Hobbies And Interests
Land Animal Terms
"Terrestrial" describes all land animals in a broad sense. It denotes that which is of the earth. The world "mammal" describes animals with fur or hair of any kind, such as tigers, dogs and apes, while the word "reptile" denotes lizards and snakes. Frogs, toads, salamanders and other similar animals that move between aquatic and terrestrial environments are amphibians. Within these designations more specific terms exist. Bovine, for instance, describes large hoofed animals such as cows and oxen. "Domestic" and "feral" comprise related terms generally used to describe terrestrial animals. The former denotes an animal adopted to live with humans, such as dogs, cats and horses, while feral describes wild animals. Cats, dogs, horses and others living away from human contact may be feral despite being part of a class of animal generally domesticated.
Air Animal Terms
The word "avian" denotes something of or related to birds. Thus an avian doctor is a veterinarian who specializes in bird health, while avian terms constitute those commonly used to describe birds. All flying animals other than bats and some gliding mammals such as squirrels and lemurs fall under the banner "avian," assuming insects comprise a separate category. Though "migration" and "migratory" describe any animal that moves from one location to another in a regular and consistent pattern, the world most commonly describes the annual movements of birds. Molting occurs when birds grow new feathers and lose old ones, while "chrysalis" describes the process by which a larva, or maggot, becomes a butterfly or moth. "Swarming" describes a scrum of flying animals such as bees moving in unison, while "flight pattern" describes the manner in which birds fly together.
Structural Terms
"Arthropod" describes animals with segmented bodies and legs. Such animals include insects, arachnids, crustaceans and more. The chela is the claw of an arthropod. The term "invertebrates," denoting animals without spines, overlaps with the arthropod classification, though includes other animals. Non-arthropod invertebrates include worms and snails. "Vertebrates" describes another major class of animals, those with spines and rigid skeletal structures. Vertebrates include primates, lizards, snakes, cats, dogs, whales, elephants and every other large animal on earth. Animals that walk on two legs are "bipeds," while those walking on four legs are "tetrapeds" or "quadrupeds."
Behavoiral Terms
Predatory land and air animals eat other species of animals either through aggressively hunting and killing them or lying in wait and ambushing them. Birds of prey such as hawks and eagles exhibit predator behavior, as do countless land animals, from lions and wolves to snakes, ocelots and bats. Omnivorous animals eat both meat and plants. Famous omnivores include bears and primates. Herbivores such as cows and deer eat only plants. Sympathetic animals constitute those occurring in the same region as one another, while the term "altricial" describes animals with offspring that require extensive rearing and attention, such as dogs, humans and songbirds.