Amphibian – any cold-blooded, egg laying vertebrate of the class Amphibia having gilled aquatic larvae and air-breathing, semiterrestrial adults; examples are frogs and toads, newts and salamanders, and caecilians

Animal kingdom – taxonomic kingdom comprising all living or extinct animals; other kingdoms are Plant, Fungi, Protista or Monera

Arachnid – arthropod with two body segments and four sets of legs located on their front (cephalothorax)

Arthropod – invertebrate with an external skeleton, segmented body, and jointed attachments called appendages belonging to the Phylum Arthropoda

Bird – any warm-blooded vertebrate of the class Aves, having a body covered with feathers, forelimbs modified into wings, scaly legs, a beak, and no teeth, and bearing young in a hard-shelled egg

Carnivore – any animal that consumes other animals, whether living (predation) or dead (scavenging)

Diurnal – active by day (as opposed to nocturnal) (Web definition)

Domestic – tame animal living near humans that depends on someone for food, water and shelter

Endangered (species) – an organism at risk of extinction throughout all or most of its range

Environmental niche – habitat supplying the necessities for an organism or species to exist; an organism’s or population’s function within an ecological community

Ethical hunter – person who hunts by a personal or moral code

Exotic – a species that has been introduced from another geographic region to an area outside its natural range

Feral – animals that have escaped domestication and have become wild

Fish – any of three classes (jawless, cartilaginous and bony) of cold-blooded vertebrate animals living in water and having fins, permanent gills for breathing, and, usually, scales

Food chain – feeding order in an ecological community that passes food energy from one organism to another as each consumes a lower member and in turn is preyed upon by a higher member

Game – legal name for animals that may be managed and hunted only under regulation; animals with a declared open season

Habitat – an arrangement of food, water, shelter or cover, and space suitable to animals’ needs

Herbivore – plant-eating animal

Insect – invertebrate animal of the class Insecta of the phylum Arthropoda with an exoskeleton, three sets of jointed legs, a segmented body made up of head, thorax, abdomen and typically one or two pairs of wings

Mammal – any of a class of higher vertebrates, including man, that produce milk for their young, have fur or hair, are warm-blooded and, except for the egg-laying monotremes, bear young alive

Native – living or growing naturally in a region and not introduced from elsewhere

Nocturnal – active at night (as opposed to diurnal)

Nondomestic – animal that is not tame, lives in nature and survives without the aid of human beings

Nongame – all wildlife species that are not commonly hunted, killed or consumed by humans

Omnivore – an animal that eats both animal and vegetable matter

Predator – an animal that hunts and kills other animals, usually for food

Prescribed fire – controlled fire used as an ecosystem management tool

Prey – an animal that is killed and eaten by another animal

Reptile – any cold-blooded, egg-laying, air-breathing vertebrate of the class Reptilia, including turtles, snakes, lizards, crocodilians, amphibians, tuatara and various extinct members including the dinosaurs

Research – systematic investigation to discover facts, establish or revise a theory or develop an action plan based on the facts discovered

Restocking – management tool used to replenish a resource

Scat – an animal’s fecal droppings, especially a wild animal

Scavenger – animal, such as a bird or insect, that feeds on decaying matter

Sign – evidence of wild animals such as tracks, scat, rubs, etc.

Species – biological classification of plants and animals immediately below the genus level

Threatened – an organism or species in danger of becoming extinct

Wildfire – uncontrolled landscape fire

Wildlife – animals that are not tamed or domesticated including insects, spiders, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians and mammals

Wildlife management – application of scientific knowledge and technical skills to protect, preserve, conserve, limit, enhance or extend the value of wildlife and its habitat