334 Animal Riddles With Answers - page 2 of 4
Canine children. What am I?
Canine means dog-related, and the young of dogs are called puppies.
What animal has feet on the head?
Head lice are tiny parasites that live and crawl around directly on a person's head, playing on the phrase 'feet on the head.'
I have four legs but no tail. Usually I am heard only at night.
Frogs stand on four legs, have no visible tail as adults, and are most often heard croaking after dark.
What animal gives away money and says moo?
A 'cash cow' is a term for a reliable source of money, punning on the literal cow that says 'moo.'
I am white and I am black. I am fast and I am not fat. I confuse many people with my style. Who am I?
A zebra has black-and-white stripes, can run fast, is lean rather than fat, and its bold pattern can be visually confusing.
I destroy your home from inside out. What am I?
Termites eat through wooden support structures inside a house, causing damage that's invisible until it's severe.
A muttered rumble was heard from the pen, and I, in my walking stopped to look in. What was this I saw? A massive beast, hoofed, and jawed. With spikes upon its mighty brow, I watched as he struck the turf and prowled. And yet for all of his magnificence, he couldn't get out of that wooden fence.
A bull snorts and paws in its pen, carries horn-like spikes on its brow, and for all its raw power stays contained by nothing more than a wooden fence.
We dwell in cottages of straw, and labor much for little gains; sweet food from us our masters draw, and then with death reward our pains.
This old poem describes honeybees, who live in straw skeps, labor tirelessly for little personal gain, produce honey for their keepers, and were traditionally killed when the honey was harvested.
This is the most famous bank where children keep their assets.
A piggy bank is the classic pig-shaped container kids use to save their coins.
A stellar five-limbed sea creature.
A starfish typically has five arms and is named for its star-like, or 'stellar,' shape.
I can sing, but I can't talk. I can climb a high tree, but can't run. I have very soft hair and a very hard mouth. What am I?
A bird can sing but not speak human words (mostly), perches high in trees but can't run, and has soft feathers with a hard beak.
I carried by mad animals. What am I?
Rabies is a disease spread by the bite of infected ('mad') animals like dogs or bats.
I produce wool and spit a lot. What am I?
Llamas are known for their wool coats and their habit of spitting when annoyed.
I travel in a gaggle. What am I?
A flock of geese traveling together is specifically called a 'gaggle.'
It is a path of cow juice spread across the sky but cannot be seen by the naked eye.
This is a pun: the Milky Way galaxy's name evokes a trail of spilled milk ('cow juice') stretched across the night sky, invisible without a telescope.
I wiggle and cannot see, sometimes underground and sometimes on a tree. I really don't want to be on a hook, and I become a person when combined with book. What am I?
A worm is blind and legless, lives underground or in tree bark, dreads being used as fishing bait, and combines with 'book' to form 'bookworm,' an avid reader.
This noble creature has the embarrassing inability to get up once it's been flipped onto its back.
A turtle's heavy, rounded shell makes it nearly impossible for it to right itself once flipped onto its back.
Cows do this to salt and humans do it to ice cream.
Cows lick salt blocks for minerals, and people lick ice cream cones -- the same action, two very different treats.
I am very afraid of doing scary activities. What am I?
Calling someone a 'chicken' is a common way to say they're too afraid to do something daring.
I am the home for feathery animals. What am I?
Birds -- feathery animals -- build nests as their homes to lay eggs and raise their young.
I am shared by goats, devils, and unicorns. What am I?
Goats, mythical devils, and unicorns are all traditionally depicted with a horn (or horns) on their heads.
What lives where it cannot breathe and has a hole in its back?
A whale lives underwater where it cannot breathe water (it needs air), and it has a blowhole -- a 'hole in its back.'
If a dog were filling out a resume, he might list his mastery of this game under "skills."
Fetch is the classic game where a dog retrieves a thrown ball or stick, making it a natural 'skill' for a dog's resume.
I am an animal and a hair product. What am I?
'Moose' sounds identical to 'mousse,' which is both a hairstyling product and a dessert, while a moose is the large animal.
A king without a crown.
The lion is called the 'king of the jungle,' but it wears no literal crown -- its 'crown' is just its mane.
What animal dwells in water and best known for its work ethic?
Beavers live in and around water and build dams and lodges through tireless labor, giving rise to the phrase "busy as a beaver."
What is green, has four legs, no tail, and usually heard at night?
A frog is green, stands on four legs with no tail, and its croaking chorus is a familiar nighttime sound.
Old Grandpa Diddle Daddle jumped in the mud puddle, green cap and yellow shoes. Guess all your loftiness and you can't guess these news.
