CHS Animal Kingdom - Recently Updated Pages

Phylum Chordata

afloyd — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:03:28 CDT

All members of the Phylum Chordata have the following characteristics:

Bilateral symmetry (equal halves)
A segmented body, including segmented muscles, etc.
Three germ layers and a well-developed coelom.
A single, dorsal, hollow nerve cord, usually with an enlarged anterior end (brain).
A tail projecting beyond (posterior to) the anus at some stage of development.
Pharyngeal pouches present at some point in development.
A ventral heart, with dorsal and ventral blood vessels and a closed blood system.
A complete digestive system.
A bony or cartilaginous endoskeleton is usually present.

Definitions

Bilateral Symmetry- body plan in which only a single, imaginary line can divide the body into two equal halves; characteristics of worms, arthropods, and chordates
Coelom- a fluid filled body cavity lined with mesoderm
Pharyngeal pouch- one of a pair of structures in the throat region of a chordate
Endoskeleton- structural support located inside the body of an animal

Contributors

Myers, P. 2001. "Chordata" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 22, 2008 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Chordata.html.

Order Lepidoptera (e.g. Blue Butterfly)

42271810 — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:25:57 CDT

by: Lauren Inman

I am Polyommatus icarus, also known as the common blue butterfly and my friends call me Kelsie. I was given the name "common blue" due to my beautiful, blue color. I have a wingspan of up to 35 millimeters. I am a flying insect with large scaly wings. Like all insects I have six jointed legs, three body parts (head, thorax, and abdomen), a pair of antennae, compound eyes, and an exoskeleton (a tough external covering that supports and protects my body). My exoskeleton is made of chitin which is a type of protein. My body is covered by tiny sensory hairs called setae. My four wings and six legs are attached to my thorax. My thorax contains the muscles that allow my legs and wings to move.

Response:

Sight
I use my senses of sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste for many different reasons. I use them to survive in the world, find food, find mates, lay eggs in an appropriate place, migrate, and avoid hungry predators. When I was a caterpillar, I could sense touch, taste, sm ell, sound, and light. I have compound eyes andsimple eyes. My eyes are made up of many hexagonal lenses (cornea) which focus light from each part of my field of view onto a rhabdome (which is the same as a human retina). An optic nerve then carries this information to my brain. Unlike humans, I can see ultraviolet rays.

Touch
Sensory hairs on my body called setae cover my entire body including my antennae. They can feel the environment. They also give me information about the wind while I'm flying.
Smell and Taste
My antennae, palps, legs, and many other parts of my body are studded with sense receptors that are used to smell. My sense of smell is used for finding food (usually nectar) and for finding mates (the female smelling the male's pheromones).

Movement:
I must say that I am a very good flier. I have two large wings covered with colorful scales in overlapping rows. Besides the moth, I am the only insect that has scaly wings. My wings are attached to my thorax. Veins support my delicate wings and nourish them with blood. I can only fly if my body temperature is above 86 degrees. I enjoy sunning myself in order to warm up in cool weather. As I have aged, I have noticed that my wings have lost color and become more ragged. The speed of my different colored friends and me varies. Usually my poisonous friends move slower than my other friends. My fastest friends can fly at up to 30 miles per hour or faster. My very slow friends fly at about 5 miles per hour.

Reproduction:
In order to have kids some day, I will go through what is called complete metamorphosis w hich is pretty cool. Complete metamorphosis is a type of insect development in which the larvae look and act nothing like their parents and also feed in completely different ways. When I was born, I went through four different stages.

Egg - I started my life as an egg, laid on a leaf.
Larva - I hatched from my egg as a larva (caterpillar). During this stage I was always hungry, so I ate leaves or flowers almost constantly. I then lost my old skin many times as I grew.
Pupa - I turned into something called a pupa (chrysalis). This was a resting stage for me.
Adult - I emerged from the pupa as a beautiful butterfly.

F eeding:
When I was a caterpillar, I spent most of my time eating leaves using strong mandibles (jaws). This may sound kind of disgusting, but my first meal was my own eggshell. Some of my caterpillar friends back in the day were actually meat-eaters.

Now I sip liquid food by using a tube-like proboscis, which is a long, flexible "tongue." My proboscis uncoils to sip food, and coils up again into a spiral when I do not need to use it. I love drinking the nectar from flowers. Some of my friends sip the liquid from rotting fruits and some even prefer rotting animal flesh or animal fluids which I think is just unsanitary!

