Why do animals have different-shaped poos? Try our kids’ quiz

1. Esther, 7, asks: why do animals have differently shaped poos?

   1. Because they eat different things

   2. Because every animal’s digestive system is different

   3. Because different poo contains different amounts of water

   4. All of the above

2. Florence, 9, asks: when was the first chocolate bar made?

   1. 1947

   2. 1847

   3. 1747

   4. 1647

3. Blythe, 9, asks: why are some animals nocturnal?

   1. At night there are cooler temperatures for hunting

   2. It’s easier to avoid predators at night

   3. There’s less competition for prey when hunting at night

   4. All of the above

4. Oisín, 6, asks: how do lemurs jump so high?

   1. They have wings that extend when they leap

   2. They weigh almost nothing so can bounce around very easily

   3. They have very powerful hind legs

   4. They have large ears that catch the wind and help them jump higher

5. Caden, 6, asks: how big is a red supergiant star?

   1. 1,000 to 10,000 kilometres wide

   2. 100,000 to 1 million kilometres wide

   3. 1 million to 10 million kilometres wide

   4. 100 million to 1 billion kilometres wide

Solutions

1:D - An animal’s poo shape depends on their diet, how much water they need to conserve and their different digestive systems. Wombats, for example, have special muscle structures that mean they do cube-shaped poos – researchers believe it’s to stop their poo rolling away from the rocks and logs where they use it to mark their territory., 2:B - British chocolatier JS Fry and Sons is credited with making the first chocolate bar in 1847, pressing a paste of cocoa butter and sugar into a bar shape. Before that, chocolate was mainly enjoyed as a delicious drink., 3:D - Plenty of animals have evolved to be nocturnal, as the cooler temperatures are preferable when scavenging for food, and there’s less competition around. It’s also easier to avoid predators in the dark., 4:C - Lemurs have very powerful hind legs, which act like springs, propelling them upwards and helping them to leap distances of up to nine metres., 5:D - Red supergiants are roughly 100 million to 1 billion kilometres wide, which is about 100 to 1,000 times wider than the sun!

Scores

1. 5 and above.

2. 4 and above.

3. 3 and above.

4. 2 and above.

5. 0 and above.

6. 1 and above.

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a weekly podcast answering children’s questions, out now as a book.

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