FROGS Whether it's a bright blue poison dart frog or a brown, warty toad, a frog's survival is all about

water. Most frogs begin their lives as jelly-like eggs that need moisture to develop. The eggs hatch into aquatic tadpoles, which breathe through gills. As the tadpoles grow, they develop lungs and gain the ability to breathe air.

Green tree frog (Hylidae cinerea)

But frogs' need for water doesn't dry up once they're on land. Frogs get virtually all of their water and part of their oxygen through their skin, and this process only works if their skin stays moist. If a frog's skin dries out, it can't get enough oxygen or get rid of enough carbon dioxide, and it dies.

Strawberry poison frog (Dendrobates pumilio)

So it should come as no surprise that frogs have developed some interesting adaptations to cope with their lifelong need for water. For example, gastric brooding frogs, which are now extinct, swallowed their eggs. They stopped eating and digesting food while their young developed in their stomachs instead of in water. The baby frogs then exited through their parent's mouth. Strawberry poison dart frogs, which live in Central America and Puerto Rico, lay their eggs on land, and males keep them moist with urine. Once the eggs hatch, the mother carries each tadpole on her back to its own tiny pool of water that has collected between the stem and leaves of a plant. While the tadpoles grow, their mother feeds them her own eggs. But frogs' adaptations aren't all about water or reproduction. They've lived on Earth for about 200 million years, and in that time they've developed everything from deadly toxins to the ability to survive being frozen. You'll learn about these and other adaptations in this article. We'll start with a look at frogs' appearance and behavior, including why toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads and why frogs molt but don't leave the skin they shed behind. Frogs and Toads, Warts and All It's tricky to make generalizations about frogs. The world's smallest frog, the gold frog, is less than a centimeter long. Goliath frogs, the biggest frogs, are thirty times bigger -- about 12.5 inches (32 cm) long from head to tail. While many frog species are nocturnal, some are most active in the morning or afternoon. Life spans vary from species to species, although most live for a few years in the wild and a little longer in captivity. And while many frogs croak, chirp or ribbit, some species are silent.

This African pyxie frog (Pyxicephalus adspersa) has bumpy, toad-like skin. New Skin To keep their skin thin and permeable, frogs molt as often as once every couple of days. A frog starts molting by eating the skin around its mouth. Then, it pulls the rest of the old skin over its head and eats it. Although many people think of frogs as green, some are orange, yellow, blue or bright pink. The texture of a frog's skin and the shape of its body and legs vary from species to species, and these are also the traits that separate frogs from toads. Frogs have smooth, glossy, moist skin and legs that are built for swimming and leaping. Toads are frogs that have bumpy, drier skin and have legs that are built for walking instead of jumping.

This northern red salamander (Pseudotriton rubber rube) has a tail, which differentiates it from frogs. But the distinction between frogs and toads is mostly arbitrary -- some frogs look like toads, and some toads look like frogs. Toads can generally stay farther away from water, since their skin doesn't dry out as quickly as frogs' skin. But some frogs live in very dry areas and have to go to great lengths to stay hydrated, and some toads live in water. There are even exceptions to frogs' most defining trait. Frogs are tailless. This is so central to what makes a frog a frog that their scientific order, Anura, means "without tail." This lack of a tail unites frogs, and it sets them apart from the two other orders of amphibians: salamanders and caecilians. All amphibians start their lives breathing water before developing the ability to breathe air, but only frogs grow into land animals that don't have tails. But two frog species have tails. The coastal tailed frog, Ascaphus truei, and the mountain tailed frog, Ascaphus montanus, both have tails that match the color of their bodies. These tails are reproductive organs. Because of this appendage, tailed frogs are the only type of frog in which a male can fertilize eggs while they're still inside a female's body. But in spite of all the differences in their appearance and behavior, all frog species have roughly the same anatomical structure.

SHARKS

Sharks are one of the most amazing animals on earth. They have lived in this planet for more than 450 million years and that single fact makes them incredible. They lived before land vertebrates populated earth and even before than many plants developed on continents. y y y y y y y y While ancient sharks were very different than those found today, the current shark species as we know have been around for 100 million years. This means that they were here when dinosaurs were around. A record breaking evolutionary creature cannot be anything but amazing, with an anatomy which has been improved over those million years of evolution. y y y y

Shark Species

Great White Shark Tiger Shark Whale Shark Bull Shark Hammerhead Shark Goblin Shark Mako Shark Blue Shark Lemon Shark Basking Shark Megamouth Shark Prehistoric Sharks

Here below there are some of the most popular Frequent Asked Questions about sharks, but the site will continue growing, therefore if you would like to receive a notification every time and article is added, please subscribe to our mailing list. Facts That You Should Know About Sharks When most think of sharks, they automatically reference the man eating predators, however, there is more to this type of fish than meets the publics' eye. The facts about sharks, as well as the related concepts that are a part of them is one that can help to define this sea creature.