Circulation:
As I have probably already said, I have an exoskeleton made of chitin, which is a type of protein. I have 9 pairs of spiracles(which are pores open to the air) and trachea(air tubes) which carry air through my body. My spiracles are located on my abdomen a

Excretion:
My digestive system consists of a proboscis, pharynx, fore-gut(the crop), mid-gut, hind-gut, and anus. I have what is called a fat body which is used for the storage of food energy. Since I need to excrete wastes from my body I have a what are called malpighian tubules, which are long filaments which clean my blood and put my waste (urine) into my hind-gut (rectum).

Classification:
I belong to the order Lepidoptera. Lepidos is Greek for "scales" and ptera means "wing." My scaled wings are different from the wings of any other insect. Lepidoptera is a very large group. There are more types of butterflies and moths than there are of any other type of insect except beetles so I'm pretty special. It is estimated that there are about 150,000 different species of butterflies and moths. There are about 28,000 butterfly species worldwide and the rest are moths.

Don't forget to watch the video of my friend, a monarch butterfly.

Citations
"Common blue butterlfy." A to Z of a Wildlife Garden. RSPB. 29 Apr 2008 <http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/wildlifegarden/atoz/c/commonbluebutterfly.asp>.
"Overview of Insect Orders." Agri Life Extension. 22 Apr 2008 <http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/orders.htm>.
"Class Insecta." Animal Diversity Web. 22 Apr 2008 <http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Insecta.html>.
"Butterfly and Moth Senses." All About Butterflies. 28 Apr 2008 <http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/butterfly/allabout/Senses.shtml>.

Order Xenarthra(e.g. armadillo)

mike2010 — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:06:17 CDT

By Michael Carnley

Hi my name is Dasypus novemcinctus , but since I can't even remember that name you can just call me Bob. I am a long nosed armadillo and the only species of armadillo living in the United States. I am one of only twenty named armadillo species. This is me just walking around in the sun and having a good time. I live in the south central portion of the Unite States and eve in Peru. I can grow to be up to twenty two pounds which is a lot for a little guy like me. I have almost no hair on my body besides a few ruffs of hair on the underside of my body. I have a really long nose but that isn't a reason for you to make fun of me. I also have short legs with four toe on my front feet and five on my hind legs, I know this is really strange. I can have anywhere more six to eleven bands round my middle.

My Classification

I am part of the Phlyum Chordata because I have a bilateral symmetry. I also have a tail, three germ layers. I also have a complete digestive system. As well as a ventral heart and a complete endoskeleton. I belong to the Subphylum vertebrata because I numerous organs and tissues. as well as a complex nervous system and a closed circulatory system. I belong to the Class of because I have hair/fur and also because I feed the females of my species feed my children with milk. They also give birth to love young. I also have a four chambered heart and am endothermic. I am also homeothermic which means that I have a high and stable body temperature. I am also colored blind as are most in my class.

Seven Functions of Survival
I perform the basic seven functions needed to survive just as every other mammal. My first basic function is feeding. I survive mostly by feeding on insects, but I have been known to eat berries and other plants when insects are not plentiful. I have also been known to sometimes eat young cottontail rabbits though I do not do this very often. I have a salivary bladder which when i am eating is contracted by muscles around it causing saliva to come out. My next basic survival function is respiration.

Subphylum Trilobite (e.g. Trilobite)

gio2941 — Sun, 04 May 2008 23:33:36 CDT

Hello my name is Tribuggabite, and I am a trilobite. All my relatives have been dead for 253,768,342 years, 254 days, 8 hours, 32 minutes, and 43 seconds, but really whose counting.That was a sad day, but thats another story. Don't ask me to talk about it... although I may look tough on the outside, I'm sensitive on the inside (no pun intended). Anyway, I am here to talk about me, my family, and our characteristics.

So, starting off with me. Well, some say I'm self centered, but I can't be blamed! Scientists around the world would pay thousands for anything with my signature! It's not my fault! I'm just the second most popular/famous fossil group! If it weren't for those damned dinosaurs ("damned" meaning dead and gone to hell, not the expletive) I would be the most famous in the world! I even came first! But oh well...

So, here's a brief overview about myself in the technical terms. As I said in the intro, I'm the only one left alive! To the right ~sniffle~ you'll see ~sniffle~ my mom and dad and ~sobbing sniffle~ my little brother Joey. I miss them so much!!!!!

