Identify the Vertebrate Group

The vertebrate in this group are covered with hair.

• Mammals

• Fish

• Amphibians

• Reptiles

Answer explanation

All mammals have hair, including marine mammals such as whales and dolphins. Hair (or fur) is one of the characteristics that define a mammal. The fur is used to insulate against the cold, but whiskers are used as sensory organs, especially in nocturnal animals.

These vertebrates begin their life in the water, but as adults they live their life on both land and water.

• Fish

• Reptiles

• Mammals

• Amphibians

Answer explanation

Amphibians are a group of vertebrates that has adapted to live in both water and on land. Amphibian larvae are born and live in water, and they breathe using gills.

The following vertebrate group does not have claws and will usually have four legs.

• Reptiles

• Birds

• Mammals

• Amphibians

Answer explanation

Amphibians and reptiles are vertebrates—animals with backbones. The majority of species have four legs, but there are a lot of exceptions in both groups. Amphibians are cold-blooded animals with moist skin. Frogs and toads are amphibians. Amphibians do not have hair, feathers, or claws.

______ are the only group of vertebrates that have feathers.

• Birds

• Mammals

• Fish

• Amphibians

Answer explanation

Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves characterized by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton.

Sweating is a characteristic of this vertebrate group that helps these animals feel cool.

• Mammals

• Reptiles

• Birds

• Amphibians

Answer explanation

A mammals best method of cooling down is sweating. Sweat is made mostly of water with some potassium, salt, and other minerals. As sweat evaporates from the skin, it carries heat away from the body and allows cool air to rush in which helps reduce your overall body temperature.

Almost all of the vertebrate in the group give birth to live young, however there are a few vertebrate who lay eggs in this group.

• Reptiles

• Mammals

• Amphibians

• Birds

Answer explanation

There are some mammals, including a group called marsupials, that do not have a placenta. Marsupial babies are underdeveloped when they are born and are usually carried by their mother in a pouch. Other mammals, such as the platypus, do not give birth to live young, but instead lay eggs.

A turtle belongs in which of the following vertebrate groups?

• Fish

• Amphibians

• Mammals

• Reptiles

Answer explanation

Turtles are reptiles because they are four-legged vertebrates with a cold-blooded metabolism and scales covering their body.

The vertebrates in the group nurse their young.

• Amphibians

• Reptiles

• Birds

• Mammals

Answer explanation

All mammals have fur or hair, give birth to live young, have lungs and need air to breathe, are warm blooded, have four limbs if they live on land, and feed their babies milk from their breasts. We call this nursing their young.

This class of vertebrates is the only class that has the most fully developed brains.

• Birds

• Reptiles

• Mammals

• Amphibians

Answer explanation

Mammals have large brains for their body size--larger than most members of other vertebrate groups. Just as mammals come in all sizes, so do their brains. But it's the size of the brain relative to the size of an animal's body that really matters.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

The following vertebrates have air sacs attached to their lungs.

• Fish

• Mammals

• Birds

• Reptiles

Answer explanation

Birds have nine air sacs: two cervical, an unpaired clavicular, two cranial thoracic, two caudal thoracic, and two abdominal air sacs.