BioConcepts

defenceVerteidigung (ger.)

• The action of guarding or protecting from attack.
  category protection

  c. -350 (BC)

  Ὅσα δὲ καὶ πρὸς βοή θειάντε καὶ πρὸς ἀλκήν, τὰ μὲν χαυλιό δοντας ἔχει, καθάπερὗς, τὰ δ’ὀξεῖς καὶ ἐπαλλάττον τας, ὅ θεν καρχαρό δοντα καλεῖται. [Of those animals whose teeth serve also as a defence and as weapons, some (like the Swine) have tusks, some have sharp interlocking teeth, and are called “saw-toothed” as a result.]

  Aristotle (c. 350 BC). De partibus animalium 631b17-20 (Engl. transl. A.L. Peck).

  1692

  The other Creature [besides the hedgehog], which doth thus contract and draw up its self into a Globular or Oval Form for its defence, is the second sort of Tatou or Armadillo

  Ray, J. (1692). The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation, vol. 2: 111.