OK, sorry... I just broke down again.... That happens sometimes. I just can't stand looking at that photo. It was our last picture together. We took it in November of the last year they were alive, hoping to put it on our Christmas cards... ~sob~... okay, I just won't look at it... ok... moving on. To the left, you'll see a diagram I drew of the Trilobite body parts. I drew it in my biology class in highschool. It's amazing I still have it! I guess I'm pretty organized. But to give a brief over view, here you'll see that my main body is broken down into three main parts, labeled as the cephalon (my head), the thorax (my tummy), and the pygidium (well... you know).
A few things I like to do... Hold on, I need to copy and paste my profile information from TriloMatch.com... "I love to swim and am interested in female trilobites. I'm long and slender with a firm exoskeleton (I know you ladies love that). I live in the deep sea region and love anything with small shrimp. I have a few siblings, who enjoy filter-feeding or are parasitic (oh, that Joey ~sniffle~... He was such a rascal...~sniffle~). I also have a distant cousin who lives on land, but most of my family and I live underwater either on the Western Reef (a rather high class neighborhood, might I add) or on the deep ocean floor. "

Well... that's an excerpt from this dating site I made an account for way back when there were more of me... actually, I have a funny story about that! So, about 1 month after I made my profile on TriloMatch.com, a girl messaged me and we hooked up for a weekend. Turns out she was fertilized! My parents were so dissapointed with me. As for the poor girl, she was teased all the time about her brooding pouch (kind of like the womb for you humans). The brooding pouch is a pouch in the shape of a bulb on the "nose" of our bodies located at the center of our cephalon. I won't go into the details about how we mate or the embryology or anything like that. That's something I'll never tell! (Which is why none of your scientists know anything about it!)

So, I guess around now, you're probably wondering how I "work" exactly... well, maybe this other diagram I made can help you. This is what I actually gave to scientists a while back. This is what I think I look like on the inside. As you can probably see, I have a heart, taking care of all of circulatory needs. You'll also see that I have a very basic digetive system. I also have a brain with a nerve cord, similar to what's connected to your spine (if you're human).

"Trilobites." 21 Apr 2008 <http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/fossils/trilobite.htm>.
Of Trilobite and Men http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixhP5xkupxE.

Order Odonata (e.g. Dragonfly)

eaglefever4 — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:03:34 CDT

Created By: Brett O.

Introduction:

Hello, my name is Exocorinzica, but my friends just call me "Exo" I think it is because of my exoskeleton. That's right, I am the leader of my clan, and no one will ever mistake me otherwise. I enjoy being a dragonfly because most people believe that we are kind and beautiful, but deep inside we are one of the most viscous insects alive.

Like most of my insect buddies, I have a hard exoskeleton. My exoskeleton is made up of chitin and protein. Chitin is a natural polymer that is firm, and protects me from pressure and harm. I have six segmented legs; that's right humans, be jealous. My body is divided into three main sections, head, thorax, and abdomen. I have two large compound eyes and three simple eyes.

My antennae are short, but my jaw is very big. My jaw contains several sharp sparkling teeth that help me eat food such as mosquitoes and gnats. That reminds me, I had a rich delicious mosquito last night. Man, that was probably the best mosquito I ever had, but I have had a better gnat. Sorry, back to more characteristics about me.

My pair of two wings and my six segmented legs are attached to the thorax. My wings are reinforced by veins that run through them. My thorax is slanted. This helps because it brings my legs, with spikes for grasping prey, forward. This creates a basket effect that allows me to catch flying objects, such as themosquito I had last night. I used perfect form to catch him. My thorax makes up sixty percent of my weight do to the muscles needed to make my wings maneuver.

My abdomen is long thick and flexible. It is composed of ten distinct segments. Since I am a male, I have appendages on the end of the abdomen that allowme to hold onto a female during mating. My abdomen also contains the reproductive organs.

Seven Characteristics that Show I Am Living:

There are seven characteristics that show that other organisms and I are living creatures. These characteristics are growing, reproducing, excreting, respiring, responding to stimuli, using and obtaining energy and moving.

