Sample Test Questions
Every KPSGA Member Guide must pass a test. Here are some sample questions.

MAMMALS

1. What is the most important use of an animal's horns?

2. Which carnivore has the strongest jaw?

3.  Approximately how long can a hippo stay under water?

4. Name one Mongoose is active during the night?

5. Name one endangered Giraffe which has been translocated to Nakuru National Park and Nairobi's Giraffe Centre?

6. What is the average life-span of an elephant?

7. Which is taxonomically related to the Kongoni?

8. What is the approximate gestation of the Rock Hyrax in months?

9. If you visit Tsavo parks which Baboons would you encounter there?

10. Which is the heaviest mammal in the world?

11. Which antelope has adapted to rocky outcrops?

12. Give the name of one ruminant?

BIRDS

13. What is the name of the small Stork-like bird which makes one of the largest nests in the world?

14. Which is the smallest Owl in Kenya?

15. Which group does the White-bellied Go-Away Bird belong to?

16. Which bird is the Secretary Bird most closely related to?

17. Why are Cuckoos ‘parasitic breeders'?

18. Name one Palaearctic (Eurasian) migrant?  

PLANTS

19. Name a tree that can be found between an altitude of 1,000m and below.

20. What is the name of the delicate-looking flower, often coloured purple or yellow and seen growing on a long thin straight stem above long grass?

21. Pyrethrum is indigenous to which country?

FISH & REPTILES

22. Kenya's coast is an enormous tourist destination that also attracts sports fishermen from all over the world.   Which fish is the most common they catch, tag and release?

23. Which lizard is nocturnal?

24. Name a snake that is non -poisonous?

INSECTS & TRIBES

25. Termites are related to which other insect?

26. A spider is closely related to which other other insect?

27. Which is the smallest ethnic group in Kenya today?

28. Apart from the Maasai name a tribe that is a speaker of Maa?

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

29. Who was the first European to climb to the peak of Mt. Kenya?

30. Which town or city in Kenya has the longest established National Museum of Kenya?

31. One square mile is approximately how many square kilometres?

HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY

32. Mzee Jomo Kenyatta's real name was?

33. Which is the oldest hotel in Nairobi and was built in 1904?

34. Vasco Da Gama reached Malindi in which year?

35. The Aberdares National Park is an important wildlife refuge.   What else is it important for?

36. Around which town in Kenya is the tea industry based?

37. Why is the east coast of Africa dangerous nowadays?

KWS QUESTIONS & FIRST AID

38. The KWS logo is what?.

39. Your client is feeling the effects of heat exhaustion.   What should you do?

40. Hypoxia means

ANSWER SHEET

1.            For self defence

2.            Hyena

3.            5 mins

4.            White tailed

5.            Rothschild

6.            60 years

7.            Topi, Wildebeest

8.            7

9.            Yellow Baboons

10.          Blue Whale

11.           Klipspringer

12.          Giraffe

BIRDS

13.          Hamerkop

14.          African Scops

15.          Turacos

16.          Tawny Eagle

17.          They lay their eggs in other birds nests and take no care of their chicks

18.           Red-backed Shrike

PLANTS

19.          Baobab

20.          Hibiscus

21.           Yugoslavia

FISH & REPTILES

22.         Sailfish

23.         Gecko

24.         Sand Boa

INSECTS & TRIBES

25.         Cockroaches

26.          Tick

27.          El Molo

28.          Samburu/Njemps

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

29.          Halford J. Mackinder

30.          Nairobi

31.           1.6

HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY

32.           Johnstone Kamau Ngengi

33.           Norfolk Hotel

34.          1498

35.          Water Catchment

36.          Kericho

37.          Piracy  

38.          Elephant and calf

39.          Give them sips of 1/2 lt. of water with 1/2 a teaspoon of salt and lay them down.

40.          Not enough oxygen.

SAMPLE SILVER QUESTIONS

1. The Hyraxes account for some of the few non-primates where the teats are found on the chest (between the forelegs). Name two other mammals apart from primates, with this feature that are found in Kenya.

Species: ______________________________________________________________

Species: ______________________________________________________________

2. Give an example of a pattern change, as a young animal becomes adult, displayed in mammals, birds, insects, reptiles and fish and indicate which pattern changes to what?

Mammals: _________________________________________________________

Birds: _________________________________________________________

Invertebrates: _________________________________________________________

Reptiles: _________________________________________________________

Fish: _________________________________________________________

#1 ______________________________________________________________

#2 ______________________________________________________________

#3 ______________________________________________________________

#4 ______________________________________________________________

#5 ______________________________________________________________

4. Some people claim that the Rock Hyrax is closely related to the Elephant., list five similarities ?

#1 ______________________________________________________________

#2 ______________________________________________________________

#3 ______________________________________________________________

#4 ______________________________________________________________

#5 ______________________________________________________________

READING LIST — SILVER-LEVEL

CONSERVATION

• THE WILDLIFE (CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT) ACT, CHAPTER 376 INCLUDING ALL AMENDMENTS
• WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND TOURISM IN KENYA — DANIEL M. NYEKI

MAMMALS

• AFRICAN MAMMALS — JONATHAN KINGDOM
• BEHAVIOUR GUIDE TO AFRICAN MAMMALS — R.D. ESTES
• TRACKS AND SIGNS OF SOUTHERN & EASTERN AFRICAN WILDLIFE — C. AND T. STUART

BIRDS

• BIRDS OF KENYA — ZIMMERMAN, TURNER & PEARSON

REPTILES

• FIELD GUIDE TO SNAKES AND OTHER REPTILES OF SOUTHERN AFRICA — BILL BRANCH

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

• WILDERNESS GUARDIAN — TIM CORFIELD
• THE SAFARI COMPANION — R.D. ESTES
• SAFARI QUIZ BOOK — BOGDEN & STEPHEN ROZWADOSKI
• SPECTRUM GUIDE TO KENYA

HISTORY

• 50 YEARS OF CHALLENGE AND ACHIEVEMENT — NATIONAL PARKS OF KENYA
• HISTORY GOVERNMENT FORM 1-4

GEOGRAPHY

• NATIONAL PARKS OF EAST AFRICA — J.G. WILLIAMS
• CURRENT MAP OF KENYA
• GEOGRAPHY FORM 1-4
• COLLINS PHOTO GUIDE — ROCKS, MINERALS & GEMSTONES

BOTANY

• TREES OF KENYA — TIM NODE AND ANN BIRNIE
• WAYSIDE FLOWERS OF KENYA (Yr. 2000 Version) — TERESA SAPIEHA
• BLUNDELLS FLOWERS — MICHAEL BLUNDELL
• TREES, SHRUBS AND LIANAS — ADAMSON

FIRST AID

• ST. JOHN’S AMBULANCE FIRST AID BOOK

INSECTS

• AFRICAN INSECTS — SKAIFE [Or any other available insect book]