If you were an animal other than a human, what animal would you want to be?

And the answer was:

This knocked me sideways as it was completely left-field and not anything like what I was expecting. I recalled a nature programme on TV though on "survival of the fittest" from several years ago that posed the question: "who would win in a fight between a tiger and a shark?" And the answer was: it depends on the environment. If the fight was in the ocean, the shark would win; if the fight was in the jungle, the tiger would win.

Fortunately, I recalled this with the animal association so I answered: "It depends on the environment. If I was in the ocean I'd like to be a dolphin but if that endangered me because I was surrounded by piranhas then I'd opt for something different. If I was a land animal then I'd probably favour something like a cheetah. But to survive in any environment, including business, you have to either adapt or be well-equipped to survive to start with so my choice of animal to be would depend on which environment I would expect to find myself in."

Additional information

This was asked for a project management position at RBS. The candidate did not get the job because...

"They said I was too big for the position, having been a Programme Manager (albeit in a smaller organisation) for the past 6 years and said they would revert if a position more in keeping with my position and experience arose. Flattering, but disappointing. Or maybe they thought I was a cheetah applying for a vacancy in a piranha-infested lagoon..."