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Woodland Animal Riddles: who am I?

18 cards, six to an A4 page. Print them, cut along the dotted lines, and read one clue at a time: the answer is upside down at the bottom of each card. For a class, a pair or a car trip.

Thought Zoo

Woodland Animal Riddles: who am I?

Cut along the dotted lines. Read the clues one at a time; the answer is upside down at the bottom.

  1. Who am I?Woods · 1

    1. I sleep through the day with lots of my family in a dark, quiet place.
    2. Many of us are so small and light that we would fit in your hand.
    3. My wings are really hands, with very long fingers and thin skin stretched between them.
    4. I find bugs in the dark by shouting and listening for the echoes that bounce back.
    5. I have fur, not feathers, yet I really fly, and I sleep hanging upside down.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the bat!

  2. Who am I?Woods · 2

    1. I live in big forests and mountains, and I like to spend most of my time alone.
    2. My nose is so good that I can smell food from very far away.
    3. My front claws are as long as your finger, and I dig with them like shovels.
    4. I look slow and heavy, but I can run faster than any person.
    5. I sleep all winter in a den, and I catch salmon at waterfalls with my paws.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the bear!

  3. Who am I?Woods · 3

    1. I live almost everywhere, in fields, parks and towns, and I eat almost anything, even scraps from bins.
    2. I can remember your face for years, and I teach my babies which people to scold.
    3. In Japan, some of us drop hard nuts on roads so cars crack them, then wait for the traffic lights.
    4. With my gang, I chase big hawks, owls and even eagles right out of my sky.
    5. I'm a black bird that shines in the sun, and I call out a loud "caw, caw!"

    thoughtzoo.app It's the crow!

  4. Who am I?Woods · 4

    1. I live in forests and fields, and I come out to eat at dawn and dusk.
    2. My eyes are on the sides of my head, so I can see almost all around me.
    3. I have no top front teeth, so I nip plants against a hard pad in my mouth.
    4. When I get scared, I can jump over a fence taller than a grown-up.
    5. Every year I grow brand new antlers made of bone, and later they fall off.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the deer!

  5. Who am I?Woods · 5

    1. I live almost everywhere, in forests, in fields and even in busy towns.
    2. When I have food left over, I bury it and remember where I hid it.
    3. My hearing is so sharp that I can hear a mouse squeaking under the ground from far away.
    4. To catch a mouse, I jump high and dive nose first into the snow.
    5. I'm orange-red with a bushy, white-tipped tail, and in stories I'm famous for being clever and sly.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the fox!

  6. Who am I?Woods · 6

    1. I sleep during the day and come out at night to look for food in gardens and woods.
    2. I can't see very well, but my nose can smell worms and grubs hiding in the soil.
    3. In winter I sleep for months, and my heart slows from 190 beats a minute to about 20.
    4. As I walk through leaves, I snuffle, snort and grunt so loudly that you can hear me coming.
    5. When I'm scared, I roll up into a tight ball covered in sharp prickles.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the hedgehog!

Free for home and classroom use, not for sale. More riddles, and the game: thoughtzoo.app

Thought Zoo

Woodland Animal Riddles: who am I?

Cut along the dotted lines. Read the clues one at a time; the answer is upside down at the bottom.

  1. Who am I?Woods · 7

    1. I live in gardens, parks and at the edge of the woods, and I stay home all year.
    2. In one famous test, some of us seemed to know our own face in a mirror.
    3. I build my nest high in a tree, with a prickly roof of thorny twigs to keep robbers out.
    4. People say I steal shiny things, but really, shiny things make me a little scared.
    5. I'm black and white with a very long tail, and I chatter loudly to chase cats away.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the magpie!

  2. Who am I?Woods · 8

    1. I live in fields and barns, in many places all over the world.
    2. I swallow mice whole, then cough up a little ball of bones and fur.
    3. My feathers are so soft that I fly almost without a sound.
    4. My heart-shaped face catches sounds, so I can find a mouse in total darkness.
    5. I hunt at night, and since my eyes can't move, I turn my head almost all the way around.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the owl!

  3. Who am I?Woods · 9

    1. I sleep underground during the day and come out at dawn and dusk to eat grass.
    2. I can see almost all the way around my head, but not right in front of my nose.
    3. My teeth never stop growing, so I have to chew and chew to keep them short.
    4. When I thump my big back foot, my whole family dashes into our tunnels.
    5. I have long ears and a fluffy white tail, and I hop on strong back legs.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the rabbit!

