lion fish Sea fish

Fish

Phylum Chordata - the "phylum" (scientific grouping) of vertebrate animals that includes
some of the animal classes we are most familiar with (mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians)

All About Mammals

Mammals are one of the 6 main classes of animals. Animal classes are groups of animals that scientists consider to be alike in some important ways. Mammals are the animal class that people belong to.

There are only about 4,000 kinds of mammals. This sounds like a lot, but when you consider there are 21,000 kinds of fish and a whopping 800,000 kinds of insects youll realize mammals are a pretty small class! Here are some of the ways that mammals are alike! The temperature could be freezing cold or boiling hot, but mammals bodies are built to maintain just about the same temperature all the time. Warm blood lets the mammals be very active and live in a wide variety of places. Mammals are everywhere. Polar bears live in very cold areas. Camels live in hot areas. Moles live under the ground. Bats live in caves and fly in the air. Dolphins live in the oceans. Fur and fat help protect mammals who live in the cold. Mammals sweat or pant to release extra heat if they live somewhere toasty. Sometimes it's long hair covers their entire body Sometimes it's very short hair or there are just a few strands. Even mammals that swim under the water (like dolphins and whales) have hair. Though you would need a magnifying glass to see the fine hair on the lips of a young whale. Mammals are the only animals with true hair. Hair are dead cords of a substance called keratin which is also what our fingernails are made from. The most important part is that hair is dead. What looks like hair on a fly or a spider actually contains living parts of the animal. That means if you cut a spider's hair it would HURT! (er, the spider) Most mammal babies live inside their mothers before they are born, just like humans. When the baby is big enough, it comes out of its mothers body. Many people mistakenly think that being born alive is something all mammals have in common. There are, however, a few mammals (like the duckbilled platypus) who lay eggs like a bird! Well, even though some baby mammals are born different ways, they all drink milk that comes from their mothers' bodies. Baby pigs, dolphins, bats and elephants all drink milk!

Because the babies rely on their mother's milk to live, the mammal mommies have to care for their young. The length of time varies from a few weeks for mice to many years for humans! People have "baby teeth" or "milk teeth". So do all of the other mammals! The only exceptions are mammals like anteaters -- they don't have any teeth at all. Mammal mothers are hard workers. Baby mammals learn from their mothers. Most of the mothers dont really try to teach their babies, but the babies watch their mother and do the things they see her do. Through copying their mothers, baby mammals learn everything they need to survive. So, what do mammals eat when they grow up? They eat all sorts of different things! Lions are mammals who eat meat they are called carnivores. Cows are mammals who eat plants they are called herbivores. People are mammals who eat meat and plants they are called omnivores.

Mammals are vertebrates, which means that they all have backbones (spines). Believe it or not, most animals don't have backbones -- mammals are one of the few groups that do. All mammals, except some sea cows and sloths have seven bones in their necks. This includes giraffes who have VERY long spines! Their necks can be 6 1/2 feet long, but they're still made up of just seven bones.

Fish
Fish are vertebrates that live in water and have gills, scales and fins on their body. There are a lot of different fish and many of them look very odd indeed. There are blind fish, fish with noses like elphants, fish that shoot down passing bugs with a stream of water and even fish that crawl onto land and hop about! Fish are a class of aquatic vertebrates. The combination of gills, fins and the fact that they live only in the water make fish different from all other animals.

Fish spend all of their lives in the water and are cold-blooded with the exception of Tuna family and the Mackerel shark family. Scientists believe that there are more than 24,000 different species of fish in the world. They range in size from the largest, Whale shark at 16 m (51 ft) long, to the smallest the 8 mm (1/4 in.) Stout Infantfish. Most fish have a skeleton made of bone but some, like sharks, have a skeleton made of cartilage.

Reptiles
Reptiles are a class of animal with scaly skin. They are cold blooded and are born on land. Snakes, lizards, crocodiles, alligators and turtles all belong to the reptile class. The two biggest clues are: 1) they are cold-blooded, and 2) they are covered in scales. Being cold-blooded means that their bodies react to the temperature of their surroundings. When they get too warm, they can go into the water or shade to cool off. When they get too cold they can hang out in the sun to warm themselves up. Some creatures that belong to the reptile group of animals are snakes, alligators, crocodiles, tortoises, lizards, etc Scales protect their bodies. Scales can be hard or soft, large or small. Reptiles are born on land and are born with strong instincts, so they are on their own at birth. Just think, no parents to nag them about cleaning their rooms!

Birds
Birds are animals that have feathers and that are born out of hard-shelled eggs. Some people think that what makes an animal a bird is its wings. Bats have wings. Flies have wings. Bats and flies are not birds. So what makes an animal a bird?

The answer is feathers! All birds have feathers and birds are the only animals that do. The feathers on a birds wings and tail overlap. Because they overlap, the feathers catch and hold the air. This helps the bird to fly, steer itself and land.

All About Amphibians the word amphibian means two-lives.

on land. All amphibians begin their life in water with gills and tails. As they grow, they develop lungs and legs for their life on land. Amphibians are cold-blooded, which means that they are the same temperature as the air or water around them. here are more than 4,000 different kinds of amphibians. Members of this animal class are frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians or blindworms. Amphibians spend their lives in the water and