Reptiles!!!

1. Reptiles!!! The Scaly Clan

2. Class Reptilia • 7000 species “Turtles, crocodilians, snakes & lizards • Tough, dry skin covered with scales composed of keratin to protect against drying out and injuries.

3. Class Reptilia • The skin must be shed periodically to allow for the animal to grow. • Reptile lungs are better developed than amphibians and responsible for almost all gas exchanges.

4. Amniotic Egg • Internal fertilization since the shelled eggs must be fertilized before they are enclosed. • A shelled egg contains food and protective membranes to support embryonic development. • Reptiles lay eggs on land, which hatch into lung breathing juveniles. • The egg has broken the amphibian link to the water more than any other adaptation.

6. Order Testudines “Turtles” • Shells consisting of the dorsal carapace and the ventral plastron are made of an outer keratin layer and an inner layer of bone. • Turtles have sharp plates covering the jaws instead of teeth. • Turtles have poor hearing, but a good sense of smell, acute vision, and color perception.

7. Snapping Turtle Mouth

9. Order Testudines “Turtles” • Marine turtles have paired limbs modified into flippers and can grow to 2 meters in length weighing 700 pounds. • Giant land tortoises can weigh hundreds of kilograms and their low metabolic rate produces life spans exceeding 150 years. • Box turtles have a hinged plastron that allows full protection of their body. • Snapping turtles have reduced shells that don’t enclose the whole body, but the fierce jaws are a good defense.

10. Giant Land Tortoise

12. Giant Land Tortoise Foot

13. Box Turtle

14. Snapping Turtle

15. Snapping Turtle Mouth

16. Videos • http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/kids/animals-pets-kids/reptiles-kids/turtle-loggerhead-kids/ • http://animal.discovery.com/tv-shows/river-monsters/videos/turtle-strikes-like-a-snake.htm

17. Order Squamata “Lizards & snakes” • This order is the largest, representing 95% of the living reptiles. • Joints in the palate and across the roof of the mouth allow squamates to seize and manipulate prey. • Viviparity or live births are limited to squamates and normally associated with colder climates.

18. Snake Mouth

19. Snake Mouth

20. Lizards are a diverse group of terrestrial, burrowing, aquatic, and arboreal species. • Lizards have movable eyelids whereas snakes have transparent coverings. • Iguanas represent a group of herbivorous new world lizards. • Chameleons are arboreal lizards of Africa with extendable tongues for catching their prey. • The American Gila monster and Beaded lizard are the only venomous lizards. • Monitor lizards are large carnivorous lizards including largest lizard the Komodo dragon.

21. Iguana

22. Chameleon

23. Chameleon

24. American Gila

25. Beaded Lizard

26. Komodo Dragon

27. Komodo

28. Snakes are a group of limbless squamates. • Snakes are deaf to most aerial sounds since they lack external ears like lizards. • Jacobson’s organs are the paired pits in the roof of the mouth used for smell. • Pit vipers, such as rattlesnakes, have hematoxic (attack tissue) venom for killing prey located through heat sensitive pits.

29. Rattlesnake

30. Snakes continued… • Coral snakes are members of the cobra family that feature neurotoxic (attack nervous system) venom. • Non-venomous snakes kill prey by constriction or biting & swallowing prey.

31. Coral Snake

33. Videos • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK9Xj7eY0UU • http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/animals/reptiles-animals/snakes/ • http://animal.discovery.com/video-topics/wild-animals/reptile-videos/incredible-snake-videos.htm

34. Order Crocodilia “Crocodiles, alligators, & caimans” • Crocodilians are divided into the new world caiman and alligator, and the more widely distributed crocodiles. • Four chambered heart found in birds and mammals. • The gavial is a fish-eating specialist from India. • The Salt-water & Nile crocodiles can reach lengths 22 feet making them the largest reptiles.

35. Caiman

36. Gavial

37. Gavial

38. Salt Water Croc

39. Nile Crocodile

40. Videos • http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/animals/reptiles-animals/alligators-crocodiles/croc_american/ • http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/kids/animals-pets-kids/reptiles-kids/alligator-hatchlings-kids/