“Amphibian” is a Greek term that basically
means “double life”. Amphibians are born
with gills in a water environment such as a pond or lake and breathe oxygen in
the water using those gills just like fish do.
Later in their lives they develop lungs and must breathe oxygen in the
air like you and I. All amphibians, like
fish, are also classified as ectotherms – or cold blooded animals. In Pennsylvania
amphibians must hibernate to survive our long cold winters. They cannot
regulate or control their internal body temperature like warm blooded mammals
or birds can. The 3 groups of
animals that fall under the amphibian classification are frogs, toads and
salamanders.
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Reptiles are also cold blooded animals like
the frogs and salamanders. But reptiles
are born with lungs and spend their entire life living on land breathing
oxygen. Reptiles
are also born from hard shelled eggs unlike the soft eggs of frogs and
salamanders that don’t contain shells. The
three groups of reptiles found in PA are lizards, turtles and
snakes. Lizards
make up the largest group of reptiles found on the planet. Pennsylvania has only
one type of lizard and three skinks that inhabit the state. A skink is a smooth skinned lizard. Pennsylvania is also home to 14 different species of
turtles, and 21 different species of snakes while only 3 of the snakes being venomous and
pose a serious threat to humans. The 3
poisonous snakes are the Copperhead, Timber Rattlesnake and the Eastern Massasauga
(also a rattlesnake).
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PA Ecology 4th period Room 204 Mr. Solderich [email protected] last revised 8/3/15