Procellariiformes the order of albatrosses, fulmars, and petrels.
Psittaciformes the order of parrots, parakeets, cockatoos, macaws, and lovebirds.
quill one of the large, strong flight feathers in the wings or tail.
raptor a bird of prey, such as a falcon, hawk, or eagle.
roc the giant elephant-carrying bird of Arabian legend.
rookery a nesting or breeding colony of sea birds.
ruff a projecting collar of hair or feathers around the neck.
siege a group or flock of herons.
skein a group of flying geese.
static soaring floating on a warm thermal of air.
Strigiformes the order of owls.
syrinx the throat component producing a bird's voice, located at the lower end of the trachea.
talon a claw of a bird.
team a group or flock of ducks.
thermal a rising current of warm air, used by birds to carry them aloft.
wattle the naked, fleshy component hanging from the neck, as in a turkey.
CATS
Abyssinian a long, lean breed of cat known for its athleticism and playful personality.
ailurophile one who loves and admires cats.
ailurophobe one who fears cats.
allogrooming the grooming of one cat by another.
Angora Turkish breed of cat with long, silky hair.
blaze a white marking running from a cat's forehead to its nose.
blue coloring from blue gray to slate gray.
brush a bushy or plumelike tail.
Burmese breed related to the Siamese, having short, usually sable-colored hair.
calico coloring combination of tortoiseshell and white.
calling the cries of a sexually receptive female.
caterwaul the cry of cats at mating time.
catnip plant, member of the mint family, known for its intoxicating effect on cats.
catus a tabbylike wildcat from North Africa, thought to be the primary ancestor of all domestic cats.
chinchilla coloring in which the tips of the hairs are black or another color, with the under hairs being white or pale.
cobby having a low-lying body on short legs. dam mother.
FAIDS Feline Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, a weakened immune system often brought on by feline leukemia.
feline relating to or resembling a cat.
feral domesticated but living in the wild.
flehmen response the trancelike sneer often seen on the face of a male as it smells the urine of a sexually receptive female.
frill the hairs framing the head in long-haired breeds, also known as the ruff.
furball hair swallowed by a cat and forming a mass or "ball" in the stomach.
ghost markings faint markings on solid-colored cats, revealing a slight trait of another breed.
gloves white patches on the feet, also known as mittens.
haw the third eyelid, or nictitating membrane.
heat the sexually receptive period of a female.
laces white markings on the back of the rear legs of some cats.
lilac coloring of pale pinkish gray, also known as lavender.
litter a group of newborn kittens.
locket a white or other-colored patch under the neck.
lordosis the crouched position of a sexually receptive female inviting entry by the male.
Manx breed of cat without a tail, thought to have originated in the Orient.
milk-treading the "kneading" motion of a kitten's paws in an attempt to stimulate the flow of its mother's milk, the same behavior often seen in adult cats kneading the bellies of their human owners.
moggie a mongrel cat.
muzzle the jaws and nose of a cat.
pads the soles of the paws.
Persian breed originating from Asia, known for its flattened or pushed-in face and thick, luxuriant fur.
pheromones chemical substance released in urine and from certain areas of the skin to mark territories or attract the opposite sex.
piebald having black-and-white coloring.
pricked having ears that point high and erect.
purebred a cat descended from a long line of its own kind.
queen female cat used for breeding.
rangy long-limbed and long-bodied.
Rex breed of cat known for its curly hair and higher body temperature than other cats.
sheath the protective covering over retracted claws.
Siamese angular, elongated breed known for its noisy personality.
sire father.
spaying the neutering of a female cat. spraying the male's act of marking with urine. tabby a striped cat.
tapetum the light-reflecting layer at the back of a cat's eyes, aiding nocturnal vision and causing the "glowing" effect at night.
tom a male cat.
Tonkinese a crossbreed of the Burmese and Siamese.
vibrissae the highly sensitive whiskers and hairs found on the cheeks, on the chin, over the eyes, and at the back of the front legs, thought capable of detecting subtle air currents and the movement of prey in the dark.
whip long, thin, tapering tail, typically found on a Siamese.
DINOSAuRS
acrocanthosaurus in the Cretaceous period, a very large meat eater with spikes down its back, which may have been part of a sail.
allosaur a large bipedal meat eater with a long, narrow, and often crested head and three-fingered hands that lived in the Jurassic period.
Alvarez extinction theory a proposal by the physicist Luis Alvarez and his son, the geologist Walter Alvarez, that an asteroid striking Earth 65 million years ago caused massive fires, dust clouds, geological upheavals, atmospheric disturbances, and tsunamis, all of which contributed to the death of vegetation, which in turn caused the starvation and death of the dinosaurs. See Chicxulub, multiple impact theory, Shiva.
ankylosaur a short-legged plant eater characterized by its bony armor and clublike tail. It first appeared in the early Jurassic and survived to the end of the Cretaceous.
apatosaurus formerly known as a brontosaurus, a sauropod that grew to be 70 to 90 feet (21 to 27 m) long during the Jurassic period.
archaeopteryx a Jurassic bird with teeth, feathers, clawed wings and a long, bony tail.
archosaur "ruling lizard," one of a group of common land reptiles from which dinosaurs evolved, sometime during the Triassic period.
argentinosaurus a massive sauropod, one of the largest dinosaurs, measuring 130 to 140 feet (40-43 m) and characterized by a very long tail and equally long neck. It lived in what is now South America during the Cretaceous period.
articulated skeleton a skeleton that is found with many of its bones still attached.
baryonyx a fish-eating theropod with crocodile-like jaws that lived during the Cretaceous period.
bipedal walking on two legs instead of four, as a predatory dinosaur.