Animal Pairs - Random Trivia Answers

• Butterflies vs. Moths: b) Number of wings. Both butterflies and moths have four wings, a pair of forewings and a pair of hindwings. One other distinguishing characteristic is that most butterflies are brightly colored while most moths are not.
• Alligators vs. Crocodiles: a) Heart chambers: 3 vs. 4. Both types of crocodilians have four heart chambers, whereas all other reptiles have three. If you see one of these reptiles in the wild in North America, it's a thousand times more likely to be an alligator.
• Frogs vs. Toads: d) Toes: Webbed vs. Not Webbed. Both frogs and toads usually have webbed toes. Other ways to tell them apart: frogs have narrower bodies than toads and live near the water while toads only lay eggs there. And no, you can't get warts from either of them.
• Mice vs. Rats: a) Babies born: Naked and Blind vs. Hairy with Eyes Open. All of them are born naked as a jaybird and blind as a bat. Mice have longer tails and bigger ears relative to their body size. Rats live longer (3 to 5 years vs. less than 2). And just because you always wanted to know: house mice have five pairs of nipples while Norway rats have six.
• Rabbits vs. Hares: d) Lifespan: 4 to 10 years vs. 10 to 18 years. Most rabbits and hares can live up to ten years. Some other differences: because of their size, hares are faster (hopping up to 45 miles per hour). The color of hares' fur changes to white in the winter while rabbits' do not. And hares are more solitary creatures, while rabbits live together in warrens (see Watership Down). One final note: both were once considered to be rodents because they gnaw plants, but they now have their own order (Lagomorpha) because their teeth are different.

Another pair of animals I considered for this quiz was Turtles vs. Tortoises, but the real question there is more of a linguistic one than a biological one. American English, British English, and Australian English all have different distinctions. For the record, in American English the freshwater varieties are turtles (including terrapins), the saltwater varieties are sea turtles, and the land-based varieties are tortoises.