The playful nonsense verse describes a green-topped, yellow-footed creature that loves jumping into puddles, which points to a frog.
It can be white or blue or black, humped or have a horn. And when it talks it sings its menuets, as it's travelling the depths.
Various whale species vary in color (white, blue, or black), some have humps (humpback whale) and one relative has a horn-like tusk (narwhal), and whales communicate through complex "songs" as they swim the ocean depths.
With four oars it swims but it is always at home. Its back is like armor, tougher than chrome. What is it?
A turtle uses its four flipper-like limbs to swim, and its hard shell, its permanent home, is far tougher than any metal plating.
Microparasite expert at sucking the blood of mammals and birds.
Fleas are tiny parasites specialized for piercing skin and feeding on the blood of warm-blooded hosts.
Black and scary, small and hairy. In the night you hear it preach, through its noisy high pitched screech.
Bats are small, dark, furry creatures active at night, and they emit high-pitched screeching sounds as part of their echolocation calls.
A blackbird similar to, but much bigger than a crow.
A raven looks like a larger, heavier-billed cousin of the common crow, both being members of the corvid family.
The homes of tiny creatures that collect in corners if you aren't vigilant about dusting.
Spiders spin webs in neglected corners, and those webs accumulate visibly if a room isn't regularly dusted.
I don't forget! What am I?
Elephants are proverbially known for having excellent memories, giving rise to the popular saying "an elephant never forgets."
It has a long neck, a name of a bird, feeds on cargo of ships, it's not alive. What am I?
A construction crane has a long extending 'neck,' shares its name with a bird, and lifts cargo at shipping docks, though it's a machine, not a living thing.
If a man carried my burden, he would break his back. I am not rich, but I leave silver in my track. What am I?
A snail's shell would be an impossibly heavy burden for a human to carry at that relative scale, and it leaves a shiny, silvery slime trail as it moves.
I can sizzle like bacon, I am made with an egg, I have plenty of backbone, but lack a good leg. I peel layers like onions, but still remain whole. I can be long like a flagpole, yet fit in a hole. What am I?
A snake sheds its skin in layers yet stays whole, has a long spine but no legs, and can coil tightly into a small space or stretch out long like a flagpole.
I come in many colors, some are blue and white. While some people annoy me, I am not much for the fight. I live where people rarely tread, but you will find me close to bed. What am I?
The official answer key gives 'whales' here, but the riddle's imagery — many colors, found near the bed, rarely stepped on — actually describes something like slippers far better than an ocean mammal; this looks like an error in the source worksheet, which we've preserved as printed.
I fall with the waves, rise with the tide, and drift with the current alongside. What am I?
Plankton are too weak to swim against the ocean, so they simply drift wherever the waves, tides, and currents carry them.
Although my cow is dead, I still beat her. What a racket she makes!
This plays on words: a drum is often made from cowhide (leather), so "beating" the dead cow (the drum) produces its loud sound.
When they are caught, they are thrown away. When they escape, you itch all day.
Fleas are caught and discarded, but if they escape by jumping away, their bites make you itch throughout the day.
From that which comes within itself, it builds its table on my shelf.
A spider spins its web -- its "table" for catching food -- entirely out of silk that it produces from within its own body.
Oh how I love my dancing feet! They stay together - oh so neat. And when I want to walk a line, they all stay together and do double time. I count them up, ten times or more, and race on-off, across the floor.
A centipede has dozens of legs ("ten times or more") that move together in rhythm as it scurries across the floor -- "centi-" itself hints at its hundred-ish feet.
What has a coat? Hugs you not in sympathy? Whose smile you'd rather not see? Whose stance is a terrible thing to see? Who is it that brave men run away from? Whose fingers are clawed? Whose sleep lasts for months? And who's company we shunt?
A bear wears a thick 'coat' of fur, has a fearsome stance and clawed paws, hibernates for months, and is generally avoided by even brave outdoorsmen.
When it was young, it had a tail. When it grew up, it had knees.
A tadpole swims with a long tail, but as it matures into a frog the tail is absorbed and jointed legs with knees grow in.
Always well dressed, but I never fly. Black and white, sometimes in a tie. I swim and slide, and dance and glide, with one person by my side. What am I?
A penguin's black-and-white feathers look like a tuxedo ("well dressed... in a tie"), it can't fly, and it swims, slides on its belly, and even "dances" during courtship, often with a mate at its side.
Tall when seated, short when standing.
Many four-legged animals like dogs appear taller when sitting up on their haunches than when standing level on all fours -- a classic observational riddle.
