Sorting the Vertebrates 6R                                               overhead

Activity: Using specimen backbones and pictures of skeletons describe in writing how they are alike and how they are different.

Most animals can be sorted into five main classes that clearly differ from each other: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

Members of each class share characteristics that set them and their class off from the other classes.

Mammals are air-breathing, warm-blooded, and hair skinned. Most bear their young alive and nurture their young on milk.

Birds are air-breathing and warm-blooded. They have feathers and hatch their young from hard-shelled eggs.

Reptiles are air-breathing and cold-blooded. They have scaly skins. Many hatch their young from eggs protected by soft shells. No reptiles hatch from eggs with hard shells.

Amphibians are cold-blooded. They have relatively smooth, moist skins and produce young from unshelled eggs that usually are laid in or near water. As a rule, adult amphibians can survive in water or air.

Fish are cold-blooded. They usually have scales and usually produce their young from unshelled eggs which are always laid in water. Fish can breathe and survive only in water.

Within each vertebrate class, animals can be sorted into smaller groups.

Sorting the Vertebrates Activity        

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