frog
A colony is a colony of breeding animals; specifically ravens, although the term is used more generally to refer to birds and sometimes marine mammals as well. The term is used both to refer to the location of the colony and to the collective group of animals that inhabit it. Nurseries can be both artificial and natural; Archaeological evidence suggests that humans have been raising animals in facilities they built specifically for that purpose for thousands of years.
One of the common names of the European raven is “rook”, a word probably of onomatopoeic origin, since the rooks emit a hoarse and shrill sound. By 1725, people were referring to groups of breeding ravens as colonies, and extension of the term to other species soon followed. Classically, people think of a colony as a very noisy and chaotic place, as there are many animals present and each creature follows its own agenda. The colonies are also often very messy, due to the droppings of the animals and their young.
Most of the animals do not inhabit their vivariums throughout the year. Instead, they travel to the nursery to meet other individuals, breed, and raise their young until they are mature enough to care for their own young. In some cases, a colony is removed from the animal’s normal habitat and hunting grounds. While it may seem strange to make nests away from home, it means predators are less likely to prey on young animals, as the nursery is usually set up in a remote, protected area.
Animals that breed in vivariums have adapted certain traits to help them cope with the intense environment. They are able to recognize the different cries of their young over the noise of thousands of other individuals, for example. Some creatures even establish social routines, such as allowing other members of a colony to care for their young. In a remote colony, the parents often take turns, with one parent tending the young while the other forages.
In the sense of an artificially established environment, a colony is usually a structure designed to facilitate the breeding of birds, such as a dovecote. For humans, the difficulty of cleaning and maintaining the colony is outweighed by the convenience of having immediate access to the creatures within. An established colony is usually smaller than a colony in the wild, with dozens of individuals rather than hundreds or thousands.