CREPUSCULAR DIURNAL NOCTURNAL
Animals that are active mostly at night are called nocturnal
animals. We have been doing an informal terminology study in classrooms lately.
We have learned that, by third grade, just about everyone knows this term. Many
first and second graders do too! It’s kind of a regular vocabulary word.
But when asked the term for animals that are active primarily in the day time, only a very small percentage of people know – including teachers! This is a very interesting phenomenon since the two words are opposites, and we are active mostly in the daytime! So we learn the term for the strategies of some animals, but not even the one for ours! Nothing like education in America!
An animal that is active mostly during the day is called diurnal (die-your-nal). We are diurnal animals! (Too bad cats aren’t!)
But perhaps the best category of activity times is when animals are active only at dawn and/or dusk.
Only when the light is changing.
Some mosquitoes for example, only feed while the sun is going down. Not at
night when it’s dark, nor in broad daylight. Animals that are active at dawn
and/or dusk are called crepuscular!
What a cool term! They exhibit crepuscularity. Ya’ gotta love it!
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