How many hippos are born each day and how fast can an ant run? The kids’ quiz

1. Hartley, 10, asks: how many hippos are born every day?

   1. We can’t be sure, but our best guess is one

   2. Our best guess is 4,000

   3. Our best guess is 100

   4. Our best guess is 5 million

2. Niall, 7, asks: what is the fastest an ant can run?

   1. They can’t run very fast as they’re so small – 8.5 millimetres a second

   2. 8.5 centimetres a second

   3. 85.5 centimetres a second – that’s about 3 kilometres an hour

   4. 85 metres a second – that’s about 300 kilometres an hour

3. Camille, 5, asks: what is the fastest wild dog in the world?

   1. Jackal – it can run 30 kilometres an hour

   2. African wild dog – 70km an hour

   3. Coyote – 48kph

   4. Dingo – 60kph

4. Toby, 7, asks: how many bones are there in a human hand?

   1. 7

   2. 20

   3. 27

   4. 72

5. Flora, 5, asks: how do snails make their shells?

   1. They collect little bits of sand and spin them into a shell

   2. They look around for empty shells that have been cast aside and move in

   3. They have very tiny snail-sized tools to hammer and shape the shells from stones

   4. They grow them using special body parts

Solutions

1:C - Our best guess is 100 hippos. There are about 130,000 in the wild. A bit more than half are female, and each mum usually has a calf every two years. We could estimate about 30,000 to 35,000 hippos are born each year – about 100 a day! Some female hippos might be too young or too old, and some might skip a year, so this is just a best guess., 2:C - The Saharan silver ant holds the record for the fastest ant, reaching speeds of 85.5 centimetres a second, which is more than 100 times its body length a second., 3:B - African wild dogs are amazing runners! They can sprint up to 70 kilometres an hour over long distances. This great speed, combined with their teamwork and communication, makes them very successful hunters., 4:C - A human hand has 27 bones: eight carpals (wrist bones), five metacarpals (palm bones) and 14 phalanges (finger bones)!, 5:D - Snails are born with a tiny shell and as they grow, it grows, too. They have a special body part called the mantle that makes a slimy liquid that hardens into a shell. The snail keeps adding new layers as it grows.

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 podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and the new Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book.