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Definition 2024
altricial
altricial
English
Adjective
altricial (comparative more altricial, superlative most altricial)
- (zoology) Helpless at birth (of young animals); or having young which are helpless at birth.
- 2001, Gonyou, Keeling & Keeling, Social Behaviour in Farm Animals, CABI Publishing, published 2001, page 63:
- Altricial young are typical among carnivores, which might be expected to be hampered in their hunting behaviour if the pregnant mother has to carry its young for a long period.
- 2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin 2012, p. 281:
- First, humans are altricial, with immature newborns and a long childhood.
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Synonyms
Translations
having young which are helpless at birth
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