Wild Life
Basic Animal Groups
Mammals
- Mammals first appeared on Earth about 200 million years agon during the Jarrastic Period.n Mammals are Vertebretes which means they contain a backbone. There are 21 differnt types of mammal groups including the primates, marsupials, bats, cetaceans, carnivores, rodents, elephants, and
ungulates. Lesser known mammals include the hyraxes, monotremes, pangolins, tree
shrews, and insectivores. Since Mammals have four limbs, they are place among the group of animals called tretrpods. You might think that is not true for all mammals such as whales, dugongs, and manatees?. They did at one point in time but even though they have lost their hind limbs during the course of evolution, they are tetrapods by descent.
Other Charactericts of Mammals: - Warm-Blooded or 'endothermic
- Hair
- There are 5,400 differnent types of species today
Reptiles and Amphibians
Amphibians consist of three groups
of vertebrates: frogs, salamanders and caecilians (found in the tropics only).
Amphibians have smooth, scaleless skin which is permeable to water. Water can
evaporate easily from the skin, and an amphibian can dry up and die in a few
hours if it does not have access to water. Thus amphibians tend to be active at
times when evaporation is minimized: at night and when it rains. However, this same skin permeability makes it possible for amphibians to obtain moisture from sources
besides pools of water. This means that amphibians can live in very dry
climates, like deserts, and when the dry season arrives, they just burrow
underground and pull in moisture from the surrounding soil. Despite this, the
amphibian's tie to water remains: their eggs must be laid in water in order to
survive. The amphibians of Quebec include frogs and salamanders.Reptiles were the world's first truly terrestrial vertebrates. All reptiles have scaly skin that can withstand
dessication and lay eggs with hard shells, therefore they are not tied to the
water like their relatives, the amphibians. Since they can live on land, they
also have an expanded lung system. Reptiles include turtles, crocodilians, lizards, snakes and tuatara (found only in New Zealand). The reptiles of Quebec are represented by turtles and snakes only.
(Kimball, 1986)
of vertebrates: frogs, salamanders and caecilians (found in the tropics only).
Amphibians have smooth, scaleless skin which is permeable to water. Water can
evaporate easily from the skin, and an amphibian can dry up and die in a few
hours if it does not have access to water. Thus amphibians tend to be active at
times when evaporation is minimized: at night and when it rains. However, this same skin permeability makes it possible for amphibians to obtain moisture from sources
besides pools of water. This means that amphibians can live in very dry
climates, like deserts, and when the dry season arrives, they just burrow
underground and pull in moisture from the surrounding soil. Despite this, the
amphibian's tie to water remains: their eggs must be laid in water in order to
survive. The amphibians of Quebec include frogs and salamanders.Reptiles were the world's first truly terrestrial vertebrates. All reptiles have scaly skin that can withstand
dessication and lay eggs with hard shells, therefore they are not tied to the
water like their relatives, the amphibians. Since they can live on land, they
also have an expanded lung system. Reptiles include turtles, crocodilians, lizards, snakes and tuatara (found only in New Zealand). The reptiles of Quebec are represented by turtles and snakes only.
(Kimball, 1986)
Birds
Invertebrates
The first invertebrates evolved from single-celled, food-eating microorganisms.