird
#6 Two to three years
#7 False
#8 Binking
#9 Tamagotchi
#10 Syria
#11 The Dog Whisperer
#12 Tarantula
#13 Rain
#14 Budgerigar
#15 Garfunkle
#16 Crufts
#17 Bubbles
#18 Dogs – they’re mentioned more than 30 times, while cats aren’t mentioned once
#19 False – their friends worked in a pet shop
#20 No; in fact, he’s the first President in more than 170 years to not have a pet in the White House

BONUS: Florence Nightingale

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Shamus Sillar

While he has worked as a magazine editor since 2003, Shamus also has a PhD in Roman History (useful!) and is a published author. He writes mostly on travel but also covers food, history, sport, trivia and more, across Expat Living’s publications and websites in Singapore and Hong Kong.