What jumps when it walks and sits when it stands?
A kangaroo moves by hopping (jumping), and at rest it appears to be sitting back on its tail and haunches even while upright.
Above the kingdom I reign, spotted, speckled, with a mane, I travel in packs, and if you're lucky, you'd ride me. What am I?
A giraffe has a spotted, speckled coat and a mane, towers over the savanna ('reigns' above the kingdom), and travels in herds you can sometimes ride at a safari.
The strangest creature you'll ever find: two eyes in front and many many more behind.
A peacock's tail feathers are covered in eye-shaped spots in addition to its two real eyes up front.
For our ambrosia we were blessed, by Jupiter, with a sting of death. Though our might, to some is jest, we have quelled the dragon's breath. Who are we?
Bees produce sweet 'ambrosia' (honey), carry a fatal sting for some, and their collective swarm is mythically powerful enough to overwhelm even fearsome foes.
Full of dark, filled with everything. Both on my skin they color. With my pack, I am always afraid of the cat. What am I?
A zebra is covered in dark stripes, travels in herds ('packs'), and is natural prey for big cats such as lions.
I have a pet, his body is full of coins.
A piggy bank is shaped like a pig (a 'pet') and its hollow body is filled with saved coins.
He's small but he can climb a tower.
This is a pun on the Eiffel Tower -- an ant is small, but 'Eiffel' sounds like 'a fill,' or more directly, an ant can literally climb any small tower.
Would you rather have a tiger or lion eat you?
A clever misdirection — reinterpreting "eat you" as "eat, you," offering the tiger eating the lion instead.
What do you call a flying monkey?
Wordplay — "hot air baboon" sounds like "hot air balloon."
I can race like a car, but I can also go as slow as a sloth, I am very famous in a movie, but I seem like I shouldn't be, what am I?
"Turbo" references the animated snail movie character, famous for being both impossibly fast and naturally slow like other snails.
What do you call a guy who sleeps with his pet tiger?
A pun riddle where the punchline is simply the name "Claude," playing on sound association rather than direct wordplay.
Why is a conundrum like a monkey?
A "conundrum," a tricky riddle, and a monkey's antics are both described as far-fetched and nonsensical.
Two people meet inside of a zoo and after some time a child was born. The child of two people had no clue, but the two people who meet already knew. The child was the person who acted like glue. Who are the two people that met at the zoo?
The couple who met at the zoo went on to adopt a child, "acting like glue" by bringing an unrelated family together.
Cat, horse, monkey; Hat, sombrero, Cappello; Sheep, wool, haggis; Dairy, blueberry, cherry; Television, computer, phone; Which set of words doesn't belong?
Every other set shares only a category link, but the dairy/blueberry/cherry set is unique because its words also rhyme.
What is the monkey's favorite month?
Wordplay — "April" becomes "Ape-bril," fitting a monkey, a type of ape.
Tom can pet lions. What is the anagrammed word?
All the letters in "Tom can pet lions" rearrange exactly into the word "contemplation."
A lion; capture it. What is the anagrammed word?
All the letters in "A lion; capture it" rearrange exactly into the word "recapitulation."
What do you get when you mate Simba with a pair of glasses?
Wordplay — "see," as in glasses helping you see, combines with "lion," Simba, to form "sea lion."
Which would see most clearly in total darkness? A bat, a tiger, or an owl.
True total darkness has no light at all, so no creature—regardless of night vision or echolocation for sight—can actually see anything.
I've existed for Trillions of years, but only been around for 30 days. What am I?
While the moon itself is ancient, each full moon cycle only takes about 30 days to complete.
What business is King Kong in?
Wordplay — "monkey business" is a phrase for mischief, fitting a giant ape like King Kong.
A guy gets to choose how to die he has 3 choices, one to get put in the electric chair, two to get hung, and three to get thrown in a lion pit of lions that had not eaten in one thousand years. Which did he choose?
Lions that haven't eaten in a thousand years would be long dead, making that option the safest.
You walk into your house you see three doors you've never seen before. One vampire bat that will suck your blood. Two zombies that will eat your brain. Three a lion that hasn't eaten for over six months. Which one do you go through?
An animal can't survive six months without food, so the lion behind door three would already be dead and harmless.
What key is playful?
Wordplay — "monkey" contains "key" and monkeys are known for playful behavior.
Which species of lions do not hunt?
Wordplay — "dandelion" contains the word "lion" but is actually a flower that doesn't hunt.
You are in a room with three monkeys, one has a stick, one has a banana, and one has nothing. Who is the smartest in the room?