Growth:

Because I am an insect I will not grow as large as most of the commonly known organisms found under the kingdom Animalia. My life cycle goes as follows: egg (I don't remember this part), larvae, and finally the adult stage. The egg section is when I am born. My larvae section is my time of growth. During growth, I must shed one outer layer, and grow a new one. The periods between my sheddings are called instars. The number of instars is usually anywhere from eight to fifteen. I personally had eleven. As a larvae I have gills and I am aquatic, but when the larvae stage is complete I have developed all the organs to live on land. A common dragon fly is from 32mm. to 62mm. I personally am 58mm.

Reproduction:

I reproduce sexually. Like I earlier mentioned, my abdomen contains my organs used during reproduction. The appendages help me hold onto a female when I'm in the air. My appendage also helps me from not being eaten while mating. Females often try to eat us males, but by clasping the female during and after mating I avoid that problem.

Excretion:

I eat just like you humans. I chew my food. My food is then transported to my gut where I absorb

Class Cephalaspidomorphi (e.g. Lamprey)

taylor41792 — Sat, 03 May 2008 13:41:41 CDT

Hi my name is Cephalaspidomorphi, but my friends call me a sea lamprey. I enjoy long walks on the beach and sucking the blood out of other fish. I am sometimes also called a lamprey eel and I am a jawless fish with a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. In zoology, I am often not considered to be true fish because of my vastly different morphology and physiology.
Physical description
I live mostly in coastal and fresh waters, although one of my species, Geotria australis, probably travels significant distances in the open ocean, as evidenced by the lack of reproductive isolation between Australian and New Zealand populations, and the capture of a specimen in the Southern Ocean between Australia and Antarctica. I am found in most temperate regions except Africa. My larvae have a low tolerance for high water temperatures, which is probably why they are not found in the tropics.Outwardly resembling eels, in that I have no scales, an adult lamprey, like myself, can range anywhere from 13 to 100 centimetres long. I have no paired fins, large eyes, one nostril on the top of the head, and seven gills on each side. My unique morphological characteristics, such as their cartilaginous skeleton, mean that the I am the sister taxon of all living jawed vertebrates and I am not classified within the Vertebrata itself. This is disputed by some, who place me within Vertebrata.Hagfish, which superficially resemble me, are the sister taxon of myself and gnathostomes.Studies reported in Nature suggest that I have a unique type of immune system with parts that are unrelated to the antibodies found in mammals. I also have a very high tolerance to iron overload, and I have biochemical defenses to detoxify this metal.
Life cycle
I begin life as burrowing freshwater larvae. At this stage, I am toothless, have rudimentary eyes, and I feed on microorganisms. This larval stage can last five to seven years and so was originally thought to be an independent organism. We transform into adults in a metamorphosis which is at least as radical as that seen in amphibians. It involves a radical rearrangement of internal organs, development of eyes and transformation from a mud-dwelling filter feeder into an efficient swimming parasite/predator that typically moves to the sea. Once we are adults we feed by attaching our mouths to a fish, secreting an anticoagulant to the host, and feeding on the blood and tissues of the host. In most species this phase lasts about 18 months.
Some of us are landlocked and remain in fresh water, and some of us stop feeding when we leave the larval stage. Our landlocked species are usually rather small.To reproduce, we return to fresh water, build a nest, spawn, that is, females lay eggs, males excrete semen, then invariably die. In the time from ceasing to feed at sea to spawning can be up to 18 months.
Uses
I have long been used as food for humans. During the Middle Ages, I was widely eaten by the upper classes throughout Europe, especially during fasting periods, since my taste is much meatier than that of most true fish. King Henry I of England is said to have died from eating "a surfeit of lampreys". On 4th March 1953 the Queen was made a coronation pie using lampreys by the Royal Air Force.Especially in southwestern Europe, I am still a highly prized delicacy. Overfishing has reduced my number in those parts. I am also consumed in Sweden, Finland, the Baltic countries, and South Korea.In Britain, I am commonly used as bait, normally as dead bait. Pike, perch and chub all can be caught on me. I can be bought frozen from most bait and tackle shops.I am used as a model organism in biomedical research where their large reticulospinal axons are used to investigate synaptic transmission. The axons of mmyself are particularly large and allow for microinjection of substances for experimental manipulation.
As pests
On the other hand, I have become a major plague in the North American Great Lakes after artificial canals allowed my entry during the early 20th century. I am considered an invasive species, have no natural enemies in the lakes and prey on many species of commercial value, such as lake trout. Since the majority of North American consumers, unlike Europeans, refuse to accept me as food, the Great Lakes fishery has been adversely affected by my invasion. I am now fought mostly in the streams that feed the lakes, with special barriers to prevent the upstream movement of me, or by the application of toxicants called lampricides, which are harmless to most other aquatic species. However those programs are complicated and expensive, and do not eradicate me from the lakes but merely keep me in check. New programs are being developed including the use of chemically sterilized male lampreys in a method akin to the sterile insect technique. Research is currently under way on the use of pheromones and how they may be used to disrupt the life cycle. Control of sea lampreys in the Great Lakes is conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The work is coordinated by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

