Glossary

Caecotrophy Feeding on one’s own droppings (caecotrophs) to maximise the extraction of nutrients from food.

Crepuscular Most active at dawn and dusk.

Dispersal One-way movement, usually undertaken by young male mammals, away from their place of birth.

DNA The genetic material contained within each cell of every living thing, and ‘coding’ for its characteristics.

Genus (plural genera) A group of very closely related species.

Herbaceous plants (or herbs) Plants that have no persistent woody stems. Herbaceous plants die after the growing season and new plants grow from seed (annuals), or die back and then re-grow from the root (perennials and biennials).

Hierarchy System in which members of a population are ranked by relative status or authority; the ‘pecking order’.

Home range The area used by an individual animal or by a group of animals at a given time of the night, week or season. Home ranges are not defended and so may overlap.

Hybridisation Fertile sexual reproduction between two animals or plants of different species (or genera, subspecies, etc.). All the hare species in Europe can probably hybridise.

Invasive species A species, often non-native, that is harmful to its environment. Many species are not invasive in their native environment, but become invasive if they are moved to a new area.

IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature (www.iucn.org). The IUCN produces the Red List of Threatened Species, which is used by scientists, conservationists and policy-makers.

Monoculture An area where only one crop is grown, so that over a large area there is little variation in available food or shelter for wild animals.

Nocturnal Most active at night.

Radio telemetry A method used to track individual animals by attaching a radio or Global Positioning System transmitter. Transmitters can provide other information, such as temperature.

Spotlight counting A method to assess numbers of nocturnal animals. A powerful torch is swung in a circle from fixed points, or moved along a line, and numbers of animals are counted, using the area of land lit up to work out their density.

Taxonomy The classification of living things into similar, related groups.

Territorial Having a territory, an area used exclusively by an individual animal or by a group of animals, and defended against intruders of the same species.