precocial en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /pɹəˈkɐʉ.ʃəl/ (New-Zealand)
- /pɹɪˈkəʊ.ʃəl/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /pɹɪˈkoʊ.ʃəl/ (Canada, General-American)
- /pɹɪˈkəʉ.ʃəl/ (Australia)
Etymology
From Latin praecŏcĭa (“places where fruits ripen early”).
Meanings
-
(not-comparable) Hatched from the egg already covered in down and with eyes open; capable of leaving the nest within a few days.
Being precocial, shorebird chicks leave the nest soon after hatching to forage by themselves, but, as they are not yet homeothermic, they lose body heat while foraging and must be rewarmed by their parents at regular intervals.
2012, Karen L Krijgsveld, Behavioural and physiological adaptations of precocial chicks to arctic environments:
Deriveds
semiprecocial · superprecocial