Order Proboscidea (e.g. Asian Elephant)

2win2 — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:34:16 CDT

by Emily Hill

I am an Elephas maximus and I am from the phylum Chordata, the class Mammalia, the Order Proboscidea, and the family Elephantae. Wow thats a mouth full! I am an Asian elephant and I have a long, muscular trunk that I use to lift things such as tree limbs. I am a girl so I do not have huge tusks like my brothers. My cheekteeth are uniquely adapted to my abrasive diet. My favorite foods are banana, bamboo, berries, mangoes, coconuts, corn, sugar cane, and I especially love salt! I love to just play and eat all day! My skeleton is adapted to bear massive weight and provide muscles I need for pushing over and uprooting trees. I am always hungry so I eat a lot of food, over 400kg. I can smell something a mile away, but I can’t necessarily see it. I communicate using sounds, some I produce vocally or I tap or stamp on the ground. I live in tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, and sometimes subtropical broadleaf forests. I will live a long time, sixty to seventy years.

I am different in several ways from my African relatives. I have smaller ears which are straight at the bottom, unlike the large fan-shape ears of my relatives. I am much smaller from my African relatives. I weigh between 6,615 and 11,020 pounds at a height of about 7 to 12 feet compared to the 8,820 to 15,430 at 10 to 13 feet of my relatives, the African elephant.

The IUCN's Species Survival Commission's Asian Elephant Specialist Group estimates that there are approximately 38,000 to 51,000 wild elephants just like me. In comparison, there are more than 600,000 African elephants, who I live close to.The loss of habitat is the primary threat to me because I live and eat in my habitat.My home is being cleared for many reasons including warfare, agricultural development, human settlement, and logging. My friends, the Asian elephants, are less prone to poaching because few males grow tusks. In China, the penalty for poaching is the death sentence.
Conflicts between me (and other elephants of my kind) and humans often occur because of habitat destruction. Sometimes there is not enough food in small forests for me to eat, so if I am really hungry I look for the nearest source which is usually the field of a local farmer. Then the farmer is very mad at me once I eat his crops. But I was hungry!

I am a mammal. What is a mammal? Well mammals,like me, are warm blooded vertebrates with hair, mammary glads used to suckle young with milk, a diaphram used in breathing, three bones in the middle ear which connect the eardrum to the inner ear, and a lower jaw made up of a single pair of bones that articulates in a unique way with the skull. I am considered a chordate because either now, or at some point in my life, I had a pharyngeal slit, dorsal nerve cord, notochord, and post-anal tail. I am from the order Proboscidea because of one of my most interesting physical features, my trunk! The meaning of Proboscidea is actually animal with trunks. My body temperature is controled by an endothermic system. I also have sweat glads that regulate my internal negative feedback mmetabolism. My body temperature control is an example of homeostasis.

