align: (noun: alignment) To place or organize things in a patterned order, following an apparent line.
behavior: The way something, often a person or other organism, acts towards others, or conducts itself.
behavioral ecologist: A scientist who studies how animal behavior relates to where animals live.
component: Something that is part of something else (such as pieces that go on an electronic circuit board or ingredients that go into a cookie recipe).
culture: (n. in social science) The sum total of typical behaviors and social practices of a related group of people (such as a tribe or nation). Their culture includes their beliefs, values and the symbols that they accept and/or use. Culture is passed on from generation to generation through learning. Scientists once thought culture to be exclusive to humans. Now they recognize some other animals show signs of culture as well, including dolphins and primates.
dolphins: A highly intelligent group of marine mammals that belong to the toothed-whale family. Members of this group include orcas (killer whales), pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins.
ecologist: A scientist who works in a branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.
element: A building block of some larger structure.
factor: Something that plays a role in a particular condition or event; a contributor.
gene: (adj. genetic) A segment of DNA that codes, or holds instructions, for a cell’s production of a protein. Offspring inherit genes from their parents. Genes influence how an organism looks and behaves.
generation: A group of individuals (in any species) born at about the same time or that are regarded as a single group. Your parents belong to one generation of your family, for example, and your grandparents to another. Similarly, you and everyone within a few years of your age across the planet are referred to as belonging to a particular generation of humans.
groom: (in zoology) The…
Read the full article here