National Symbols of Other Countries: Animals and Birds

The correct answer is B, the red kangaroo. It is the largest marsupial of the continent and appears on the coat of arms of Australia along with the emu, the two chosen because neither animal can easily walk backwards, which was read as a country always moving forward. Option A, the koala, is one of the best-known animals of Australia but holds no such designation. Option C, the emu, is the national bird and shares the coat of arms with the kangaroo, which makes it the strongest distractor in the set and the reason the stem must be read carefully for the word animal. Option D, the platypus, is an egg-laying mammal found only in Australia and is used as a symbol of the state of New South Wales rather than of the country. Store the pair as kangaroo for animal and emu for bird.

The correct answer is C, the United States. The bald eagle has been the national bird and the central figure of the Great Seal of the United States since 1782, and the bison was later adopted as the national mammal. Option A, Canada, is wrong; its national animal is the beaver and the maple leaf is its best-known emblem, carried on the flag. Option B, Mexico, is a genuine distractor because its national bird is the golden eagle, shown on its flag gripping a snake while perched on a cactus, so a careless reader sees the word eagle and picks Mexico. Option D, Russia, uses the double-headed eagle on its coat of arms, but that is a heraldic emblem rather than a national bird. Three eagles in one question is the usual design, so attach each to its country.

The correct answer is B, the cow. Nepal declares the cow its national animal, and the choice follows from its religious standing in the country. Option A, the yak, is the familiar high-altitude animal of the Himalayas and is the obvious guess, which is why it is placed first. Option C, the Himalayan monal, locally called the danphe, is the national bird of Nepal, so this option tests whether the stem was read as animal or bird. Option D, the snow leopard, is the national animal of Afghanistan and is found in the Himalayas as well, which makes it plausible here. The set of Nepali symbols worth memorising is the cow as animal, the danphe as bird, the rhododendron or lali gurans as flower, and a flag that is the only national flag in the world which is not a quadrilateral.

The correct answer is B, Bhutan. The takin is a heavily built goat-antelope of the eastern Himalayas, and Bhutan ties it to a legend about a saint who joined the head of a goat to the bones of a cow. Option A, Nepal, is wrong because its national animal is the cow, though the two countries are often swapped in a hurried reading. Option C, Myanmar, is wrong; the takin does occur in its northern hills, which is what makes this option plausible. Option D, Mongolia, is wrong, and the horse is the animal most associated with it. The rest of Bhutan's symbols complete a high-yield set: the raven as national bird, the blue poppy as national flower, the cypress as national tree, and the thunder dragon, the Druk, on the flag, from which the country takes its name Druk Yul.

The correct answer is B, Pakistan. The markhor lives in the mountain ranges of the north and west of the country, and its spiralled horns make it easy to recognise in a picture-based question. Option A, Afghanistan, is the closest distractor, because the snow leopard is its national animal and the markhor is also found there. Option C, Iran, is wrong; the Asiatic lion and the Persian leopard are associated with its history rather than a current designation of this kind. Option D, Tajikistan, is wrong as well, though the Marco Polo sheep of the Pamirs belongs to the same family of wild mountain animals. Pakistan's other symbols are the chukar partridge as national bird, jasmine as national flower, the deodar as national tree and the snow leopard as a protected species rather than a symbol.

The correct answer is C, South Africa. The king protea is the largest flower of the protea family, which grows in the fynbos vegetation of the Cape, and South Africa's national cricket team takes its name from it. Option A, Australia, is wrong; its floral emblem is the golden wattle, and its animal and bird are the red kangaroo and the emu. Option B, New Zealand, is wrong, and its best-known symbols are the kiwi as national bird and the silver fern as a national emblem. Option D, Kenya, is wrong as well. South Africa is the country with the fullest set of official symbols in these papers, so learn them together: the springbok as animal, the blue crane as bird, the king protea as flower, the yellowwood as tree and the galjoen as national fish.

The correct answer is B, Canada. The beaver was given official standing as a symbol of Canada because the fur trade in beaver pelts drove the early European exploration and settlement of the country, and the animal appears on the five-cent coin. Option A, Norway, is wrong, and the dipper is its national bird. Option C, Switzerland, is wrong; it has no national animal of this kind, but it is worth remembering that Switzerland and Vatican City are the only two states with square national flags. Option D, Sweden, is wrong as well. Canada's other symbols are the maple leaf, which the flag carries at its centre, and the maple as the national tree, while the Canadian horse also holds statutory recognition as a national symbol.

The correct answer is C, the unicorn. Scotland has used the unicorn in its royal arms since the fifteenth century, reading it as a symbol of purity and of a strength that cannot be captured, and it is the only mythical animal among the national animals usually asked. Option A, the dragon, is wrong for Scotland but is a genuine distractor because a red dragon fills the flag of Wales and the thunder dragon appears on the flag of Bhutan. Option B, the griffin, is a heraldic creature used by several cities and families but not as a national animal. Option D, the phoenix, is wrong as well. The plants of the four nations of the United Kingdom belong with this: the rose for England, the thistle for Scotland, the shamrock for Ireland and the leek and daffodil for Wales.

The correct answer is B, Nepal. The flag of Nepal is made of two stacked triangular pennants, the upper carrying a white moon and the lower a white sun, and its proportions are laid down by a geometrical construction in the constitution, which makes it unique among national flags. Option A, Switzerland, is a strong distractor because its flag is unusual in a different way: it is square rather than rectangular. Option C, Vatican City, is the other state with a square flag, so these two go together and neither is the answer here. Option D, Bhutan, has an ordinary rectangular flag, divided diagonally in yellow and orange with the white thunder dragon across it, and it is offered because it is the Himalayan neighbour. The distinction to hold is non-quadrilateral for Nepal and square for Switzerland and Vatican City.

The correct answer is B, Japan. The green pheasant, which is found only in Japan, was designated its national bird by the country's ornithological society, and the bird appears in Japanese folk tales as a companion of the boy hero Momotaro. Option A, China, is wrong; the giant panda is its national animal and the peony is its traditional floral symbol, while a national bird has never been settled by law. Option C, South Korea, is wrong, and the magpie is treated as its national bird while the rose of Sharon, the mugunghwa, is its national flower. Option D, Vietnam, is wrong as well, and the lotus is its national flower. Keep the Japanese set together: the green pheasant as bird, the chrysanthemum as the imperial emblem and the cherry blossom as the flower people associate with the country.