A trick question — the reader, a human, is also in the room and is inherently smarter than any monkey.
How does a penguin build houses?
Wordplay — "igloos it together" sounds like "glues it together," fitting an igloo made of ice.
Where do penguins keep their money?
Wordplay — "snow bank" sounds like a financial "bank," fitting a penguin's icy habitat.
First you see me in the grass dressed in yellow gay; next I am in dainty white, then I fly away. What am I?
A dandelion starts as a yellow flower, turns into a white puffball, and its seeds fly away on the wind.
What are the three keys that open no doors?
Wordplay — each animal name hides the word "key" inside it, but none actually opens a lock.
How was the robot gorilla fixed?
Wordplay — a "monkey wrench" is a real tool name that fits a gorilla, a type of ape.
There are three doors. In each door is a way to die. The first door has fire and lava. The second door has lions that haven't eaten in 5 years. In the third door, there is a 1,000-foot drop into alligators. Which door will you likely survive?
The trick is realizing lions can't survive five years without food, so by the time you open that door they are already dead.
Even if they are starving, natives living in the Arctic will never eat a penguin's egg. Why not?
The riddle relies on the geography fact that penguins live in the Antarctic (south), not the Arctic (north), so none would be found there.
What did Tony the Tiger wear to bed?
Wordplay — "paw-jamas" combines a tiger's "paws" with "pajamas."
How do monkeys make toast?
Wordplay — "gorilla" sounds like "the griller," a toasting appliance.
There are two monkeys on a tree and one jumps off. Why does the other monkey jump too?
A play on the phrase "monkey see, monkey do," describing imitative behavior.
The hand sows, the eyes harvest?
Writing is described as the hand 'sowing' words on a page, while reading is the eyes 'harvesting' meaning from them.
When was pork first introduced into the Navy?
This puns on 'Ham,' the biblical son of Noah, and 'ham,' the pork product.
You have seven pens and nine pigs. You must arrange the pens so that each pen has an even number of pigs. Zero is not allowed, nor will it work. How do you do this?
By stacking (nesting) the pens inside one another, all nine pigs can occupy the innermost pen together, an even number counted as one grouping that satisfies the puzzle's trick.
What did the falling space rock say when it landed on a pig farm?
'Meteor' puns on 'meat here', playing off the space rock landing among pigs destined to become bacon.
A pig lives on a pig farm, a cow lives on a cow farm, a sheep lives on a sheep farm, a chicken lives on a chicken farm. Where do horses live?
Breaking the pattern, horses conventionally live on a 'ranch' rather than a farm named directly after them.
My first is twice in apple but not once in tart. My second is in liver but not in heart. My third is in giant and also in ghost. Whole I'm best when I am roast. What am I?
Taking the letter 'p' from 'apple' (twice, absent in 'tart'), 'i' from 'liver' (not 'heart'), and 'g' from 'giant' and 'ghost' spells P-I-G.
My body has a dozen heads or more, My tails don't wag when you walk in the door. Count the ways you can hold me tight, Or use me for a special night! What Am I?
A piggy bank holds many coins (each with a 'head' side), doesn't wag like a real pig, and is used to save money for special occasions.
Why was the pig a bad teammate?
'Ball hog' puns on someone who selfishly keeps the ball and the animal a pig actually is.
What do you call a car made of pigs?
'Hamborgini' puns on the luxury car brand Lamborghini and ham, which comes from pigs.
What do you give a sick pig?
'Oinkment' puns on 'ointment,' a medical treatment, combined with a pig's 'oink' sound.
It is said among my people that some things are improved by death. Tell me, what stinks while living, but in death, smells good?
A live pig and its pen can smell unpleasant, but once processed into bacon or ham, it's cooked into a food many find delicious-smelling.
What do you get when you cross a pig with a dinosaur?
'Jurassic pork' puns on the movie title 'Jurassic Park' and pork from a pig.
What pen should never be used for writing?
A pig-pen is an enclosure for pigs, not a writing instrument, despite sharing the word 'pen.'
What do you get when you cross Santa Claus and a duck?
'Quacker' puns on 'cracker', as in a Christmas cracker, replacing it with the duck's quack.
What does the cow say when he agrees with the duck?
'Mootual' puns on 'mutual' by inserting the cow's 'moo' sound.
Twenty-seven ducks are going to the pond. Five of them got lost, thirteen of them are staying home, nine of them are at the pond. Where are the rest of them?
Adding 5 lost, 13 staying home, and 9 at the pond totals exactly 27, accounting for every duck with none left over.