Beyond the answers - interesting background to this quiz

The many homes of the wild lion

While Africa is the answer this quiz is looking for, lions once roamed far beyond the continent. Historical populations existed across parts of Asia and southern Europe, and a small group still survives in India's Gir Forest. The African lion remains the best-known, living in savanna and grassland habitats south of the Sahara, where pride structure and cooperative hunting set it apart from other big cats.

A capital on the edge of the Arctic

Reykjavik is the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state, sitting just below the Arctic Circle on Iceland's southwestern coast. Despite the name, which translates roughly as "smoky bay", it is a compact, colourful city heated largely by geothermal energy. Iceland itself sits astride the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which explains its volcanoes, geysers and frequent seismic activity.

Victor Hugo and a novel that changed France

Victor Hugo published Les Misérables in 1862, after years of drafting and revising. The novel follows ex-convict Jean Valjean through a France marked by poverty, injustice and political unrest. Hugo was already one of the country's most famous writers, and the book's success was immediate. Its many stage and screen adaptations have kept the story alive for audiences who have never read a page of it.

The Himalayas and the countries that share them

The Himalayan range stretches across several countries, including Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and China. It formed from the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates and contains the highest peaks on Earth, among them Mount Everest. The mountains also feed major river systems, shaping agriculture and settlement for hundreds of millions of people downstream.

A river at the heart of ancient civilisations

The Tigris rises in the mountains of eastern Turkey and flows southeast through Iraq before joining the Euphrates. Along with its sister river, it supported Mesopotamia, one of the earliest regions where cities, writing and organised states emerged. Turkey's control of the river's headwaters has made it a recurring point of discussion in regional water politics.