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Quiz

Quiz: How much do you know about these small mammals?

The smallest of all the mammals in Ireland.
10.01pm, 22 Aug 2020
60.5k
17

GOOD NEWS FOR fans of small mammals everywhere: The elephant shrew, thought to be extinct, has been found again.

The last record of it was made more than 50 years ago, but the tiny little critter – with a snout reminiscent of an elephant’s – was spotted alive and well in Djibouti in Africa.

To celebrate the occasion, we’ve put together a quiz on some of Ireland’s own small mammals.

Who's the smallest here?
The common house mouse
The lesser horseshoe bat

The pygmy shrew
Bosco
How do shrews locate prey?
Shutterstock
They have incredible eyesight and can spot tasty treats a mile off
They use their whiskers - it's known as whisking

They order on JustEat
Smell
Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant.
Wikimedia
True
False
Speaking of them, what are baby hedgehogs called?
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Baby hedgehogs
Piglets

Hoglets
Hedgelets
Which is longer?
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A brown rat's tail
A brown rat's head and body combined
Do voles - like the bank vole above - live in Ireland?
Reinheimer Teich/Wikimedia
Yes
No

They spend summer in Ireland but migrant to warmer climates in winter
Squirrels love acorns, but what gives the invasive grey squirrel an advantage over the native red squirrel in this regard?
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Grey squirrels can digest unripe acorns better than red squirrels
Grey squirrels can hide acorns better than red squirrels, and allow their supply to last longer during the winter

They don't have any advantage - squirrels can't actually eat acorns
Red squirrels often mistake rocks for acorns, meaning as much as half of their winter store is just rocks. Idiots!
Do we have any native dormice?
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There isn't actually any such thing as a "dormouse', all mice are dormice
No, but a small population of the hazel dormouse was recently found in Co Kildare

Yes, both the Irish dormouse and small bottom dormouse are native
He's not that small, but I'm going to include him anyway: Who the hell is this guy?
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How the hell am I meant to know who that is?
That's a Reeves's muntjac you've got there

It's a hybrid of a sika deer and a red deer
It's a Short Hamilton Deer
Finally, how many pups (that's right, they're called pups) do bats have?
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One, occasionally they'll have twins
Anywhere up to 10

Always four - it's very rare for a bat to have any less or any more
Bats lay eggs.
Answer all the questions to see your result!
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You scored out of !
You're a pygmy shrew
You are TINY!
Share your result:
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You scored out of !
You are a hare
You're pretty small, but you're actually a bit of a unit at the same time.
Share your result:
Shutterstock
You scored out of !
You are a Reeves's muntjac
You're small, but not that small - you probably shouldn't have been in this quiz at all
Share your result:
Shutterstock
You scored out of !
You are a blue whale
You're not small at all
Share your result:

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