3. What is an Amphibian?
•Amphibians
•Vertebrate animals (Animals with a
spine)
•Toads
•Frogs
•Salamanders.
•Characterized as cold-blooded.
•Most Amphibians transform from water-
breathing young animals to adult air-
breathing animals.
•The 3 orders of amphibians
•Frogs and toads
•Salamanders and Newts
•Limbless amphibians that resemble
snakes
4. Amphibians Continued
• Amphibians
– Approximately 6,500 species.
– Lay their eggs in water.
• Amphibians are similar to reptiles, but reptiles
are amniotes (come from an egg), along with
mammals and birds.
• There has been a dramatic decline in
amphibians around the world.
– Many species are threatened or extinct.
6. What is a Reptile?
•Reptiles
•Air-breathing
•Cold-blooded vertebrates
•Lay shelled eggs
•Have skin covered in scales.
•They are Tetrapods
•Having four limbs or being
descended from four-limbed
ancestors.
•Modern reptiles inhabit every
continent with the exception
of Antarctica.
7. Reptiles Continued
• Four reptile groups that are recognized
• Crocodillia: Crocodiles and alligators (23 species)
• Sphenodontia: Tuataras from New Zealand (2 species)
• Squamata: lizards, snakes, and worm lizards (9,150
species)
• Testudines: turtles, tortoises: (300+ species)
• Unlike amphibians, reptiles do not have an
aquatic larval stage.
• Reptiles are oviparous (egg-laying).
9. What is a Mammal?
•Air-breathing vertebrate animals
•Endothermic (Maintain own body heat)
•Hair
•Three middle ear bones
•Mammary glands (Exists in mothers with
babies).
•Sweat glands
•Specialized teeth
•Most have a placenta (This feeds the offspring
during pregnancy.)
•The mammalian brain regulates the
endothermic and circulatory systems (the
blood in the body)
•Circulatory System is operated with a
four-chambered heart.
•Mammals range in size from the 1.5-inch
Bumblebee Bat to the 108-foot Blue Whale.
10. Mammals Continued
• All female mammals nurse their young with milk, which comes out
from special glands called mammary glands.
• All living mammals give birth to live young.
• The 3 largest mammal groups are:
– Rodentia: (mice, rats, porcupines, beavers, capybaras, and other
gnawing mammals)
– Chiroptera: (bats)
– Soricomorpha: (shrews, and moles).
• The next 3 largest mammal groups are:
– Primates: (humans, Apes, Monkeys)
– Cetartiodactyla: (hoofed mammals and whales)
– Carnivora: (dogs, cats, weasels, bears, seals, and their relatives)
