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macaque – (Macaca spp.; Family: Cercopithecidae) Medium-sized monkeys of Asia and Africa (Rhesus monkeys). They live in many different habitats, on the ground and in trees. Macaques eat fruit and leaves, plus most anything that they catch.
mammals – All mammals are warm blooded animals that possess a backbone (vertebrate), are covered in hair, females feed milk to their young, and in most cases the offspring is born live.
mangabey – (Cercocebus spp.; Family: Cercopithecidae) Medium-sized African monkeys that appear more similar to baboons and chimps than to the guenons, which are their true relatives. They are social and live in trees, eating leaves and fruits. They are threatened by deforestation and dam and irrigation projects.
mangroves – Salt-tolerant woody plants that grow in muddy swamps inundated by tides. Mangrove plants form communities that help stabilize banks and coastlines.
maquis – Scrub vegetation in the Mediterranean basin, similar to California's chaparral, Chile's matorral, South Africa's fynbos, and the Western Australian kwongan. Typically made up of low evergreen shrubs and oaks.
marri – (Eucalyptus calophylla; Family: Myrtaceae). An important timber species of West Australia.
matorral – An about 100 km wide strip of Mediterranean-like scrub along the coastal mountains of Chile, it is characterized by evergreen shrubs 1-3 meters in height and herbs. It more diverse than the chaparral of southern California. Matorral habitats also occur in central Mexico and other areas with Mediterranean-like scrubland.
megafauna – Large vertebrate animals, especially those that went extinct during the Pleistocene, such as giant lemurs, elephant birds, mammoths, mastodons, sabretooth tigers and ground sloths.
microhabitats – A small, usually distinctly specialized habitat, such as the tank of water inside a bromeliad.
mongoose – Weasel-like (short legs, long bodied) carnivores of Africa and Asia. The best known mongoose is the snake-killer, Rikki Tikki Tavi, in Kipling's stories. They have been introduced to many islands, often in the vain attempt to control rat populations in sugar-cane fields. Where introduced, instead of rats, they have killed many of the native animal species.
monotypic – Characterized by only one species. A monotypic genus or family has only one species.
montane – Zone of moist, cool upland slopes with many large evergreen trees.
montane coniferous forests – The upper forest zone in tropical montain rainforests. Trees are often less than 10 meters tall, heavily covered in ephyphytes (other plants), and the understory is dominated by ferns and liverworts.
MRV – MRV is a key policy issue under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that requires mitigation actions to be "measureable, reportable and verifiable." By implementing this system, the progress of individual field activities can be tracked using internationally-recognized standards.
muriquis – (Brachyteles arachnoids - Woolly Spider Monkey; Family: Cebidae) One of the world's rarest animals (fewer than 1000 remain), muriquis (15 kilograms) are only found in the Atlantic forest of eastern Brazil. Habitat destruction has dramatically reduced their habitat. They live in trees, and eat leaves and fruits.
murrelet – Small sea-birds, about the size of a robin. They have webbed feet, sharp black bills, and pointed wings. They flap their wings underwater to swim in pursuit of fish and other prey. Some, such as the marbled murrelet, nest only on the branches of large trees in old-growth forests.