I was thinking along the lines of some insect (another friend suggest beetles), but when I found out the official answer was:
… I started doing some research. To me, there’s a large difference being the most common animal and the most common species, and between deer being a sub-species and a cousin. Also, insects apparently weren’t considered since they weren’t “animals”… despite being in the Animalia kingdom.
According to Wikipedia, antelope isn’t a species but rather a grouping of species under the Bovidae family. All antelopes are in Africa. Deer, also not a species but a grouping, are under the Cervidae family, so I have a hard time seeing that they’re a sub-species of antelope, let alone a cousin (since they’re not in the same family… kinda a requirement for being cousins ).
Is the answer given correct? Is my reasoning against the answer correct? If so, what would the correct answer be?
The answer given is ridiculously incorrect. Your reasoning is good. Most true antelopes are in Africa, but there are some in Asia as well. They are a sub-group of the family Bovidae, with many species. The Impala Aepyceros melampus is a species, not a subspecies. There are no true antelopes in North America. Deer belong to a different family, the Cervidae.
The North American Pronghorn, Antilocapra americana, although often called an “antelope,” is not closely related to the true antelopes at all. It is the sole survivor of a completely different family, the Antilocapridae, which is indigenous to North America and which was formerly much more diverse.
Most likely some kind of insect, though offhand I’m not sure which it might be. If we restrict the question to vertebrates, it is certainly the Red-billed Quelea, possibly the most abundant wild bird in the world, with a population estimated at anywhere from 1.5 to 10 billion.
Thanks for the confirmation… glad to know I’m not going crazy
I tracked down the original posting of the puzzle, and the writer admitted to not taking insects into account. Nothing about all the other technicalities, though
The OP’s question says “the most common animal in Africa,” not the most common animal of African origin. The human population of Africa is only 885 million, thus much less than Queleas.
I suppose you’re joking, but in case you aren’t: There is no correct answer to the original question in the OP, no matter how you slice it. The most common species in Africa, whatever it is, certainly doesn’t have several subspecies in North America either. The best we can shoot for it the most common species in Africa, period.
I think that’s about all we can do. My first assumption was that there’s probably some species of ant or of mosquito that would vastly outnumber the rest (and my money’s on the ant).
I doubt it very much. The big bat roosts in the American southwest, while impressive, number 1-2 million, only 1/100th-1/1000th the numbers estimated for Queleas in Africa. I have not heard of anything close to these numbers for any bat in Africa. Queleas occur in truly enormous flocks over very large areas. I don’t think that any other African vertebrate can come close.
Having been in South Africa and seeing Impala everywhere, I would go with it and say that the relationship to any species in North America was a mistake. After all, there’s a lot of Impalas and there is a car with that name, so two out of three is about the best you’re going to do. :smack:
Although fairly common where they occur, the Impala is far from being even the most common antelope in Africa (that may be the Bushbuck), let alone the most common mammal, vertebrate, or animal. So the best you are going to do is one out of three.
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