  4. Who am I?Woods · 10

    1. I'm a small bird of gardens and woods, and I sing almost all year round, even in winter.
    2. Sometimes I build my nest in funny places, like an old kettle, a flowerpot or a coat pocket.
    3. Near streetlights I sometimes sing at night, and people think they're hearing a nightingale.
    4. When a gardener digs, I hop close by to grab the worms that come up.
    5. I'm round with a brown back and a bright orange chest that tells others to stay away.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the robin!

  5. Who am I?Woods · 11

    1. I live in forests and parks, and I am busiest during the day.
    2. My front teeth never stop growing, so I keep them short by gnawing hard seeds.
    3. I can run down a tree head first, because my back ankles turn right round.
    4. I bury hundreds of nuts in different spots, and the ones I forget can grow into trees.
    5. I leap from branch to branch, and my big bushy tail is my blanket when I sleep.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the squirrel!

  6. Who am I?Woods · 12

    1. I live with my family in forests and mountains across the north.
    2. My babies are born unable to see or hear, and the whole family helps feed them.
    3. In the snow, I put my back paw into my front paw's print and leave a neat single line.
    4. Every pet dog, from the tiniest to the biggest, comes from my relatives who lived long ago.
    5. I tip my head back and howl to call my family together, but not at the moon.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the wolf!

Free for home and classroom use, not for sale. More riddles, and the game: thoughtzoo.app

Thought Zoo

Woodland Animal Riddles: who am I?

Cut along the dotted lines. Read the clues one at a time; the answer is upside down at the bottom.

  1. Who am I?Woods · 13

    1. I'm a bird who lives in forests, parks and gardens, and I stay home all year.
    2. Every year I dig a new home, and owls, bats and squirrels move into my old ones.
    3. My tongue is so long that it wraps all the way around the inside of my head.
    4. When I cling to a tree trunk, I lean on my stiff tail like a bike's kickstand.
    5. I knock on tree trunks with my strong beak, so fast it sounds like a drum.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the woodpecker!

  2. Who am I?Woods · 14

    1. I sleep all winter underground, often in the same den year after year.
    2. Of all my relatives, I live the farthest north, even past the chilly Arctic Circle.
    3. In spring, the males of my kind rise up and push each other in a wrestling dance.
    4. My eyes are reddish, with narrow up and down pupils just like a cat's.
    5. I'm a shy snake with venom and a dark zigzag down my back.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the adder!

  3. Who am I?Woods · 15

    1. I live in woods and fields, and I come out of my home when the sun goes down.
    2. My family shares an underground maze of tunnels, and some are used for more than a hundred years.
    3. My family members rub bottoms so that we all smell the same, like a family name.
    4. In one rainy night, I can slurp up hundreds of earthworms.
    5. I'm low and stocky with long digging claws, a white face and two black stripes over my eyes.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the badger!

  4. Who am I?Woods · 16

    1. I'm small enough to fit in your hand, and I like to live all alone.
    2. I love eating worms, but first I pull them through my claws to squeeze out the dirt.
    3. My fur has no direction, so I can scoot backwards just as easily as forwards.
    4. I can hardly see at all, so I feel my way with my nose, whiskers and tail.
    5. I dig tunnels with my big shovel paws and push up little piles of dirt on your lawn.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the mole!

  5. Who am I?Woods · 17

    1. I live in old woods, parks and gardens, and I love warm summer evenings.
    2. For years, I was a fat white grub living inside old rotting wood.
    3. When I was little, I could squeak by rubbing my legs together.
    4. When I fly, I hold my body almost standing up and buzz loudly.
    5. I'm a big beetle, and I wrestle with giant jaws that look like a deer's antlers.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the stag beetle!

  6. Who am I?Woods · 18

    1. I live in forests and fields, and I am busiest at night.
    2. I roll in mud to cool down, because I can hardly sweat.
    3. I can smell tasty food hiding deep under the ground, even special mushrooms called truffles.
    4. I look chunky, but I can run fast, jump over a fence and even swim between islands.
    5. I dig up the ground with my snout, and my striped babies look like little watermelons.

    thoughtzoo.app It's the wild boar!

Free for home and classroom use, not for sale. More riddles, and the game: thoughtzoo.app