The Seven Functions of Elephants

Feeding is a major function for me! Because of overpopulation, I feed in the fields of local farmers. If I didn't do that I would starve! All of our feeding grounds were converted to cropland so we just eat the crops now. Respiration is easy for me! I just breath in......then breath out. Very simple actually. I breath a lot like humans do except that my breathing capacity is a lot larger. I use lungs to breathe. My lungs are controlled by two different sets of muscles. I also have a diaphram which pulls the bottom of my chest cavity downward when I inhale air. Then I have my fabulous trunk which I can't miss the oportunity to brag on! My trunk can lift a 600kg log or it can pick up a coin. My trunk is two meters long. When my trunk is submerged in water I use it as a snorkel. My trunk can hold six liters of water! I also use my trunk to smell things, which I am great at. I also have a good response mechanism. Being an elephant, I have one of the most highly developed brains. My brain has three main parts: the cerebrum, cerebellum, and medulla ablangata. I have a well developed outer layer cerebral kortex. I also rely on other senses to detect and respond to stimuli. When my environment's temperature increases, I dust bathe. I really enjoy rolling around in the cool dust when it gets hot outside. My circulation is great too! My large external ears act as coolers in hot weather. The warm blood rushes through the my ears, which I fan slowly. As the heat is dissipated by the fanning, so the now-cooler blood can return to the circulation system. I have two completely separate circulatory loops. And I also have a four chamber heart! I am a very complex animal. Moving on to excretion. I have highly eveloped kidneys that control composition of my body fluids. Kidneys help maintain homeastasis by filtering urea from the blood, as well as by exracting excess water or retaining it. My endocrine glands control my body processes. I have an immune system to recover exposure from pathogens and I also have specialized chemicals and cells that recognize and destroy the pathogens. Now for movement, and boy can I move or what! My legs are like pillars supporting my great weight and bulk, with "knees" on my front legs as well as my back ones. Amazingly, an xray shows that elephants like me are walking on their very toe tips, protected by a large pad. I should be a ballerina! When I walk or run I must keep two legs on the ground at all times. And guess what? I can outrun humans! But I can't jump, at all. But who needs to jump when your as big as me! And now for the part I think is just gross, reproduction. I am a young Asian elephant, I think I am only about six years old so I like to talk about the interesting things, not the gross stuff, but I'll try to tell you what I can about reproduction in a very general way. So female Asian elephants, such as myself, mature sexually at around 9-12 years of age, so I have a few more years to go. Mature elephants produce calves at intervals of about every three to five years. Although males, who are sometimes called bulls, reach sexual maturity around 10-15 years of age, they often do not breed until they are about 30 years old, which is when they become large and strong enough to successfully compete with other large maled elephants for female elephants. My father told me all about how he had to put up such a good fight for my mom! Our reproductive cycle corresponds to seasonal food and water supplies. the gestation period lasts about 22 months. Mothers give birth to one calf (twins are very rare) that weighs approximately 200 pounds. Calves suckle with their mouth (not trunk) and may not be fully weaned until teh birth of the next calf. Young elephants like me are sometimes chased by tigers! Luckily, I never have been.

Interesting Facts

Asian elephants once ranged from Irag in the west, throughout Asia southe of the Himalayas to northern China!
Just as humans are right or left handed, elephants are either right or left tusked!
Asian elephants have been used by humans for over 5,000 years as beasts of burden, in warfare and in ceremonial activities.
An infant elephant is cared for by its mother and other females called "aunties" in the herd.

"Fascinating and Amazing." 11 Nov 2008. Webmaster of Elephant Country. 29 Apr 2008 http://www.elephantcountryweb.com/Ellies5.html.

"Asian Elephant." Endangered Species. 17 Nov 2006. 29 Apr 2008 http://www.zoo.org/factsheets/elephants/asian_elephants/asianElephant.html

Mackenzie, Paul. "Evolution." Elephant Information Repository. Elehost Web Design Inc. 29 Apr 2008 http://elephant.elehost.com/About_Elephants/Stories/Evolution/evolution.html.

P. A, Rees. "Asian Elephants." Ingenta connect. 2008. 29 Apr 2008 http://www.ingentaconnect.com/contents/els/03064565/2002/00000027/00000005/art00100.com.

Order Artiodactyla (e.g. White-tailed Deer)

michael_jones — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:03:47 CDT

By: Michael Jones
Hey man i'm Bambi also known as Odocoileus virginianus. My coat is a reddish-brown in the spring and summer and turns to a grey-brown throughout the fall and winter. I can be recognized by the characteristic white underside to its tail, which it shows as a signal of alarm by raising the tail during escape, therefor the name white tailed deer. live throughout North America from southern Canada through Central America. We inhabit most of southern Canada and all of the mainland US except 2 or 3 states in the west. Our range reaches throughout Central America to Bolivia.

I feed on a variety of vegetation, depending on what is available in my habitat. In eastern forests, buds and twigs of mapleaspen and birch are yummy! In desert areas, plants such as huajillo brush, yucca, prickly pear cactusvarious tough shrubs may make my happy. Conifers are often good in winter when other foods are scarce. We are crepuscular, feeding mainly from before dawn until several hours after, and again from late afternoon until dusk.

