Creature Feature
Microscopic “water bear” that survives space, boiling, and radiation
Tardigrade
The device submerged in water to record sound
Hydrophone
Suborder of Carnivora including cats, hyenas, and mongooses
Feliformia
Viewing the world primarily from a human perspective
Anthropocentrism
This alchemical concept, often symbolized by a snake eating its own tail, represents eternal return, the unity of opposites, and the cyclical nature of transformation
Ouroboros
The fur, wool, or hair covering a mammal
Pelage
A social system where animal groups split and rejoin
Fission-Fusion Society
Order of whales and dolphins
Cetacea
The type of learning in which behavior is modified by consequences like rewards or punishments
Operant Conditioning
When a planet appears to move backward in the sky, it's often blamed for chaos in astrology
Retrograde
Comb-like keratinous plates in the mouths of some whales used to filter feed
Baleen
Time delay between stimulus and behavioral response
Latency
Order that includes rabbits, hares, and pikas
Lagomorpha
When animals redirect feelings, like grooming instead of fighting
Displacement
A word or phrase that reads the same forwards and backwards
Palindrome
Structure that has lost its original function, such as whales' hind leg bones
Vestigial
The repeated presentation of one (type) of stimuli followed by the presentation of a new (type) stimuli
Habituation-Dishabituation
Order of bats
Chiroptera
Increased likelihood of a behavior due to the presence of others doing it
Social Facilitation
This language has the largest number of native speakers worldwide
Mandarin Chinese
Bright coloration that warns predators an animal is toxic or unpalatable, like poison dart frogs
Aposematism
The latin name of atlantic bottlenose dolphins OR beluga whales
Tursiops truncatus, Delphinapterus leucas
The order of egg-laying mammals like the platypus and echidnas
Monotremata
Care provided to young by individuals other than the biological parents
Alloparenting
This number is often avoided in East Asian cultures and buildings due to its phonetic similarity to the word for "death"
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