CARTA Glossary

An extinct aquatic and herbivorous mammal, related to living manatees, described by Georg Wilhelm Steller in 1714 while shipwrecked on Bering Island. The species was hunted into extinction shortly after European discovery.

The prehistoric period during which stone was used to make tools and weapons and is synonymous with the paleolithic. ~3.4 mya - 10 kya. In African archaeology, stone age chronology is divided into Early Stone Age (ESA): ~2.6 mya to ~300 kya; Middle Stone Age (MSA): ~300 kya to ~50 kya; and Later Stone Age (LSA): ~ 50 kya to ~39 kya.

• Early Stone Age is characterized by the development of the first African stone tools, such as the Oldowan technology used by Australopithecines, and the later Acheulean technology, used by Homo erectus.
• Middle Stone Age is characterized by a transition from Acheulean to Levallois technology and the earliest known modern human behavior.
• Later Stone Age is characterized by microlithic industries and punch-struck blades, revealing fully modern human behavior.

The social and cultural activity of sharing stories for entertainment, education, or instilling morals and values.

A genus of Gram-positive bacteria with over 50 recognized species. Streptococcus species are responsible for “strep” throat, pink eye, meningitis, bacterial pneumonia, endocarditis, erysipelas, and necrotizing fasciitis (the “flesh- eating” bacterial infections). However, many streptococcal species are not pathogenic and form part of the commensal human microbiota of the mouth, skin, intestine, and upper respiratory tract. Streptococci are also a necessary ingredient in producing Emmentaler (“Swiss”) cheese.

Events or experiences that typically result in stress on a system.

The uniquely-human form of bipedal locomotion, which involves the full extension of the hip and knee joints in the support leg during the stance phase, movement of the hip joint over and in front of the knee and ankle joints in the support leg, and a longer stride length compared to ape bipedalism.

The common type of cells of stroma, they synthesize the extracellular matrix and collagen, and are also involved in wound healing.

The variation in structure of an organism’s chromosomes. It consists of many kinds of variation in the genome of one species, and usually includes microscopic and submicroscopic types, such as deletions, duplications, copy-number variants, insertions, inversions and translocations that are greater than or equal to 50 base pairs in length.

The quick, reliable, and accurate discrimination of small quantities (usually within numerosities 1–4).

A depression or groove in the cerebral cortex that, along with a gyrus (ridge), creates the folded appearance of the brain in humans and other mammals. The larger sulci are usually called fissures.

A close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasitic.

A type of play involving fantasy, imagination, and pretend to us available objects as stand ins for other objects.

A structure that forms the connection between a neuron and another cell (neuron or other effector cell), that allows for transmission of electrical or chemical signals. 

No change to the protein; changes to protein, respectively.

A parental challenge test. The apparatus is a T-shaped Plexiglas structure that is used to measure whether female rats or mice are willing to protect their infants from potential harm. The maze is novel (new) and therefore fear-inducing to neophobic rodents. Rodents that fail to group pups in the nest within 15 minutes are considered neglectful.

One of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The temporal lobe is located beneath the lateral fissure on both cerebral hemispheres of the mammalian brain.

A concept in social psychology that proposes the existence of a basic psychological conflict that results from having a desire to live but realizing death is inevitable.

The ability to attribute mental beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives, etc., to oneself and to others, and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that are similar or different from one’s own. Related/Overlapping Terms: “Intentionality,” Attribution of Mental States,” “Inter-subjectivity,” “Mind- Reading,” “Perspective taking,” “Other-regarding Impulses,” etc.

Nikolaas Tinbergen’s 1962 paper “On aims and methods of Ethology,” defined complementary categories for analyzing and explaining animal behavior as proximate (developmental: both ontogenic and mechanistic) and ultimate (evolutionary: both phylogenetic and adaptive).

• Proximate/Ontogeny: How does the trait develop in individuals?
• Proximate/Mechanism: How does the trait work?
• Ultimate/Phylogeny: What is the trait’s evolutionary history?
• Ultimate/Adaptation: Why does the trait perform better than evolvable alternatives?

The arrangement of and relationship between constituent parts.

The first step in gene expression during which the nucleotide sequence of DNA is transcribed into an RNA molecule that can ultimately be translated into protein.

Proteins that initiate and regulate the transcription of genes. Transcription factors bind to specific sequences of DNA called regulatory elements, or other proteins that do so, and directly or indirectly affect the initiation of transcription. The activities of transcription factors determine where and when genes are expressed.

