Key Words to Know

To begin your tropical trek, you'll need to be equipped with a few "Key" words:

adaptation - a behavioral or physical feature that makes an animal better suited for its environment.

bottlenose dolphin - a marine mammal in the family Delphinidae, related to the whales but smaller, and with a beaklike snout.

camouflage - coloration that blends in with the surrounding environment.

conservation - the wise use of natural resources including plants and animals.

ecosystem - a group of plants, animals and nonliving components of an environment that interact.

endangered species - a specific group of plants or animals whose population is decreasing at an alarming rate and is threatened with extinction.

erosion - loss of soil due to water flow, especially in areas where native vegetation has been removed.

extinct - no longer existing.

food web - a diagram that shows "who eats whom" in an ecosystem.

habitat - the place where an animal lives.

migrate - to move from one region to another for a specific reason such as breeding or feeding.

pollution - harmful elements that alter an environment in a negative way, such as chemicals that poison water supplies or trash that clutters the ocean.

sea turtle - a reptile in the order Testudines, which includes all turtles and tortoises. Most scientists recognize eight species of sea turtles (green, black, loggerhead, Kemp's ridley, olive ridley, hawksbill, flatback and leatherback).

stingray - a fish in the superorder Batoidea, which includes stingrays, electric rays, skates, guitarfish and sawfish. A stingray's skeleton is made of cartilage, not bone.

wetlands - areas of low-lying land that are periodically submerged in water or hold a great deal of moisture in their soils.

Florida Keys Fun Facts

SeaWorld/Busch Gardens Animal Information Database
www.seaworld.org / www.buschgardens.org