I breath through my mouth, through my lungs and bloodstream. It is just like how you humans breathe. Its pretty amazing. Smoking seriously hurts my lungs so don't smoke. Smoking can also cause forrest fires. Thats how my mommy died....

Circulation is done by having blood pumped through my body, much like a humans. I have a heart that pumps blood throughout my body through veins. I am also warm-blooded.

After i eat i gotta well... you know.. Us deer are ruminants, like cows and have four stomachs. In the first stomach, called the rumen, microorganisms break down plant tissue. Like cows, well will occasionally regurgitate food and "chew their cud" to aid in the breakdown of food particles. The remaining three stomachs complete the digestion process. Awesome man.

We have a good sense of smell, keen hearing and eyesight, but we're are color blind, which is why we may not notice humans dressed in "hunter orange." Our keen hearing lets us hear stuff from far away! During the summer months, the boy's shed their antlers and start to grow new ones. this is just natural response to the world outside.

We deer have four legs that we run on. Very soon after birth we start walking. A deer's home range is usually less the a square mile. We collect in family groups of a mother and her fawns. When a doe has no fawns, she is usually solitary. Male bucks may live in groups consisting of three or four individuals, except in mating season, when they are solitary. White-tailed deer are very good runners. We can run at speeds of up to 30 mile an hour. We are also good leapers and swimmers.

Most whitetail deer (particularly males) mate in their second year, although some females occasionally mate as young as seven months. Bucks are polygamous although they may form an attachment and stay with a single doe for several days or even weeks until she reaches oestrus. Does are seasonally polyestrous and usually come into heat in November for a short twenty-four hour period. If a doe is not mated, a second estrus occurs approximately 28 days later. Mating occurs from October to December and gestation is approximately 6 and a half months. In her first year of breeding, a female generally has one fawn, but 2 per litter (occasionally 3 or 4) are born in subsequent years. Fawns are able to walk at birth and nibble on vegetation only a few days later.
.

White-tailed females are very protective of their babies. When looking for food, females leave their offspring in a hiding place for about four hours at a time. While waiting for their mother to return, fawns lay flat on the ground with their necks outstretched, well camouflaged against the forest floor. Fawns begin to follow their mother on her foraging trips once they are about 4 weeks old and are fully ruminant at two months old. White-tailed deer fawns are nursed for 8 to 10 weeks before they are weaned. Young males leave their mother after one year but young females often stay with their mother for two years

Bye bye!

Sources
http://www.nhptv.org/NATUREWORKS/whitetaileddeer.htm

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/white-tailed-deer.html

http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/june/papr/wtdeer.html

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/critter/mammal/fawn.htm

http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=106

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Odocoileus_virginianus.html

Order Monotremata (e.g. Platypus)

chs2010naj — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:41:02 CDT

Yes I know I am not the prettiest thing in the world. I hear that very often. I love the way I am though because I am a mammal but I also have some of the same characteristics of a reptile. My name is Ornithorhynchus anatinus but most people call me the Platypus. Montremata which is my order name means one hole. I might be conceded but not greedy. What is the point of having to holes to excrete waste from when I only need one? Would you like to know what this opening is called? Sure you do because you don't know it is called a cloaca. I am also often described as a living fossil. My name comes from the Greek word platys meaning broad and pous meaning foot. I have many attributes of a reptile I lay eggs, the same opening for reproduction, and cervical ribs.A cervical rib is an extra rib. It is attached to the last vertebra in my neck. Normally, the ribs start in the thoracic spine. A cervical rib is considered an abnormality present at birth. I think it is better to have one extra rib don't you? But I have more attributes of a mammal. I have a life span of 10 to 15 years.

I only like coming out at mid-distance in poor light (Dawn or Dusk.) I have webbed forefeet which aid in swimming which is a reptilian characteristic but I don't care because I belong to the class mammalia. And although my hind feet are also webbed, these are folded back against the tail, except when I need them for brakes. My fur is fine and dense with about eight hundred hairs per square millimetre. There are two layers, a woolly undercoat and a long guard fur on top of that. Together, these two layers trap air, therefore keeping me dry even after long periods of being under water. The fur on my tail is coarser, bristly, and often a darker brown than my body fur. I do have a four chambered heart, three middle ear bones, and one bone in my jaw. I do lactate and milk my babies but i don't do it though nipples like those other inferior animals, me, I do it through my skin! Now isn't that special? And no not special ed like you might think, it is neat and different. I have an internal skeleton and a backbone that protects my dorsal nerve cord. That is how I am in the subphylum vertebrates.

