Blastula — Early stage of developing embryo that consists of a layer of cells around a central cavity.
Buff — Dull brownish yellow.
Cache — A place in which food stores are hidden; also, food hidden in such a place.
Calcar — In bats, a small bone or piece of cartilage that projects from the inner side of the hindfoot into the interfemoral membrane.
Carnivorous — Flesh-eating.
Cephalopod — One of the higher mollusks, such as octopus, squid, and cuttlefish.
Chaparral — Shrubby thicket or thorny shrubs, cacti, or evergreen oak.
Colonial — Living in a colony or group, in which individuals usually maintain close association (e.g., prairie dogs).
Coprophagy — Feeding on fecal pellets that have passed through the digestive tract in relatively undigested condition; common in rabbits and hares.
Crepuscular — Appearing or becoming active at dusk and/or dawn.
Cud — Food brought up into the mouth of a ruminant animal from the stomach to be chewed again. See Ruminant.
Delayed fertilization — A variation of the reproductive process exhibited in some mammals in which mating takes place, but the sperm remain free in the female reproductive tract for an extended period before fertilization occurs.
Delayed implantation — A variation of the reproductive process exhibited in some mammals in which fertilization occurs normally, but development stops shortly thereafter, and the blastula remains free for an extended period before it implants in the uterus.
Dewclaw — A functionless digit or “toe,” usually on the upper part of a mammal’s foot; on deer, it is located above the hoof.
Dewlap — A loose fold of skin hanging from the throat of an animal, such as the Moose.
Diurnal — Active by day.
Dusky — Dull grayish brown.
Echolocation — A method with which certain animals orient themselves by emitting high–frequency sounds and interpreting the reflected sound waves; many bats navigate and locate prey by this means.
Endangered — Used to refer to an animal species or subspecies whose prospects for survival and reproduction are in immediate jeopardy.
Estivation — A state of dormancy similar to hibernation that occurs during hot or dry periods.
Estrus — The period during which a female mammal is sexually receptive to males and capable of conceiving; also called heat.
Extinction — Total extermination of a species.
Extirpation — Extermination of a species in a particular geographical area.
Feral — Having escaped from domestication and become wild.
Forb — An herbaceous plant other than grass.
Fossorial — Adapted for a burrowing existence (e.g., moles).
Gregarious — Living harmoniously with other individuals of the same species; sociable.
Grizzled — Sprinkled or streaked with gray or another (usually contrasting) color.
Guard hairs — Long, coarse hairs that form a protective coating over the underfur of a mammal.
Habitat — The environment in which an organism lives.
Harem — A group of two or more breeding females, plus their young, monopolized and sometimes protected by one male.
Heat — The period during which a female mammal is sexually receptive to males and capable of conceiving; also called estrus.
Herbivorous — Plant-eating.
Hibernation — A state of dormancy during winter in which temperature and all bodily processes are greatly reduced, thereby conserving energy and enabling certain mammals to sleep through much of the winter.
Home range — Area in which an animal moves during its normal day–to–day travels; differs from territory in not being defended.
Hybrid — Offspring born of two different species.
Intergrade — To merge gradually with one another by interbreeding, usually through a continuous series of intermediate forms.
Interfemoral membrane — The thin skin that stretches between the hindlegs of bats; also called tail membrane.
Keeled calcar — In bats, a calcar with a flat projection protruding along part of its length toward the interfemoral membrane.
Lanugo — Soft, usually white, woolly coat with which many seals are born.
Melanistic — Refers to an individual with an increased development of black pigment in the skin, fur, or other body coverings.
Midden — A dung hill or refuse heap, often heaped with discarded feeding debris, such as nutshells.
Molariform teeth — Teeth usually adapted for grinding; all teeth behind the canines, including premolars and molars.
Montane— Pertaining to or inhabiting mountainous country.
Nocturnal — Active by night.
Olivaceous — Olive-tinted or slightly olive.
Omnivorous — Feeding on both plant and animal material.
Palmate — Branching like fingers on a hand.
Pedicle — Projection on frontal bone of skull of cervids from which the antlers grow.
Plantar tubercles — Raised areas on soles of feet.
Polygamous — Having more than one mate at a time.
Ruminant — An even–toed hoofed mammal, such as a sheep or a deer, having a complex, usually four–chambered stomach from which stored food, the “cud,” is regurgitated into the mouth for chewing to aid more complete digestion.
Runway — A beaten path made by animals.
Rut — The periodic sexual excitement of male deer, sheep, and goats (corresponding to estrus or heat in females); also the period when this occurs.
Scat — Fecal pellet or dropping; feces.
Sedge — Family of marsh plants related to grasses.
Semi–colonial — Living in loose association with other individuals, usually without very close contact.
Straddle — The width of a set of animal tracks.
Stride — The distance between sets of animal tracks.
Subalpine — Mountain regions below timberline.
Subspecies — As used here, a population isolated geographically from other populations of a species, and evolving in its own direction.
Talus — A slope formed by an accumulation of rock debris; rock debris at the base of a cliff.
Territory — A defended area, within the home range, in which an animal lives permanently or temporarily.
Threatened — Used here to refer to a species or subspecies likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future.
Torpor — Temporary loss of all or part of the power of sensation or motion, resulting from the reduction of body temperature and the slowing of bodily processes.
Tragus — A lobe projecting upward from inside the base of the ear, as in bats.
Underfur — A thick undercoat of fur.
Ungulates — Hoofed mammals.
Unicuspid — In shrews, any of the small teeth between the two front teeth and the large molariform teeth.
Velvet — The soft, furry covering on a cervid’s growing antlers, which contains a network of capillaries to supply nourishment; when antlers are so covered, the animal is said to be “in velvet.”
Yard — A place where hoofed mammals, such as deer or Moose, herd together to feed during the winter.
