Mammal Mania

Question: What is the mammal with the longest tongue, relative to its size?

Answer: Found in an Andean cloud forest in Ecuador, the tube-lipped nectar bat has the longest tongue, relative to body length, of any mammal.

Question: What mammal has killed the most humans?

Answer: Disease-carrying rats may have killed more people than all wars combined. Bubonic plague, for instance, which is carried by rats, has killed millions of people.

Question: How many mice would it take to produce the amount of milk a cow can?

Answer: All female mammals produce milk, but not in the same quantities. It would take 6,000 mice to produce as much milk as one cow.

Question: Which of these things does a Manx cat not have?

Answer: The Manx cat has no tail.

Question: Which animal has the widest hearing range?

Answer: The dolphin can hear frequencies between 150 and 150,000 hertz. This is about 10 times greater than a human’s range.

Question: What was the first animal that humans domesticated for food?

Answer: Goat milk became an important part of the diet of Middle Eastern people about 10,500 years ago. Goats are the earliest domesticated livestock.

Question: Which of these animals is related to a pangolin?

Answer: The pangolin, from Africa, is related to the armadillo, which lives in the Americas. Both have scaly armor and sharp claws.