Characteristics of Animals

1. Characteristics of Animals Sources:(partial list) Yahooligans, animals http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/content/animals/ Electronic Zoo http://netvet.wustl.edu/ssi.htm

2. Our Class Animal: Fish • Goldfish: • has bones inside • breathes using gills • fins for swimming • eyes to see • mouth to eat Robyn’s Goldfish Page: http://www.fishpondinfo.com/gfish.htm

3. Our Class Animal: Snail • Snails: • soft bodied, no bones • shell for protection • Breathes through skin or gills (some snails have a simple lung) • mouth scrapes food off of surfaces – tiny plants • “eyes” on tentacles • moves on a flat “foot” Snail mouth All About Snails: http://www.kiddyhouse.com/Snails/ Song link: http://www.songsforteaching.com/intellitunes/snail.htm

4. Comparing Goldfish and Snails How are goldfish and snails alike and different?

5. Our Class Animal: Earthworm worm mouth • Earthworm: • long tube body • many body segments • no bones • breathes through skin • simple eyes (light/dark) • mouth to eat

6. Comparing Worms and Snails How are worms and snails alike and different?

7. Our Class Animal: Gerbil • Gerbil: • has bones • ears to hear • eyes to see • nose and lungs to breathe • mouth to eat • four legs to move • long tail • fur coat American Gerbil Society (Gerbil Care):http://agsgerbils.org/Gerbil_Care_Handbook/intro.html#what

8. Comparing Gerbils and Fish How are gerbils and fish alike and different?

9. What is another animal that is like a gerbil? How are gerbils and ______ alike and different? ?

10. What are fish like? Large Mouth Bass Atlantic Salmon Great White Shark

11. How is a Goldfish the same or different than a Rainbow Trout? Goldfish: http://fish.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/Cyprinidae/goldfish.jpg Rainbow Trout: http://www.usbr.gov/mp/ccao/field_offices/new_melones/images/activities_rainbow_trout.jpg

12. What is a fish? An animal with bones having fins for moving, gills for breathing, and usually scales. Fishes come in an amazing variety of shapes and colors, but they all have three important things in common. All fishes live in water, have fins, and use gills to get oxygen from the water.

13. Do you know what animal this is?

14. Bullfrog

15. Toad

16. Frogs and Toads

17. How is a salamander the same or different than a frog? Spotted Salamander

18. What is an amphibian? An animal with bones that is smooth-skinned with a land and water form.The land form has lungs for breathing and legs for moving. Like fishes, amphibians are vertebrates –- that is, creatures with a backbone and an skeleton (bones) inside. Amphibians live part of their life in water and part on land. Even those species that lay eggs on land start life in a fluid-filled egg, breathing through gills.

19. What are reptiles like? Five lined Skink(Lizard) Painted Turtle Garter Snake

20. Reptiles: Alligators and Crocodiles

21. What is a reptile? An animal with bones inside that is covered with scales. It Today there are 6,800 reptile species on earth; the major groups are alligators and crocodiles, turtles, lizards, and snakes. All reptiles are cold-blooded, which is why they warm themselves in the sun, and have bodies covered in dry, horny scales. Some reptiles lay eggs; others give birth to live young.

22. What are birds like?

23. Some birds are colorful. American Goldfinch

24. Some birds blend into their surroundings. Ring-necked Pheasant

25. Some birds eat seeds. Northern Cardinal

26. Some birds eat insects. Woodpeckers DownyWoodpecker Pileated Woodpecker

27. Some birds are the same and different. Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch

28. Some birds capture and eat animals larger than insects. talons Coopers Hawk

29. How are these hunters the same? Swainsons Hawk American Eagle Snowy Owl

30. How are these bird feet the same? How are they different?

31. Some birds swim on water. American Coot Mallard

32. How are these feet made for swimming?

33. Are there other birds that you have seen?

34. What is a bird? An animal with bones feathers and wings. Birds have lungs to breathe air. Birds are warm-blooded creatures, like we are, but they lay eggs, like most reptiles. All birds have feathers and wings, and most birds are able to fly. Birds are amazingly varied in their shapes, sizes, colors, and behavior patterns. There are more than 9,000 different species of birds in the world.

35. What are mammals like?

36. Some mammals spend their time on the ground, some live in trees. Deer mouse Gray Squirrel

37. Some mammals eat plants and spend time in the water. Beaver

38. Some mammals eat plants and live on land. Eastern Cottontail Rabbit

39. Some mammals can change color. Snowshoe Hare Summer Winter

40. Some mammals have hooves ? What animals do you know that have hooves?

41. There is a mammal that flies. Little Brown Bat

42. Some mammals eat insects. Brown Long-eared Bat

43. Animals that eat other animals are called predators. Skunk Black Bear Mink

44. What is a mammal? An animal that feeds its babies with milk from the mother's body and has fur or hair covering it. Mammals have bones (a skeleton) and lungs to breathe air. Mammals live on land, at sea, in the air, and under the ground. All mammals, from bats to whales, share a number of important traits that make them different from other animals. Mammals are warm-blooded, they have fur or hair, and most mammals give birth to live young (rather than laying eggs).

45. Let’s make a list of animal characteristics. • Animals are living things. • Animals have to “eat” food for energy. • Animals need water. • Animals breath in oxygen from the air. • Animals need a place to live. • Animals give off waste. • Animals react to the world around them. • Animals create more animals like themselves. Are you an animal?