amphibian
n. one of a group of animals that spend part of their time on land and part in the water; animals in the Amphibia class
[note: Frogs, crocodiles and toads are amphibians. They have fish tails when they are young, but four legs when they are adult. Most have skins that need water to pass over them often and they are cold-blooded. They lay eggs, usually in large numbers.
There are about 5,500 different species of amphibians, but numbers have decreased rapidly in the past 20 years. This has been caused by habitat destruction, over-exploitation, introduced species, pollution and climate change.
There are also some amphibious mammals, eg. whales, seals and dolphins. ]
animal
n. a living thing that can feel and move by itself; any organism from the Animalia kingdom
[note: People use 'animal' to mean different things. Sometimes it means all living things except plants; sometimes all living things except people; and sometimes only mammals - not birds, fish, reptiles or insects.
Animals meaning mammals are also divided into other groups: wild animals, eg. tigers and monkeys; domestic animals, eg. dogs, cats, cows and chickens; and feral animals, eg. goats, cats and horses that are living wild.]
See: carnivore, fauna, herbivore, omnivore, wildlife
bird
n. a living thing that has a body covered with feathers, and wings, so it can usually fly; animals in the Aves class
[note: Eagles, parrots, swiftlets, chickens, gulls, hawks and vultures are all birds. All birds lay eggs. Most are wild, but some eg. parrots, are kept in cages as pets and some eg. chickens are kept as livestock.
Birds have different roles in ecosystems. Birds that eat insects are important as pest controllers. Those that eat seeds are important for spreading some kinds of seed, though they also destroy others. Birds that collect nectar from flowers help to spread pollen. Those that catch and eat small animals are called birds of prey or raptors. They help control numbers.]
See: avian, passerine, Picture at pollination, poultry, seabird, seed dispersal, wader
class
n. 1. one of the main groups into which scientists divide all living things
(eg. Humans are in the Animal kingdom, in the Chordata phylum and in the Mammalia class.)
See: Appendix G, scientific name, taxonomy2. one of the groups of people into which a society can be divided
[note: In some countries, people can be put in a class according to their social or economic status, eg. the working class, or according to where they live, eg. the urban class. Different classes often have very different lifestyles. Class divisions in a society can make it difficult for everybody to access to all the social services.]
cold-blooded
adj. about an animal whose body temperature changes with the outside temperature so that it is as warm or as cold as the place where it is
[note: Snakes, lizards and fish are cold-blooded. They lie in the morning sun to get warm before they move around.]
See: warm-blooded
crustacean
n. a name for all the different kinds of small animals that mostly live in water and have hard shells and many legs; animals in the Crustacea class; also called shellfish
[note: Prawns, crabs and shrimps are all crustaceans. Many people like to eat crustaceans so they are often bred on fish farms.
A few crustaceans have adapted to life on land, eg. wood lice.]
endangered
adj. about something that is in a dangerous situation where it could be harmed, killed or lost
[note: Endangered is used most often to talk about a species, but we are becoming more aware that other kinds of living things can also be endangered and in need of protection. A tribe, a language or a culture can be endangered. An endangered language is one that has very few speakers left. When these speakers die, all the knowledge that that group had about its history, its culture and its environment is lost for ever.]
See: indigenous knowledge, threatened, vulnerable
extinct
adj. 1. an extinct animal, plant, bird, insect or fish cannot be found anywhere in the world
[note: During the history of life on Earth, about five billion species have come into being. Most are now extinct. There are three main reasons why they stopped living: because their environment suddenly changed and they had no time to adapt; because a new predator, a natural disaster or a disease killed them; or because they could not compete with another (new) species for food. Living things have always become extinct as the result of natural selection. It is a normal part of evolution. It has happened slowly and gradually.
The present situation is different. More than a million living things are in danger of becoming extinct in the next ten years. This is happening because of what people are doing, eg. hunting and killing too many, or destroying their habitat.