The process by which RNA sequences are translated to amino acid sequences during protein synthesis.

Illnesses that are transmitted from one host to another though direct or indirect contact, via a vector or contaminated food and water. Synonymous with communicable and infectious.

A character in myth and folklore who plays tricks on others or disobeys conventional cultural norms.

A type of transmembrane protein oriented with the amino-terminal facing outside the cell.

A bacterial infection affecting only humans caused by Salmonella typhi. Symptoms include a gradual onset of a high fever, which is commonly accompanied by weakness, abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, and mild vomiting. Typhoid is spread by eating or drinking food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person.

Species in which a single parent rears offspring. Over 95% of mammalian species are uniparental with the mother providing sole care.

The third subdivision of the Paleolithic, or Stone Age, and coincides with behavorial modernity and predates the advent of agriculture. Artefacts include finely crafted stone blades and bone and antler tools, such as harpoons and needles. ~50 kya - 10 kya

A biological preparation containing an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, often a weakened or killed form of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface glycoproteins combined with an adjuvant (such as alum, an aluminum salt) which contributes to the immune response. Vaccines act by stimulating the body’s immune system to recognize the agent as a threat, to destroy it, and to recognize it in the future, providing an acquired immunity to that infectious disease. (Synonym: immunization).

DNA that differs among groups studied.

A hormone synthesized in the hypothalamus and then transported to the blood to regulate extracellular fluid volume in the blood vessels and kidneys. It also plays a role in vasoconstriction. Vasopressin and oxytocin evolved from a single primordial neurohypophyseal hormone called vasotocin, which is present in lower vertebrates. Vasopressin, oxytocin, and their receptors are involved in regulating mating systems in several mammals.

Any agent which carries and transmits an infectious pathogen to another living organism. Most agents that act as vectors are living organisms.

Of or relating to viruses. (see Virus)

A submicroscopic infectious agent 10 million times smaller than a human that relies on a living host cell for metabolic processes and replication. Like living organisms, viruses possess genes and evolve by natural selection. Unlike living organisms, viruses lack cellular structure, do not have their own metabolism, instead relying on a living host cell for production of materials, and replication through self-assembly inside a host cell.

The maximum rate of oxygen consumption measured during exercise of increasing intensity.

People belonging to societies that are Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic, as originally proposed by CARTA member, Joseph Henrich.

An infection by the West Nile virus, which is typically spread by mosquitoes. Symptoms include fever, headache, vomiting, or a rash. In rare cases, encephalitis (swelling of the brain) or meningitis occurs, with associated neck stiffness, confusion, or seizures.

A type of immune cell involved in protecting the body against infectious disease and foreign invaders. WBCs are also called leukocytes.

A French feral child who was captured in 1800 at the estimated age of twelve. A young physician, Jean Marc Gaspard Itard, worked with the boy for five years and gave him his name, Victor. Itard was interested in determining what Victor could learn and devised procedures to teach words and recorded his progress. Based on his work with Victor, Itard broke new ground in the education of the developmentally delayed. Victor is estimated to have been born around 1788 and Itard reported he was a normal child at birth but later he was neglected by his alcoholic parents at an early age, and he left to the wild. Recent commentary by Uta Frith, a German developmental psychologist at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, postulates that Victor displayed signs of autism.

Amala (1918-21) and Kamala (1912-1929) were two feral girls from Bengal, India, who were alleged to have been raised by a wolf family. There is much controversy to the veracity of the girls’ wolf story.

The product of force and displacement (distance).

One of the two allosomes of the mammalian genome that determine sex. The X-chromosome can be inherited maternally and paternally.

A viral disease caused by Yellow Fever Virus and spread by female Aedes mosquitos. Typically, short in duration, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains particularly in the back, and headaches. In some cases, a relapse of Yellow Fever will occur, causing abdominal pain and liver damage that results in yellow skin (see Jaundice).

The gram-negative bacterium that causes the plague, which takes three main forms: pneumonic, septicemic and bubonic.

An RNA virus of the genus Flavivirus that causes Zika Fever and is spread by Aedes mosquitos. It was first identified in 1947 in the Zika Forest of Uganda, from which it was named. Zika virus is related to the Dengue, Yellow Fever, Japanese Encephalitis, and West Nile Viruses. Traditionally, Zika virus occurred within a narrow equatorial belt from Africa to Asia but spread to the Americas causing the 2015–2016 Zika virus epidemic. Origin: Africa.

A disease which can be transmitted to humans from animals.