Amazing Animal Terms in Alphabetical Order

Every day Eenie finds amazing new discoveries in nature which he would like to share with us. Perhaps you think about the scientific names for certain species.

If your daydreams concern a menagerie – or collection – of creatures, Eenie has been thinking about answers to at least some of your questions and will from time to time add them in the Eenie learning corner.

While many of these long words may not be familiar and may come from Latin or Greek languages they are definitely fun to learn about!

For example, many of us have pets at home or living outside – often they are called domesticated as opposed to wild.

Do you ever wonder what they – your dog, cat or horse – is thinking? Or what animals that eat only nectar are called? Or how they make friends or what makes them similar or different – and have different habits?

Some of the answers are actually in the rather long words that are really quite descriptive!

In this page while Eenie does not try to explain to you what goes on in your pet’s mind, these animal – zoological – terms relating to certain species will bring you closer to understanding important parts of the animal kingdom.

Abomasum

Did you know that cows have not one but four stomachs? The abomasum is sometimes called the true stomach of a ruminant animal because it’s the one that digests the food before it goes through the rest of the digestive system. Of the other three — the rumen, reticulum, and omasum — the abomasum is closest to the single human stomach. Ruminants include cattle, sheep, and goats.

Ruminants have a unique digestive system that allows them to better utilize energy from fibrous plant material than other herbivores – that is why you see them grazing so much and literally chewing the cud.

Allopatric

Allopatric as a adjective means occupying separate, non overlapping geographic areas.The most famous examples of allopatric animals are Charles Darwin’s finches on the Galapagos Islands. They ate different foods and had varying physical traits, even though they had common ancestors.

In allopatric animals, a geographic circumstance separates them just enough that their ways of living change across the species.

Estivation

Estivation is similar to hibernation, but animals practicing estivation go dormant when it’s hot and dry instead of cold and snowy.

Some animals, including various species of snakes, land snails, and lizards, enter a state of dormancy, or estivation, in the summer when water is scarce.And who can blame them?

Sometimes people also have to get out of the summer heat – and then they can hang around with the hedgehogs, snakes, and snails.

Frugivorous

Animals eat more than meat and vegetables. Frugivorous animals eat only – or mainly -fruit, insectivorous creatures eat insects, and nectivorous animals eat — as you may have guessed — nectar.

Herbivores

These are animals that only eat plants, like cows, buffaloes or elks. These animals eat grass, tree bark, aquatic vegetation, and shrubby growth. Herbivores can also be medium-sized animals such as sheep and goats, which eat shrubby vegetation and grasses. Small herbivores include rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, and mice. The opposite to herbivore is a carnivore.

Holotype

Every species has a holotype — the word Holotype is made up of the Ancient Greek word holos meaning whole, and the Ancient Greek word typos, meaning image, among other things. Holotypes are very important when it comes to discovering new specie as the Holotype is the physical characteristics of a species. Each one has specific traits, like a zebra’s trademark black and white stripes.

Nectarivore

Most nectar eaters are insects, but also humming birds, fruit eating bats and sun birds, sugar birds and honey eaters drink the nectar from the flowers.

Nidifugous

A nidifugous, or precocial, animal is ready to get up and go -fending for themselves in many ways like leaving the nest -from the very start. For example, sea turtles hatch and make a run or beeline for the ocean. The primary determiner is the ability of the newborn animal to feed itself. When a new parent is waking up for the third feeding of the night, they might wish humans were nidifugous, but unfortunately humans are nidicolous, meaning staying in the nests for some time.

Pavonine

Pavonine is a really special and fantastic adjective that means of or resembling or like a peacock. The showy ostentatious peacock is the male – peahens being the female name – and the adjective tends to refer to the flashier of the species.

Struthious

Struthious is a specific adjective literally meaning of the ostrich – hence meaning related to or resembling an ostrich or related bird. What sort of characteristics could be struthious? Perhaps having long legs, a long neck, or possibly a round body. Ostriches are the largest birds in the world.

Tigon – and Liger

Whereas a liger is a cross between a male lion and a female tiger, a tigon is the opposite. It is the pairing of a male tiger and a female lion – the offspring of a tiger and a lioness, usually in captivity rather than in the wild. Either way it is said that the two have some seriously impressive and powerful offspring.

Xeric

Xeric is an adjective for both the climate and the animals that live in it. The word comes from a Greek root, xeros, dry. You can think about the desert and other dry places — the opposite of hydric or very moist areas.

Amazing Animal Terms in Alphabetical Order

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