The IUCN list a species as Extinct (EX) where they are certain that the last individual has died. This is decided after a number of surveys of areas where the species is expected to live. The surveys must be done at the right time of day and the right season to see it. A species is listed as Extinct in the Wild (EW) by the IUCN when it can only be found in zoos.
The state of being extinct is called extinction. The IUCN is concerned about biological extinction . The food industry and the fisheries industry are also concerned about commercial extinction. ]
See: deforestation, extirpation, habitat loss, Red Data Book, threatened species, wildlife tradeadj. 2. an extinct volcano will never erupt again
See: active, dormant
family
n. (pl.families) 1. a group of people who are related to one another by birth or by marriage
[note: Different societies think of family in different ways. A nuclear family is mother, father and children; an extended family also includes grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.]
n. 2. one of the groups that scientists divide all living and extinct things into
[note: In science, a tiger is in the Mammalia class of animals. It is in the order Carnivora, and in the Felidae or cat family. Families can also be divided into sub-families , eg. the tiger is a cat in the genus Panthera and the common cat is in the genus Felix.]
See: Appendix G
fish
n. 1. a living thing that lives and swims in water
[note: A fish uses its tail and fins to swim and its gills to take oxygen from the water. Its body is covered in scales . Fish are cold-blooded vertebrates that live in freshwater or in saltwater. Saltwater fish may live in the shallow water around a reef or in the open water away from the land. These fish, eg. tuna, are called pelagic. A fish can be very small, like an anchovy, or very big, like a shark. Most fish are silver or dark grey in colour but fish on tropical reefs are often brightly coloured. Fish are the main protein food for many people in Asia. Fish belong to the Agnatha, Chondrichthyes or Osteichthyes classes.]
v. 2. to catch fish
[note: People catch fish in many different ways. Fishing with small nets, traps or spears,to catch enough fish for a family, does not threaten fish numbers. However, industrial fishing methods, which catch all the fish in an area, cause the problems of overfishing. People who catch fish as the main part of their livelihood are called fisher folk or fishermen.]
genus
n. (pl.genera) one of the groups into which scientists divide all living things
[note: Members of a genus are closely related, but there are important differences. For example, the tiger and the common cat are in the Felidae family. However, the tiger is in the genus Panthera and the common cat is in the genus Felis. They are related, but they cannot interbreed, as members of the same species can.]
See: Appendix G, scientific name, species, taxonomy
insect
n. a small living thing that has six legs and three main parts to its body; animals in the Insecta class
[note: Ants, aphids, bees, butterflies, cockroaches, grasshoppers, locusts and mosquitoes are all insects. All insects are born from eggs, and grow through different stages, eg. larva then pupa, until they are adults.
Insects play many important roles in nature, eg. in the food chain; in the carbon cycle, breaking down dead plants and animals; and in helping plants to reproduce.
Some insects are seen by people as pests, eg. mosquitoes, which spread serious diseases. In agriculture, insect pests cause three types of problem. Chewing insects such as caterpillars and weevils feed on leaves and seeds. Sucking insects such as aphids and mites feed on the plant's sap. Soil insects such as grubs cause plants to wilt. A lot of money is spent on insecticides to get rid of insect pests .]
See: caterpillar, maggot, nymph, Pics at butterfly, bee & mosquito, swarm
invertebrate
n. an animal without a backbone; opposite of vertebrate
[note: Invertebrates are one of the phyla into which the animal kingdom is classified. There are at least 1,500,000 invertebrates. We still have no idea how many, because they have never been counted. Worms, slugs, leeches, snails and some kinds of fish are invertebrates. It is the invertebrates that sustain the ecology of the Earth, but we spend much more time thinking about the vertebrates… is that just because they are bigger?]
kingdom
n. one of the groups into which scientists divide all living things
[note: A kingdom includes all the living things that are the same in some way. There are five kingdoms. The Animalia kingdom includes all animals, birds, amphibians, fish and insects. The Plantae kingdom includes all plants. The Monera kingdom includes bacteria and blue-green algae. The Fungi kingdom includes mushrooms and all other fungi. The Protoctista kingdom includes single cell amoebae and some kinds of algae.]
