Is there a specific, single-word adjective for animals that live among human beings but are not pets, livestock, or work animals? Examples would be insect pests living in a house, like cockroaches or ants; birds that live in the trees in a supermarket parking lot and feed off of human refuse; or rodents or deer that live near human settlements and feed off of plants cultivated by humans.
They are not quite wild, in the sense of living apart from humans in a "natural" state.
Nor are they domesticated, in the sense of being tamed and put to specific purposes for the benefit of humans.
These animals could be described as opportunistic, and in some cases could be called commensal, but is there a more specific word than those?
Best Answer
Synanthropic
"Synanthropic." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2017.