Conservation Glossary

Here are some of the terms used in our fact sheets, and elsewhere on our website.

Arboreal  – tree dwelling

Boreal  – a mixture of leaf-bearing trees and evergreens found across the northern hemisphere in Europe and North America; term generally used in North America 

Carnivore  – an animal that eats mainly meat 

CITES  – the letters stand for Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species 

Coniferous  – a forest containing only evergreen trees that do not lose their needles 

Crepuscular  – an animal that is most active early morning and evening 

Deciduous  – a forest containing leaf-bearing trees that are shed in the autumn 

Diurnal  – an animal that is active during daylight hours 

Felidae  – the scientific family name used to identify all cats 

Feral  – a domestic animal that has returned to the wild state 

In-vitro  – artificial conception, where the egg from the female is joined with the sperm from a male in a laboratory. This is followed by transferring the living embryo into a live animal. 

Melanistic  – black animal. This is caused by a recessive gene that produces dark pigment in the skin 

Monestrous  – females who mate with only one male 

New World  – North, Central and South America 

Nocturnal  – an animal that is active during the night 

Oestrus  – the short period when a female can become pregnant 

Old World  – Asia, Africa and Europe 

Polyestrous  – females that mate with more than one male 

Riverine  – habitat situated on a riverside 

Savannah  – open, grassy plains or meadows dotted with a few trees or bushes 

Scent marking  – a procedure used to notify other animals of their presence; includes urine spraying, scraping with hind feet and leaving feces  

Steppes  – high elevation, grassy plains of southeast Europe and Russia 

Sexually dimorphic  – species where the male and female are visibly different in appearance 

Sympatric  – populations of related species living in the same or overlapping geographic areas without interbreeding 

Taiga  – another world for boreal, generally referring to the coniferous forests of Asia 

Terrestrial  – ground dwelling 

Ungulate  – any hoofed, grazing animal 

Viverrids  – the scientific order of small mammals possessing external scent glands, ie civets, mongoose and binturongs