See: Appendix G, phylum, scientific name, taxonomy
mammal
n. a kind of animal that gives birth to live babies and produces milk to feed the babies; animals in the Mammalia class
[note: Mammals are warm-blooded and are covered with hair. Humans, rats, whales, dolphins, horses, sheep, tigers and elephants are all mammals. Birds and snakes are not mammals, because they lay eggs.]
order
n. 1. one of the main groups into which scientists divide living things
[note: In a taxonomy of the animal kindom, the Mammalia class of animals is divided into different orders. The order Carnivora includes all the species that eat meat.]
n. 2. a legal document that says something must be done
[note: A preservation order can stop a developer from pulling down an important building.]
n. 3. the way in which a group of things is organised
(eg. After a forest fire, plants return in order: first come herbs and grasses, then fast-growing trees, and last of all, the big forest trees come back.)
phylum
n. (pl.phyla) one of the main groups into which scientists divide all living things
[note: Animals with backbones belong to the Chordata phylum.)
See: Appendix G, kingdom, scientific name, taxonomy
rare
adj. 1. about anything that is hard to find and is interesting or valuable because of this; opposite of common
[note: Something that is rare often has a rarity value. People are willing to pay a lot just because it is rare. Rarity value encourages the poaching of elephants and tigers and other endangered species.]
See: IUCN, Red Data Book, scarce, threatened speciesadj. 2. rarefied air has less oxygen than usual
[note: In high mountain areas the air is rarefied. The people and animals who live there have adjusted to it, but if you go there, you will find it difficult to breathe.]
reptile
n. the name for a group of animals that are cold-blooded, lay eggs and have skin with scales; animals in the Reptilia class
[note: Lizards, snakes, crocodiles and turtles are reptiles. Their bodies do not make their own heat; they are the same temperature as the air around them, so they lie in the sun to get warm before they move around.]
See: amphibian
species
n. (pl.species) all the members of a group of living things which are able to breed together and which look similar and have similar characteristics and genetics
[note: Species is one of the groups into which scientists divide all living things. For example, lions, tigers and leopards are all members of the cat family, but they are different species. They look different and they cannot breed together.
Species is a basic part of biodiversity. The Red Data Book divides species according to how much they are threatened with extinction, eg. endangered species, critically endangered species or vulnerable species. Environmentalists describe species according to how they relate to their environment, eg. indigenous species, introduced species, invasive species, keystone species, indicator species, or pioneer species.]
See: Appendix G, genus, sub-species, taxonomy
threat
n. a danger that something bad will happen and cause damage or danger
[note: Threats can come from people or from things. For example, a toxic waste dump is a threat to the health of people living nearby. If you feel afraid that something or someone could hurt you, you feel threatened.]
vertebrate
n. any living thing with a line of bones down the middle of its back; opposite of invertebrate
[note: There are about 2000 vertebrates in the world. All mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and most fish are vertebrates. They all have a spine, which is also called a backbone.]
vulnerable
adj. people, animals or places that are vulnerable are easily attacked or harmed
[note: A group of people may be vulnerable because of physical conditions (where they live), social conditions (who they are) or economic conditions (how they earn a living). If any of these conditions get worse, the vulnerable people will not be able to go on.
The state of being vulnerable is called vulnerability. Poverty always increases vulnerability.
Environmentalists use vulnerability indicators to assess how easily a community or a species can be harmed. The vulnerability indicators will include: how close does the community live to a hazard? how much fear will the hazard produce? can the community plan how to deal with a disaster?and how well will they be able to recover from it?]
See: justice
[quote: Sachs, 2003 p6 "At a certain degree of vulnerability, then, burdens tip over into injustice and threaten the basic rights of the people involved." ]
warm-blooded
adj. about animals whose body temperature stays about the same all the time; opposite of cold-blooded
[note: Mammals and birds are warm-blooded. Warm-blooded animals use some of their food energy to stay warm.]
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