Vocab Flashcards
A genetic, morphological, or behavioral change that a species makes to help it survive in its environment
Adaptation
A loud vocalization given by all ages and genders in response to a disturbance such as the appearance of a predator or another group.
Alarm call
Reciprocal cleaning of the fur
Allogrooming
Adapted to life in trees
Arboreal
A grouping of two or more species that travel and/or feed together.
Association
Swinging with arms from one branch to another.
Brachiation
A structure in the mouth used to store food temporarily; found in Old world monkeys but not colobines.
Cheek pouch
With regard to a male and an east Roy’s female, to temporarily associate and travel together to enhance the males chances of paternity. Found in baboons and chimpanzees.
Consort
Belonging to the same species.
Conspecific
The distance a group travels in a day, usually measured in meters.
Day range
A conspicuous behavior involving posture, action, and/or vocalization that usually conveys a message to members of the same species.
Display
Active during the day.
Diurnal
Higher ranking in a hierarchy, as determined by the displacement of other troop members for priority of access to food, mates, or resting places.
Dominant
The specific role of an organism in its environment and community that allows it to survive and reproduce.
Ecological niche
The study of how organisms are affected by and interact with other organisms in a particular environment.
Ecology
The interrelationships among the living organism and the chemical and physical components of a given environment.
Ecosystem
The departure of an individual from a group to travel alone or join another group, usually at adulthood.
Emigration
The period around ovulation when females are willing to mate, as indicated by perineal swellings or pheromonal or behavioral signals.
Estrus
A social structure in which individuals of a troop split into small subgroups for foraging and re-form as a large group when food resources permit.
Fission-fusion
An animal that eats fruit as a major percentage of its diet.
Frugivore
The taxonomic classification below family and above species; indicated by italics and capitalization.
Genus
The period between conception and birth.
Gestation
Pertaining to kinship or descent through female lines.
Matrilineal
A type of social structure centered on one male and one female that mate only with each other.
Monogamy
The group into which an individual is born.
Natal troop
The tropical regions of Central and South America.
Neotropics
An animal that eats both animal and vegetable material as major percentage of its diet.
Omnivore
Inflation of the tissue between the anus and the vulva with fluid, signaling the onset of estrus and, at its fullest, ovulation.
Perineal swelling
Able to grasp by wrapping around; often refers to the tail of some larger neotropical monkeys.
Prehensile
Pertaining to the behavior that indicates and individual’s interest in sex.
Proceptive
A botanically diverse forest in the tropics or subtropics with plentiful year-round rainfall.
Rain forest
Ready to mate; usually corresponds to “estrous”.
Receptive
Open, flat tropical grassland with varying amounts of trees and seasonal rainfall.
Savanna
An odor-producing organ.
Scent gland
An olfactory message communicated by rubbing glandular secretions or leaving urine or feces at a specific site.
Scent mark
An animal that passes seeds through it’d digestive tract and deposits them unharmed. Some seeds germinate faster after having passed through an animals digestive tract.
Seed disperser
Forest in which some but not all of the tree species lose their leaves during one season of the year.
Semi-deciduous forest
Color pattern variation between genders of the same species.
Sexual dichromatism
Size, color, or weight variation between genders of the same species.
Sexual dimorphism
The basic biological unit of classification in which like members are similar in appearance, can interbreed, and are different from other species, with which they do not normally interbreed.
Species
Pertaining to the chest region near the sternum, or breastbone.
Sternal
An individual between sexual maturity and full adulthood; similar to a human adolescent.
Subadult
Lower ranking in a hierarchy and therefore giving way to dominant individuals.
Subordinate
A classification level for a species out subgroup that lives in a different geographical region and is morphologically different.
Subspecies
In latitudes bordering the tropical and temperate zones.
Subtropical
Hanging, climbing, or moving below tree branches.
Suspensory behavior
Sharing the same geographic area.
Sympatric
The descriptive science of classification and naming of organisms.
Taxonomy
Adapted to life on the ground.
Terrestrial
The area an animal or group actively defends from other members of its species.
Territory
A prosimians lower incisors, which are inclined forward like a comb and are used for grooming.
Tooth comb
An interaction between two primates, with one cleaning the others fur.
Grooming
Animals that have gradually learned to trust researchers and can be followed and studied.
Habituated troop
A rank-ordered system defined by interactions among individuals, with dominants and subordinates.
Hierarchy
The area used by a troop over an annual cycle; usually expressed in hectares.
Home range
The deliberate killing of infants by members of their own species.
Infanticide
Between or among different groups.
Intergroup
Within a group.
Intragroup
The two pads on the rump, upon which old world monkeys and gibbons sit.
Ischial callosities
An individual between infancy and sexual maturity.
Juvenile
A gesture that many primate species use as a friendly signal when approaching another individual.
Lip smacking
