Animal Vocabulary Words

environment everything that surrounds and affects an animal inherited trait characteristics, such as height, color of the eyes, intelligence, etc that a living thing gets from its parents species the smallest name grouping used in classification shelter a place where an animal is protected from other animals or from the weather learned behavior a behavior that is not inherited but learned through experiences life cycle a series of physical changes that an organism goes through from birth to death adaptation a body part or behavior that helps an animal meet its needs in its environment migration the movement of a group of one type of animal from one region to another and back again

amphibian an animal that has moist skin and no scales camouflage an animals color or pattern that helps it blend in with its surroundings hibernation a period when an animal goes into a long, deep sleep reptile an animal that has dry, scaly skin mimicry an adaptation in which an animal looks very much like another animal or an object vertebrate an animal with a backbone mammal an animal that has hair and produces milk for its young instinct a behavior that an animal begins life with invertebrate an animal without a backbone metamorphosis the process of change; for example, from an egg to an adult butterfly