Fecund GRE Vocabulary Flashcard
/ˈfek.ənd/ (adj)
Definition
able to produce or reproducing a lot of fruit, crops or offspring, prolific and active, fruitful, spawning, rich, lush, productive, flourishing, fertile
Example
Reputation: Rabbits breed like rabbits. They are pests.
Reality: Rabbits do not always breed like rabbits, especially not in the wild. In its ancestral home on the Iberian peninsula, the European rabbit is threatened with extinction.
When it comes to reproduction, rabbits have something of a reputation. Is it fair? Well, yes and no.
Female rabbits are fecund and can get pregnant again as soon as they’ve given birth.
It is true that rabbits have a suite of nifty adaptations that allow for prolific reproduction.
The European rabbit becomes sexually active at just three or four months old. Females ovulate in response to copulation, so the time of the month is moot. Gestation lasts less than a month and litter size is typically around five.
Rabbits can keep up this frenetic reproductive pace for as long as conditions allow. In theory, a female at full procreative tilt could birth scores of baby rabbits a year.
Source: http://www.bbc.com/
Antonyms
Parts of speech
Noun: fecundity
Adverb: fecundly
