Rainforest Glossary

Rainforest Glossary

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ICE AGE An ice age is a time lasting thousands of years during which the Earth is very cold and largely covered by ice and glaciers.

IGNEOUS ROCK When molten rock cools, igneous rock is formed.

IGUANA Many iguanas live in rainforests, including the green iguana.

INDEX FOSSILS Index fossils are commonly found fossils that are limited in time span. They help in dating other fossils. For example: trilobites were common during the Paleozoic, but not found before the Permian period, and ammonites were common during the Mesozoic Era, but not found after the Cretaceous period.

INDIGENOUS Indigenous organisms are natives to that locality.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE Indigenous people are native to that locality. A group indigenous to the Amazon rainforest is the Yanomani.

INDRI Indris are a type of lemur with a very short stump of a tail; they are the largest type of lemur alive today. Tho loud call of the indri can be heard for over a mile. These large-eyed primates live in small familiy groups and eat leaves and fruits. Indris are only found in Madagascar. They are called "babakoto" in the Malagasy language.

INSECTS Insects have exoskeletons and six legs. They evolved during the Silurian Period, 438 to 408 mya, long before dinosaurs or whales existed.

INSECTIVORE An insectivore is an organism that eats mostly insects.

INSTAR An insect is called an instar when it is between two molts. A newly-hatched insect is called a first-instar or larva. An adult is a final instar.

INTEGUMENT The integument is an insect's hard outer coat.

INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION Interspecific competition is competition between two different species of organisms (competing for food, territory, etc.).

INTRASPECIFIC COMPETITION Intraspecific competition is competition among members of a species (competing for food, mates, territory, etc.).

INVERTEBRATE Invertebrates are animals without a backbone. Some invertebrates include protozoans, arthropods (insects, arachnids, crustaceans, etc.), worms, jellyfish, sponges, mollusks (like cephalopods [octopus], gastropods, bivalves [clams, oysters, scallops]), and many others.

Zoom Rainforests Rainforest Glossary

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Click on an underlined word for more information on that subject.
If the rainforest term you are looking for is not in the dictionary, please e-mail us.
For further information log on website;
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/rainforest/glossary/indexi.shtml#indigenous