Evolution of Sharks Sharks are known to be an ancient creature, with fossils from some of the oldest sharks dating back as far as 450 million years. Before they could swim, they were known to crawl on land, eventually merging into the sea in order to move more effectively. Their evolution is one that has led to several species, sizes and structures that are linked to the pre-historic animal. From the evolution of sharks, are also various kinds of these animals that exist. These are divided according to the shapes and features that are present in the animal. Features such as the fin, spine, nose and body shape help to determine the type of shark that is seen. For example, a white shark will have their mouth behind their eyes and will have a fin towards the front and towards the back. An angel shark, on the other hand, will have several fins that are along the spine as well as a flat nose with the mouth underneath. Shark Behavior

Not only do the evolutionary features define the look of a shark, but also determine how they survive in the wild. Not all sharks will constantly be searching in a particular area of the ocean for their food. There are three general types of sharks that will move according to the form and function of their body. This includes some sharks that will move at the upper part of the ocean and will move at a slow pace, sharks that will be towards the middle of the ocean and will have a powerful force while swimming and sharks that stay at the bottom of the ocean, moving slowly and finding their food on the ocean floor. With the various areas that sharks live, are also specific ways of living. Depending on the type of shark, the fish will either swim in groups or on their own. This is dependent on the way that they have found it is best to survive, specifically with the hunting skills that they acquired. The habitat of sharks not only takes place in different levels of the ocean, but also is restricted to different areas. This is based on the activities that are needed, whether they need fresh or salt water, seasonal changes that are needed and temperature of the ocean. Typically, most sharks will be based around the warmer parts of the ocean, ranging from the central regions of the Americas to places around the tips of Africa, Australia and India. There are also cold water sharks that will be further south or north in the ocean. Shark Myths De-Mystified In modern times, the shark is known as a predator that will attack at the sight of blood. However, this myth of sharks is not necessarily accurate. In fact, shark attacks were less than 20 a year in the late 1800s. It has not been until the last two decades that shark attacks have become a more known factor in various areas of the globe. It has been found that these attacks are not because sharks are typical predators. Typically, they will occur because there is a territorial threat or disturbance that occurs in the sharks inhabited area. At other times, these attacks will be ones that are provoked by humans, causing the shark to try to keep a safe ground. Things such as spear fishing and eco-tourism are contributions to sharks that feel the need to attack. Even among these attacks, it is only certain species that will feel a threat and will respond. Others will simply move into a different territory. Through this predator fish is an evolution that has led to a specific lifestyle with sharks. In every area of the ocean is a type of shark that has moved into their living space, becoming one of the most known ocean dwelling creatures.

WHALES
Whales are marine mammals of order Cetacea which are neither dolphinsmembers, in other words, of the families Delphinidae or Platanistoidaenor porpoises. They include the blue whale, the largest living animal. Orcas, colloquially referred to as "killer whales", and pilot whales have whale in their name but for the purpose of biological classification they are actually dolphins. For centuries whales have been hunted for meat and as a source of valuable raw materials. By the middle of the 20th century, large-scale industrial whaling had left many species seriously endangered. Origins and taxonomy

A Fin Whale. All cetaceans, including whales, dolphins and porpoises, are descendants of land-living mammals of the Artiodactyl order (even-toed ungulate animals). Both cetaceans and artiodactyl are now classified under the super-order Cetartiodactyla which includes both whales and hippopotamuses. In fact, whales are the closest living relatives of hippos; they evolved from a common ancestor at around 54 [3] million years ago. Whales entered the water roughly 50 million years ago. Cetaceans are divided into two suborders: y The baleen whales are characterized by baleen, a sieve-like structure in the upper jaw made of keratin, which they use to filter plankton from the water. They are the largest suborder of whale. The toothed whales have teeth and prey on fish, squid, or both. An outstanding ability of this group is to sense their surrounding environment through echolocation.

