
accession
N.1 The formal agreement of a country to an international treaty. The term is applied to the agreement of a country to become a member state of the European Union. Member states accede to the Treaty ...

adoption
In the heroic monomyth, the divine child is often adopted by menials or animals after being abandoned or threatened in some way. Oedipus, Sigurd (Siegfried), Krishna, Cybele, and Romulus and Remus ...

African mythology
As in the case of Asian or European mythology, to speak of African mythology is to speak of many mythologies, reflecting the understandings and priorities of various social groups, tribes ...

Agricultural techniques
Between the 10th and the 12th c., the diet of European man became essentially a cereal one, and agricultural techniques were primarily intended for “corn”. The tools were multi-purpose and ...

agricultural technology
Broadly defined, agricultural technology involves the production, processing, and marketing of a constellation of edible and non-edible commodities produced on farms. These commodities ranged from ...

ahimsa
In the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jainist tradition, respect for all living things and avoidance of violence towards others. The word comes from Sanskrit, from a ‘non-, without’ + hiṃsā ‘violence’.

Alfred Russel Wallace
(1823–1913)British naturalist, who in 1848 went on an expedition to the Amazon, and in 1854 travelled to the Malay Archipelago. There he noticed the differences between the animals of Asia and ...

alternation of generations
Reproductive cycles in which a haploid phase alternates with a diploid phase. In mosses and vascular plants, the haploid phase is the gametophyte, the diploid the sporophyte.

anatomy
The study of the structure of living organisms, especially of their internal parts by means of dissection and microscopical examination. Compare morphology.

animal community
The characteristic assemblage of animals that is associated with a particular ecosystem.

animal finds in the east and west
Archaeozoology reveals both sacred and secular human-animal relationships, adding scientific evidence to written and pictorial sources. Most finds represent opportunistic exploitation of cattle, ...

Animal Husbandry
Concerned not only with ‘domestic animals,’ but also bees and silkworms. Throughout the MA, animals for the most part were allowed to wander free; thus horses, for example, were often ...

animal law
A specialised academic law subject and practice area popular in the USA and growing elsewhere. The way the law regulates human–animal interactions can be studied from many angles; course content ...

animal rights
The belief that animals have rights similar to those afforded to humans, and that those right need to be respected and protected.

animalism
The problem of personal identity emerges from two incontrovertible facts about entities of our kind. First, each of us came into existence at some point in the past, each of ...

animals in cult
Numerous features of Greek religion attest links between animals and gods, usually between one animal or group of animals and one divinity. Thus Athena is associated with various birds (in Athens ...

anthropology
In philosophical usage, a general theory of human nature, sometimes thought to be the necessary foundation of history and all social sciences. The philosophy of anthropology considers such issues as ...

anus
n. the opening at the lower end of the alimentary canal, through which the faeces are discharged. It opens out from the anal canal and is guarded by two sphincters. The anus is closed except during ...

apāya
(Skt.). Collective name for the four unfortunate realms of rebirth.namely those of animals.hungry ghosts (preta), demons, and hell-beings. See also six realms of rebirth.

applied ethics
The subject that applies ethics to actual practical problems, such as those of abortion, euthanasia, the treatment of animals, or other environmental, legal, political, and social problems. See also ...