(Encyclopedia) vertebrate, any animal having a backbone or spinal column. Verbrates can be traced back to the Silurian period. In the adults of nearly all forms the backbone consists of a series of…
(Encyclopedia) pineal glandpineal glandpĭnˈeəl [key], small organ (about the size of a pea) situated in the brain. Long considered vestigial in humans, the structure, which is also called the pineal…
Trapped in a quagmireFamily feastingTactics of modern huntersJust as modern meat-eating animals such as lions combine forces to pull down animals larger than themselves, many flesh-eating theropods…
Encyclopedia: Science The Six Kingdoms of Life The Branches of Science Scientific Classification The Chemical Elements Elements Table The Periodic Table Table of…
(Encyclopedia) ecology, study of the relationships of organisms to their physical environment and to one another. The study of an individual organism or a single species is termed autecology; the…
(Encyclopedia) civetcivetsĭvˈət [key] or civet cat, any of a large group of mostly nocturnal mammals of the Old World family Viverridae (civet family), which also includes the mongoose. Civets are…
(Encyclopedia) coelomcoelomsēˈləm [key], fluid-filled body cavity, found in animals, which is lined by cells derived from mesoderm tissue in the embryo, and which provides for free, lubricated motion…
(Encyclopedia) hydrothermal vent, crack along a rift or ridge in the deep ocean floor that spews out water heated to high temperatures by the magma under the earth's crust. Some vents are in areas of…
(Encyclopedia) animism, belief in personalized, supernatural beings (or souls) that often inhabit ordinary animals and objects, governing their existence. British anthropologist Sir Edward Burnett…
