Were Danish Vikings called Wikings, and what colour is beetle blood? Try our kids’ quiz

1. Rose, 11, asks: were Danish Vikings called Wikings?

   1. No, Danish Vikings were called Vikings

   2. Yes, that was the name for Danish Vikings

   3. Yes, before the 19th century, that was their name

   4. No, but Norwegian Vikings are called Wikings

2. Connie, 7, asks: why do all mammals have hair or fur?

   1. So that they have something to brush or lick clean in the morning

   2. So that they blend into their environment

   3. To provide a layer of insulation to keep them warm

   4. To make them more attractive to other mammals

3. Romesh, 11, asks: how long can snails sleep for?

   1. 1 month

   2. 72 weeks

   3. 94,608,000 seconds

   4. They don’t sleep

4. Francis, 4, asks: how do fish swim?

   1. By waggling their tails

   2. They blow bubbles out of their bottoms to push them through the water

   3. They use sponges to help them float and then flick their tails

   4. By flexing their bodies and tails back and forth

5. Isabelle, 5, asks: what colour is beetle blood?

   1. Red

   2. Orange

   3. Clear or tinged with yellow or green

   4. Blue

Solutions

1:A - Danish Vikings were called Vikings. But it’s tricky for Danish people to say V, because of the way their language works, so a Danish person says Vikings in a way that sounds like Wikings to native English speakers., 2:C - Mammals are warm-blooded; they need a high body temperature to survive. Hair and fur trap air around their bodies, making a layer of warmth to insulate them against the cold. The thicker the hair or fur, the warmer their bodies will be., 3:C - Snails can sleep for up to three years, or 94,608,000 seconds. They need moisture to survive, so if it’s too hot and there isn’t enough water, they can go into hibernation, or “summer sleep”, until the weather’s more snail-friendly., 4:D - Fish swim by flexing their bodies and tails back and forth. They stretch the muscles on one side of their body, while relaxing those on the other side, then switch, so that they swish from side to side and swim., 5:C - Beetle blood is clear or tinged with yellow or green. Insect blood doesn’t have red cells in it, so isn’t red like our blood. If you squash a fly and see red liquid, that’s pigment from its eyes!

Scores

1. 5 and above.

2. 4 and above.

3. 3 and above.

4. 2 and above.

5. 0 and above.

6. 1 and above.

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a weekly podcast answering children’s questions, out now as a book.

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