A complete up-to-date taxonomical listing of all cetacean species, including all whales, is maintained at the Cetacea article.

Anatomy Like all mammals, whales breathe air into lungs, are warm-blooded, feed their young milk from mammary glands, and have some hair, although very little. The body is fusiform. The forelimbs, also called flippers, are paddle-shaped. The end of the tail holds the fluke, or tail fins, which provide propulsion by vertical movement. Although whales generally do not possess hind limbs, some whales (such as sperm whales and baleen whales) sometimes have rudimentary hind limbs; some even with feet and digits. Most species of whale bear a fin on their backs known as a dorsal fin. Beneath the skin lies a layer of fat, called blubber. It serves as an energy reservoir and also as insulation. Whales have a four-chambered heart. The neck vertebrae are fused in most whales, which provides stability during swimming at the expense of flexibility. They have a pelvis bone, which is a vestigial structure. Whales breathe through their blowholes, located on the top of the head so the animal can remain submerged. Baleen whales have two; toothed whales have one. The shapes of whales' spouts when exhaling after a dive, when seen from the right angle, differ between species. Whales have a unique respiratory system that lets them stay underwater for long periods of time without taking in oxygen. Some whales, such as the Sperm Whale, can stay underwater for up to two hours holding a single breath. The Blue Whale is the largest known mammal that has ever lived, and the largest living animal, at up to 35 m (105ft) long and 150 tons. Whales generally live for 4090 years, [citation needed] depending on their species, and on rare occasions can be found to live over a century. Recently a fragment of a lance used by commercial whalers in the 19th century has been found in a bowhead whale caught off Alaska, which showed the whale to be between 115 and 130 [4] years old. Furthermore, a technique for dating age from aspartic acid racemization in the whale eye, combined with a harpoon fragment, indicates an age of 211 years for one male, making bowhead [5][6] Whale flukes often can be used as identifying whales the longest lived extant mammal species. markings, as is the case for humpback whales. This is the method by which the publicized errant Humphrey the whale was identified in three separate sightings. A toothed whale, like the sperm whale, possess teeth with cementum cells overlying dentine cells. Unlike human teeth which are comprised mostly of enamel on the tooth portion outside of the gum, whale teeth have cementum outside the gum. Only in larger whales does some enamel show where [7] the cementum has been worn away on the tip of the tooth revealing the underlying enamel. Anatomy of the ear Whales' ears have specific adaptations to their underwater environment. In humans, the middle ear works as an impedance matcher between the outside airs low impedance and the cochlear fluids high impedance. In aquatic mammals such as whales, however, there is no great difference between the outer and inner environments. Instead of sound passing through outer ear to middle ear, whales receive sound through their lower jaw, where it passes through a low-impedance, fat-filled cavity. Behavior

A Humpback Whale breaching.

Whales are widely classed as predators, but their food ranges from microscopic plankton to very large fish. Males are called bulls; females, cows. The young are called calves. As mammals, whales breathe air and must surface to get oxygen. This is done through a blowhole. Many whales also exhibit other surfacing behaviours such as breaching and tail slapping. Because of their environment (and unlike many animals), whales are conscious breathers: they decide when to breathe. All mammals sleep, including whales, but they cannot afford to fall into an unconscious state for too long, since they need to be conscious to breathe. It is thought that only one hemisphere of their brains sleeps at a time, so that whales are never completely asleep, but still get the rest they need. This is thought because whales often sleep with only one eye closed. Whales communicate with each other using lyrical sounds, called whale song. Being so large and powerful, these sounds are also extremely loud (depending on the species); sperm whales have only been heard making clicks, as all toothed whales (Odontoceti) use echolocation and can be heard for many miles. They have been known to generate about 20,000 acoustic watts of sound at 163 decibels. Females give birth to a single calf. Nursing time is long (more than one year in many species), which is associated with a strong bond between mother and young. In most whales reproductive maturity occurs late, typically at seven to ten years. This mode of reproduction spawns few offspring, but provides each with a high probability of survival in the wild. The male genitals are retracted into cavities of the body during swimming, so as to be streamlined and reduce drag and to prevent injury. Most whales do not maintain fixed partnerships during mating; in many species the females have several mates each season. At birth newborn are delivered tailfirst, minimising the risk of drowning. Whale cows nurse by actively squirting milk the consistency of toothpaste into the mouths of their young preventing loss to the surrounding aquatic environment.