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Topic Options #79765 - 09/04/02 04:20 PM altricial wwh Carpal Tunnel Registered: 01/18/01 Posts: 13858 altricial adj. ModL altricialis < L altrix, a nurse, fem. of altor, one who nourishes < alere, to feed: see OLD designating or of birds whose newly hatched young are helpless and hence confined to the nest for some time; nidicolous: opposed to PRECOCIAL Here's a URL with a lot of information about birds http://www.howe.k12.ok.us/~jimaskew/bbird.htm Top #79766 - 09/04/02 04:24 PM Re: altricial Wordwind Carpal Tunnel Registered: 09/30/01 Posts: 6296 Loc: Piedmont Region of Virginia, U... So altricial refers to the feeder as opposed to the feedee? Top #79767 - 09/04/02 08:07 PM Re: altricial wwh Carpal Tunnel Registered: 01/18/01 Posts: 13858 Dear WW: In reading about hummingbirds the other day, it mentioned nestlings early developing ability to hoist their rear end up and over the edge of nest, relieving mothers of duty of picking up fecal pellets from nest. Amazing how such behaviour develops. I'm reminded of cartoon I saw many years ago, of a bird nest with three fledgelings flitting joyously above it, with one youngster sassily informing his harassed parents "I'm going to stay here, and be a problem child." Top #79768 - 09/05/02 04:30 AM Re: altricial Wordwind Carpal Tunnel Registered: 09/30/01 Posts: 6296 Loc: Piedmont Region of Virginia, U... wwh: I once saw a hummingbird's nest in Grenada. It wasn't much larger than a good-sized thimble. The visual image of very tiny baby hummingbirds lifting their little butts over the edge of the thimble nest and dropping their little pellets--how large would those be? Are we talkin' BB's or poppyseeds?--to the ground where some intense scientist is hidden in the bush watching these proceedings is nothing short of comical. Bird regards, WordWatcher Top #79769 - 09/05/02 09:20 AM Re: altricial wwh Carpal Tunnel Registered: 01/18/01 Posts: 13858 Dear WW: think of how handy it would be if human babies produced nicely wrapped pellets that mamas could pick up and dispose of without soiling fingers. Ask your creationist friends why the Lord failed to provide this, since it was within his power. Top #79770 - 09/11/02 08:18 AM Re: altricial Wordwind Carpal Tunnel Registered: 09/30/01 Posts: 6296 Loc: Piedmont Region of Virginia, U... Dear wwh, Thank you so much for supplying this word! I'm reading a pretty good book about birds entitled: The Human Nature of Birds by Theodore Xenophon Barber, Ph.D. There was a passage I read last night that included the word altricial and I was plumb proud of myself for understanding it immediately. "If the newborn infant is placed on the mother's stomach for the first feeding, it appears automatically to seek the milk in the breast. Specifically, it tends to push itself forward with its legs, flails its arms, attempts to clutch with its hands, searches with its mouth....Furthermore, the human newborn's mouth opens automatically when its cheek is touched just as the altricial chick's mouth opens or 'gapes' automatically when the edge of its jaw is touched," (p. 27). Thanks, Bill! Top Previous Topic Index Next Topic Preview Hop to: General Topics ------   Information and announcements   Q&A about words   Wordplay and fun   Words and languages in schools   Miscellany   Weekly Themes   Looking for (writers, speakers, ...) (Old) Weekly themes. (have been consolidated into a single forum above) ------   Words from medicine   Beheading words   Meta-words   Words from classical mythology   Animal Safari   Words with unusual etymologies   Eponyms or words derived from people's names.   Loanwords from German   English as a global language Print Topic Switch to Threaded Mode View profile Send a PM Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM Add to your Watched Users View posts View profile Send a PM Add to your Watched Users View posts Forum Stats 7256 Members 16 Forums 12812 Topics 189756 Posts Max Online: 853 @ 10/23/07 11:39 AM Who's Online 3 registered (AnnaStrophic, zmjezhd, tsuwm), 7 Guests and 30 Spiders online. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod Newest Members Alan, jincy crow, aml, Goodspeaker, W1343 7256 Registered Users Top Posters wwh 13858 Faldage 12534 Jackie 10393 tsuwm 9577 Buffalo Shrdlu 6690 AnnaStrophic 6489 Wordwind 6296 of troy 5400 maverick 4683 WhitmanO'Neill 4189 March Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

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