Amphibians And Reptiles
Páginas: 2 (280 palabras)
Publicado: 5 de noviembre de 2012
AMPHIBIANS
Intoduction
The study of amphibians and reptiles is called herpetology, from the Greek word herpes, meaning "creeping thing" (a description many would consider as lessthan complimentary!). There are about 4600 species of amphibians and 6000 species of reptiles worldwide.
What is an amphibian?
Amphibians consist of three groups of vertebrates:frogs, salamanders and caecilians (found in the tropics only). Amphibians have smooth, scaleless skin which is permeable to water. Water can evaporate easily from the skin, and anamphibian can dry up and die in a few hours if it does not have access to water. This amphibians tend to be active at times when evaporation is minimized: at night and when it rains.However, this same skin permeability makes it possible for amphibians to obtain moisture from sources besides pools of water. This means that amphibians can live in very dry climates,like deserts, and when the dry season arrives, they just burrow underground and pull in moisture from the surrounding soil. Despite this, the amphibian's tie to water remains: theireggs must be laid in water in order to survive.
REPTILES
Introduction
What is a reptile?
Reptiles were the world's first truly terrestrial vertebrates. All reptiles have scalyskin that can withstand dessication and lay eggs with hard shells, therefore they are not tied to the water like their relatives, the amphibians. Since they can live on land, they alsohave an expanded lung system.
Reptiles include turtles, crocodilians, lizards, snakes and tuatara.
VOCABULARY:
creeping thing insecto,bicho
complimentary elogioso
smooth lisoscaleless sin escamas
obtain obtienen
moisture humedad
sources fuentes
besides además de
pools charcas
pull arrastrar
burrow madriguera
soil tierra
Despite a pesar de
Intoduction
The study of amphibians and reptiles is called herpetology, from the Greek word herpes, meaning "creeping thing" (a description many would consider as lessthan complimentary!). There are about 4600 species of amphibians and 6000 species of reptiles worldwide.
What is an amphibian?
Amphibians consist of three groups of vertebrates:frogs, salamanders and caecilians (found in the tropics only). Amphibians have smooth, scaleless skin which is permeable to water. Water can evaporate easily from the skin, and anamphibian can dry up and die in a few hours if it does not have access to water. This amphibians tend to be active at times when evaporation is minimized: at night and when it rains.However, this same skin permeability makes it possible for amphibians to obtain moisture from sources besides pools of water. This means that amphibians can live in very dry climates,like deserts, and when the dry season arrives, they just burrow underground and pull in moisture from the surrounding soil. Despite this, the amphibian's tie to water remains: theireggs must be laid in water in order to survive.
REPTILES
Introduction
What is a reptile?
Reptiles were the world's first truly terrestrial vertebrates. All reptiles have scalyskin that can withstand dessication and lay eggs with hard shells, therefore they are not tied to the water like their relatives, the amphibians. Since they can live on land, they alsohave an expanded lung system.
Reptiles include turtles, crocodilians, lizards, snakes and tuatara.
VOCABULARY:
creeping thing insecto,bicho
complimentary elogioso
smooth lisoscaleless sin escamas
obtain obtienen
moisture humedad
sources fuentes
besides además de
pools charcas
pull arrastrar
burrow madriguera
soil tierra
Despite a pesar de
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