Foreward, Animal Kingdom
Animals that live low on the food chain tend to have this population pattern.
What is large population size?
Approximately this many mammal species are placental mammals.
What is about 6,000?
This key anatomical feature distinguishes New World monkeys from Old World monkeys.
What are prehensile tails?
This mustelid predator has powerful jaws used to crush bones.
What is the wolverine?
When whales dive underwater, this body function slows to conserve oxygen.
What is heart rate?
This canine species hunts animals as large as wildebeests and zebras.
What is the African wild dog?
This cat hunts animals like wildebeest and antelopes using stealth.
What is the leopard?
Pinnipeds have these limb adaptations that replace typical legs.
What are flippers?
Hippos spend most of the day in rivers or streams but leave the water at night to eat this type of food.
What is grass?
In autumn, reindeer form herds that may contain up to this many individuals before migrating south.
What is 500,000?
Animals without this symbol in their description live less than one year.
What is a heart symbol?
This kangaroo species climbs branches using short, broad gripping feet.
What is Doria’s tree kangaroo?
These primates walk upright similarly to humans.
What are bonobos?
According to the text, the relationship between animal size and number of offspring generally follows this pattern.
What is larger animals produce fewer offspring while smaller animals produce more?
These whales are known for catching fish using bubble nets.
What are humpback whales?
One adaptation shared by polar bears, Arctic foxes, and beluga whales is this skin color beneath their fur or blubber.
What is black skin that absorbs sunlight?
Unlike most cats, lions show this unusual hunting behavior between males and females.
What is females hunt while males eat what they kill or steal food?
The European polecat is believed to be the ancestor of this domesticated animal.
What is the ferret?
This forest-dwelling relative of the giraffe has dark coloring and stripes that help it blend into rainforest environments.
What is the okapi?
Two additional mammal groups mentioned as having scent-marking features similar to deer are these.
What are bovids and civets?
The Arctic tern adapts to polar regions by performing this extraordinary migration behavior.
What is migrating between the two poles?
Gazelles have reduced their number of toes to this number, forming cloven hooves.
What is two?
These apes swing through trees using hooked hands in a movement called brachiation.
What are Bornean orangutans and white-handed gibbons?
This rodent adaptation helps the Mongolian jird survive desert heat.
What are furry feet that insulate it from hot ground?
This marine mammal travels farther than any other mammal.
What is the gray whale?
This canine species lives in packs with a strict social hierarchy involving a breeding pair and their offspring.
What is the gray wolf?
The ocelot is notable for this conservation status-related fact.
What is one of the most hunted species of cat and now endangered?
Walruses protect their young from predators using this defensive group behavior.
What is forming a tight group with pups in the middle?
The black rhinoceros received its name because of this environmental factor.
What is mud dried on its skin?
Camels can protect themselves during dust storms using this nasal adaptation.
What is nostrils that can close tightly?
The four vertical layers of the rainforest from top to bottom include emergent, canopy, this layer, and forest floor.
What is the understory?
Megabats are primarily found in this type of climate zone.
What are tropical areas?
This primate species springs along the ground rather than walking.
What is Verreaux’s sifaka?
The damming process eventually creates this new ecosystem feature.
What is a lake or pond?
This porpoise is the fastest of all whales, dolphins, and porpoises.
What is Dall’s porpoise?
This bear species is known for a crescent-shaped mark on its chest.
What is the Asiatic black bear?
The cheetah differs socially from most cats in this way.
What is it is sociable, with young staying with their mother for up to two years and brothers staying together?
Civets defend themselves using scent glands located in this part of their body.
What is under the tail?
The longer front horn of many rhinos is used for this activity.
What is digging for water and plants?
This structure on a camel stores fat that provides energy when food is scarce.
What are humps?
Dung beetles and scarlet reef hermit crabs share this ecological role.
What is cleaning the environment by consuming unusual waste or food sources?
This insectivore species has a venomous bite.
What is the Eurasian water shrew?
Old World monkeys differ because their nostrils are positioned this way.
What is close together and directed downward?
The European badger lives socially in groups and builds burrows known by this specific name.
What is a sett?
Whales and dolphins commonly show this coloration pattern: dark on top and light on the underside.
What is countershading camouflage?
This canine species mates for life and shares parenting duties with its partner.
What is the golden jackal?
Caracals primarily hunt birds using this specific hunting technique.
What is leaping into the air to catch birds with their front paws?
African elephants differ from Asian elephants because their trunks contain these two finger-like projections instead of one.
What are an upper and lower process?
This rhinoceros species is considered one of the rarest large mammals in the world.
What is the Javan rhinoceros?
This deer species is the only one in which females grow antlers.
What is the reindeer (caribou)?