The green pheasant is the national bird of which country?

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.