My Life with the Chimpanzees: Chapters 5–7

by Jane Goodall
In this memoir, primatologist Jane Goodall recounts her childhood love of animals and her work with chimpanzees in Africa.

Here are links to our lists for the memoir: Chapters 1–3, Chapter 4, Chapters 5–7, Chapters 8–11
25 words 136 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. colonial
    relating to a body of people who settle far from home
    In 1960, Tanganyika was still under British colonial rule, and Louis said it had been very difficult to get this permission.
  2. venture
    an undertaking with an uncertain outcome
    She also wanted to help me get started in my new venture.
  3. drab
    lacking brightness or color; dull
    What a lot we had to get ready! All our camping gear—tent, bedding, cooking things. Cans of food. Drab clothes for me so I would blend in with the greens and browns of the forest.
  4. poacher
    someone who hunts or fishes illegally
    I knew at once that he was one of the crocodile poachers that Hassan had told me about.
  5. impale
    pierce with a sharp stake or point
    He seemed ready to impale me.
  6. shingle
    coarse beach gravel of small waterworn stones and pebbles
    It was when I first set foot on the shingle and sand beach of Chimpanzee Land—that is, Gombe National Park.
  7. ranger
    an official responsible for managing an area of forest
    I had been told by the British game ranger in charge of Gombe not to travel about the mountains by myself—except near camp.
  8. foliage
    the collective amount of leaves of one or more plants
    I spent three days in that valley and I saw a lot of chimps. But they were too far away and the foliage of the tree was too thick.
  9. nocturnal
    belonging to or active during the night
    There was also a whole variety of nocturnal (nighttime) creatures: porcupines and civets (creatures looking rather like raccoons) and all manners of rats and mice.
  10. loom
    come into view indistinctly, often threateningly
    Once, as I arrived on the Peak in the early morning before it was properly light, I saw the dark shape of a large animal looming in front of me.
  11. vigil
    a purposeful surveillance to guard or observe
    Most of the time, though, nothing more alarming than insects disturbed my vigils on the Peak.
  12. lush
    produced or growing in extreme abundance
    Soon the golden mountain slopes were covered with lush green grass.
  13. bristle
    rise up as in fear
    His hair bristled with rage.
  14. impetuous
    characterized by undue haste and lack of thought
    Goliath had a much more excitable, impetuous temperament.
  15. bulbous
    rounded and bulging
    She had a bulbous nose and ragged ears.
  16. suitor
    a man who courts a woman
    She was followed by a long line of suitors.
  17. baron
    a nobleman (in various countries) of varying rank
    Hugo van Lawick was a Dutch baron.
  18. dominant
    exercising influence or control
    In chimpanzee society, males are the dominant sex.
  19. pelt
    attack and bombard with or as if with missiles
    Thomas, like Anyango, pelted the intruder with everything he could see.
  20. veranda
    a porch along the outside of a building
    Imagine how we felt when, as we drove toward it, we saw a very large black-maned lion on the veranda!
  21. skulk
    lie in wait or behave in a sneaky and secretive manner
    You probably think of hyenas as skulking, cowardly scavengers, waiting for scraps left by the lions.
  22. scavenge
    feed on carrion or refuse
    Quite often, especially in the crater, they actually lose their kills to scavenging lions.
  23. clan
    group of people related by blood or marriage
    Like chimps, they are territorial and may kill hyenas from neighboring clans.
  24. plume
    anything that resembles a feather in shape or lightness
    A little plume of smoke was creeping out from the instrument panel!
  25. slew
    move obliquely or sideways, usually in an uncontrolled way
    Wham! We hit the ground. One wing smashed into a tree. We slewed around.
Created on Tue Aug 27 10:37:17 EDT 2019 (updated Tue Aug 27 10:47:11 EDT 2019)

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