VETERBRATES

What is Vertebrate???

• any animal having a backbone or spinal column
• All vertebrates belong to the subphylum Vertebrata of the phylum chordata
• There are five classes of vertebrates:

fish

amphibians

reptiles

birds

mammals

• General characteristics of vertebrate animals include their comparatively large size, the high degree of specialization of parts they exhibit, their bilaterally symmetrical structure, and their wide distribution over the earth.
• In addition to an internal skeleton of bone and cartilage or of cartilage alone, vertebrates have a spinal cord, a brain enclosed in a cranium, a closed circulatory system, and a heart divided into two, three, or four chambers.

FISH

• Fish are ectothermic ("cold-blooded", that is, it has a body temperature equal to the surrounding environment. You know that fish are cold-blooded if you ever picked one up: they are as cold as the water they were swimming in. Even if you go swimming and are shivering with cold, you are always warmer than the water) aquatic (spend their lives in the water) vertebrates.Their skin is generally covered with scales.
• Their limbs are modified into fins for swimming.
• They breathe with gills.
• They lay eggs that must be in water

AMPHIBIANS

• Amphibians are ectothermic vertebrates. ("two lives", which refers to the fact that all amphibianshave a larval stage and an adult stage)
• Their skin lacks scales, hair, and feathers, and is either smooth (like a frog) or rough (like a toad). They are dependent upon moisture and subject to desiccation; their skin must remain moist to aid in breathing.
• They lay eggs in water, which hatch into an intermediate life form (tadpole or larva) that usually breathes with gills, and change into the adult form that breathes air and can live outside water.
• They have three-chamber

REPTILES

• Reptiles are ectothermic vertebrates.
• Their skin has scales, but no hair or feathers.
• They have three-chambered hearts (except for alligators and crocodiles, which have four-chambered hearts)
• They have claws on their toes (except those which do not have legs, such as legless lizards).
• They are the first animals, in evolution, to develop the amniotic egg. This allows reptiles to lay eggs on land.

BIRDS

• Birds are endothermic vertebrates.
• Their skin is covered with feathers.
• They have four-chambered hearts.
• Their bones are lightweight and usually hollow.
• Their forelimbs are modified as wings.
• They lay eggs.

MAMMALS

• Spiky mammal

• These mammal are nocturnal, sleeping during the day and eating during the night

Miniature Horse are found all over the world and come in various color and coat patterns.

The tallest horse ever measured was Big Jim who was 2.16m at the sholuder.

This Hobbit and Wizard are only 0.34m

• Mammals are endothermic vertebrates.
• They have hair, which varies greatly among species.
• Most have sudoriferus (sweat) glands.
• They have mammary (milk-secreting) glands.
• They have sebaceous (fat-secreting) glands.
• They have heterodont dentition (different types of teeth).