Sunday Quiz Animals in popular culture!
A still from The Ghost and the Darkness.
START THE QUIZ
1 / 10 |
This film based on a novel was released on June 20, 1975. It was responsible for starting the trend of films known as ‘summer blockbusters’. The novel’s author, Peter Benchley, eventually became a marine conservationist because the film had an unfortunate after-effect of the public viewing an endangered species as ‘villainous’. Which movie, named after the animal’s most fearsome feature, is this that supposedly stopped people from going to the beaches that summer?
2 / 10 |
‘The Sheep-_____’ was a book by Dick King-Smith, who had been a farmer and based many of his books on his experiences. It tells the story of an animal who takes on the role of a completely different animal after being adopted by the farmer’s dog. What was the name of this animal (which became famous in a movie of the same name) and what animal was mentioned in the book title?
3 / 10 |
In a Ruskin Bond story called ‘A _______ for all Seasons’, we see the world and the foolishness of human actions through the eyes of Speedy, a very clever animal whose wry utterances and observations make up the story. In real life, these animals have been recorded to use traffic signals to cross the roads, while a popular folktale talks about how they use available resources to access tiny amounts of water. What animal is Speedy, seen perfectly adapting to our cities?
4 / 10 |
This 1933 film came about because the producer, Merian Cooper, pitched a film called King of Komodo about a giant lizard terrorising people, but the idea was shot down by the studio. He re-wrote the plot but substituted the lizard with another animal that he could show falling in love with the heroine. What movie is this that had an iconic scene of the two main characters on top of the Empire State building?
5 / 10 |
This 1997 film starred pop stars Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube as they go in search of a legendary animal in the Amazon rainforest. Known to grow up to 22 feet and weigh more than 200 kg, this animal’s name is supposed to have come from the Sri Lankan Tamil words for ‘elephant killer’. What is the film, named after the animal known to scientists as Eunectes murinus?
6 / 10 |
This author’s only book happened because she became disabled in a fall, began learning about horses and wrote the novel as an invalid. It became an immediate best-seller, with her dying just five months after its publication, but having lived long enough to see her only novel become a success. It teaches how to treat people with kindness, sympathy, and respect, and is a treatise on animal welfare. What book is this, which is narrated as an autobiographical memoir by the title character, who is not human?
7 / 10 |
This is a 1996 comedy film about the family of a hotel manager whose son discovers a plan by a hotel guest to use his pet for a jewel heist. The pet, whose scientific name is Pongo pygmaeus, is known by a common name that means ‘forest person’ in Malay, the language of its native land, Borneo. These animals are known for their skill in using tools and intelligence, which is shown to good effect in the movie. What is the name of the movie and what animal is the pet?
8 / 10 |
The Ghost and the Darkness is a 1996 film starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas that is based on true events that happened in Kenya in 1898. It revolves around the death of workers who were building the Uganda-Mombasa Railway in Tsavo and were being killed by man-eating lions. When researchers saw the film they were unhappy as the movie showed the lions with a particular feature the actual lions didn’t have. What feature do Tsavo lions not have but was added as producers thought they did not look scary without it?
9 / 10 |
MVP is a 2000 film about Jack, a chimpanzee who learns sign language and has an amazing ability to play ice hockey. He eventually joins the local team, and brings them a lot of success and revenue. The title refers to the award given to the ‘Most Valuable Player’ in the team usually, but in this case ‘player’ is replaced by another word that comes from a Latin term meaning ‘first rank’. What does MVP stand for?
10 / 10 |
These animals are found only around the newly added Southern Ocean around Antarctica. In 2014, an animated movie explored the idea of four individuals who find themselves on an island country off the coast of East Africa. Using their ninja-like skills, access to weaponry, high intelligence and cutesy charm, they manage to escape, rob Fort Knox and help capture an evil octopus. What film is this that shares the name with a hilarious TV series about the same quartet?
