Trivia question for Mar-17-2011

Olivia with her strange sense of what she considers cute picked out this smelly guy for her trivia.  Let’s see how you fare with this one.  These guys rely on their acute sense of smell to locate its prey on nocturnal hunting expeditions.  They typically kill poultry but also prey on household pests such as rodents.

These guys are found through much of sub-Saharan Africa, but are absent from equatorial rainforest and the eastern tip of Somalia. The number one killer of these poor guys is actually cars due to the new road networks which extend into their large territories.

So here are Olivia’s questions:  Tell us what this guys name is in Spanish and what it means, and also tell us how far they can spray their nauseous secretion to ward of enemies?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations go out to Rich again for being the first will all the right answers.  The stinker we featured is the Zorilla. The Zorilla a.k.a. Striped Polecat (Ictonyx striatus, also called the African Polecat, Zoril, Zorille) is a member of the Mustelidae family (weasels) which somewhat resembles a skunk. It is found in savannahs and open country in sub-saharan Africa excluding the Congo basin and west Africa.

The Guinness Book of Animal Records claims a zorilla once kept nine lions at bay while it was scavenging their kill, to illustrate the claim it is indeed the worst-smelling animal.  They can reportedly spray their foul smelling scent up to 10-13 feet but accurately only up to 6-feet.

The Zorilla, whose name in Spanish means “Little Fox” is considered to be the smelliest animal in the world.  Here is more on these stinky creatures: Zorilla

Thanks for playing along 😉