Acoustic Trivia!

Animals produce a remarkable diversity of sounds that can be used to study their distribution, abundance, and behavior. The team at CCB has put together a 16 question acoustic trivia game that features some of the most unique or ecologically important sounds from our research projects and field sites. Listen to the sounds, answer the questions, and then check below for the answers to see how you did!

Sound 1: This is a common source of sound on the Ithaca landscape. How many legs would you typically find on this animal?

  1. None
  2. 2
  3. 4
  4. 6

Sound 2: You’ll find this shy animal, often in small groups, in canyons and on the slopes of pine-oak and juniper. Who am I?

  1. Burrowing owl
  2. Acorn woodpecker
  3. Mearn’s quail
  4. Cactus wren

Sound 3: This animal has the largest eyes (compared to body size) of all mammals and is found in Southeast Asia. Some of the species duet (which is what you are listening to here). What is this animal?

  1. Slow loris
  2. Tree shrew
  3. Tufted ground squirrel
  4. Tarsier

Sound 4: This bird from Southeast Asia is well known for clearing dancing grounds on the jungle floor and engaging in elaborate visual displays. They also emit territorial calls. What is this bird?

  1. Rhinoceros hornbill
  2. Great argus pheasant
  3. Bird of paradise
  4. Bornean bristlehead

Sound 5: The predator in this recording is relying on two forms of prey detection in this sound clip they are:

  1. Echolocation and vision
  2. Vision and olfactory
  3. Echolocation and passive listening
  4. Vision and passive listening

Sound 6: What three species can you acoustically identify in this sound clip (choose 3)?

  1. Manatees
  2. Snapping Shrimp
  3. Toadfish
  4. Bottlenose dolphins
  5. Spotted Seatrout
  6. Mangrove Snapper

Sound 7: The humpback whale social calls heard in this recording differ from ‘song’ in several important ways. Which four of the following statements are true?

  1. Social calls are only produced by females
  2. Song is only produced by males
  3. Social calls are produced by all age classes
  4. Social calls are only produced during migration, and on foraging grounds
  5. Some social calls are innate and shared by populations worldwide
  6. Song is culturally transmitted

Sound 8: This animal is known for epic bloody battles to secure access to breeding females that congregate in giant harems. They use calls to identify one another and mitigate these costly fights. What is this animal?

  1. Northern elephant seal
  2. Leopard seal
  3. Walrus
  4. African elephant
  5. Hippopotamus

Sound 9: Only a fraction of the vocalizations recorded here can actually be heard by us because this animal’s vocalizations are in the infrasonic range! Due to its large size and feeding habits this species has a critical role in maintaining the structure of its rainforest habitat.

  1. Pygmy hippopotamus
  2. African forest elephant
  3. Western lowland gorilla
  4. Tapir

Sound 10: When alarmed, this Bornean mammal produces this loud barking sound that can last for more than an hour. (Hint: this animal produces secretions from its pre-orbital glands to communicate with conspecifics).

  1. Bornean yellow muntjac
  2. Malayan sun bear
  3. Clouded leopard
  4. Sunda pangolin

Sound 11: This animal, common in the lowland rainforests of Borneo, is one of the largest members of its family.

  1. Greater mouse deer
  2. Pale giant squirrel
  3. Smith’s forest gecko
  4. Flying fox

Sound 12: Ranging widely across Asia, this adaptable carnivore preys primarily on snakes, small mammals, monkeys, and birds.

  1. Wallace’s hawk-eagle
  2. Crested goshawk
  3. Crested serpent eagle
  4. Brown wood-owl

Sound 13: One of Borneo’s charismatic megafauna, in 1856, Alfred Russell Wallace wrote about this animal, “The males procured by me may be divided into two groups, differing considerably both in the external characters and in those of the cranium. The first and most abundant is the large animal known among the natives as the “Mias pappan” or “Mias chappan,” the latter name being used by the Dyaks as well as that of “Mias Zimb,” while the former is, on the authority of Sir James Brooke, a name applied to it by the Malays.”

  1. Sumatran rhinoceros
  2. Proboscis monkey
  3. Borneo pygmy elephant
  4. Bornean orangutan

Sound 14: Endemic to the island of Borneo, this arboreal mammal was recently documented practicing terrestrial mycophagy in the peat-swamp forests of Kalimantan.

  1. Red leaf monkey
  2. Moonrat
  3. Pig-tailed macaque
  4. Binturong

Sound 15: This animal can weigh up to 3,000 lbs. They can withstand freezing temperature as low as -30°F. They live in shallow water but dives up to 90 meters deep to find food. Both male and female have tusks. They use these calls to defend territory and attract mate.

  1. Bearded seal
  2. Narwhal
  3. Sperm Whale
  4. Walrus

Sound 16: What taxonomic group produced this sound? (hint: May not be played at original speed)

  1. Insect
  2. Whale
  3. Bird
  4. Rodent

Answer Key: Sound 1 (4); Sound 2 (3); Sound 3 (4); Sound 4 (2); Sound 5 (3); Sound 6 (2, 3, 5); Sound 7 (2, 3, 5, 6); Sound 8 (1); Sound 9 (2); Sound 10 (1); Sound 11 (2); Sound 12 (3); Sound 13 (4); Sound 14 (1); Sound 15 (4); Sound 16 (2).