This is the only other animal in my class Tachyglossus aculeatus, the Echidna or a spiny anteater.

I can stay under water for up to 10 minutes but it cannot breathe under water. I must come up for oxygen out of the air. The body temperature of most reptiles varies with that of the surroundings. But I am not a reptile my body temperature does not quite reach that of the eutherian mammals, which is about 88° to 90° F. I am usually described as physiologically primitive in regard to temperature regulation. I will will only reproduce if I am fed well with mud full of living creatures. The female Platypus digs a burrow. At the end of the burrow she builds a nest out of Eucalypt leaves. Once her burrow is complete she lays between one and three eggs, but usually she will lay two. The male can grow to be up to 65 cm long and tail can grow to be about 12 to 15 cm. Adult, male platypus produce potent venom in a crural gland located immediately behind and above each kidney. The glands excrete into a tortuous duct which runs through the muscles behind the femur to connect with a canal at the base of a horny, curved, sharp spur inside each leg. On arousal the spurs erect and are plunged deeply into the source of irritation by thrusting inward with both hind legs, releasing up to 4 ml of venom. Venom is produced most abundantly, if not exclusively, duringg late June to late February. I eat worms and other small animals that live in the water. I walk on four legs like a lizard
and swim in water using webbed feet. But if you make a trip down to Australia please be very careful and watch out for me because I am on the endangered species list!

Sources:

Matt. "What is a cervical rib? Our pediatrician says this may be what's causing my son's neck and arm pain. How can a rib cause arm pain?." Orthopod. 28 June 2007. 29 Apr 2008 http://www.eorthopod.com/public/patient_education/7266/what_is_a_cervical_rib_our_pediatrician_says_this_may.html

"Image:Platypus.jpg." 23 July 2007. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. 29 Apr 2008 http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Platypus.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Platypus.jpg&h=538&w=800&sz=121&hl=en&start=14&um=1&tbnid=IcTtmz7FKBrbgM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dplatypus%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN.

"Platypus." Youtube. 13 Oct. 2006. 29 Apr 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDsI-ExAcBA&feature=related.

"Animals related to the echidna." 29 Apr 2008 http://www.echidna.org.uk/details.html.

"Does anyone know what animal is in my avatar." Askville. 2008. 29 Apr 2008 http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/June2000/img/f_echid10.jpg&imgrefurl=http://askville.amazon.com/animal-avatar/AnswerViewer.do%3FrequestId%3D4544166&h=491&w=487&sz=68&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=cbFfZYO7GQC1bM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dspiny%2Banteater%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN.

"Duck-Billed Playtpus." 29 Apr 2008 http://skywalker.cochise.edu/wellerr/students/platypus-monahan/project.htm.

"Platyups." Austrialian Animals. 29 Apr 2008 http://www.rochedalss.qld.edu.au/platypus.htm.

"Monotreme - Temperature Regulation and Hibernation." 1995. 29 Apr 2008 http://www.fdtsnk.org/echidna/mono-tmp.html.

"PLATYPUS." 29 Apr 2008 http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~endangered/platypus.htm.

"Hatchery Handbook." 20 June 2004. 29 Apr 2008 http://www.falconer.cps.k12.il.us/Teacherswebsite/bmiller/Duckbill%20Platypus.htm.

"Duck-billed Platypus." Enchanted Learning. 1999-2008. 29 Apr 2008 http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.enchantedlearning.com/pgifs/Platypus_bw.GIF&imgrefurl=http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/platypus/Duckbillprintout.shtml&h=243&w=482&sz=5&hl=en&start=126&tbnid=yQuHWw_3CnhK3M:&tbnh=65&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dplatypus%26start%3D120%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN.

Class Myxini (e.g. Hagfish)

L.Emmons — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:41:57 CDT

created by Lauren Emmons

My name is Myxine glutinosa. If you want to sound all smart, you may call me that. I am commonly known as a hagfish, or that is what my friends tend to call me at least. I have a long and slender body in which I live. I look pretty in pink. I am highly disliked from the other fish in the sea for my large amount of gooey goodness that I give off. I, however, love my slime! The slime suffocates fish who get in its way. That is probably why most other fish keep good distance away from me. I have to say, I love where I live! You can always find me swimming just above the ocean floor. I prefer to live in cold water oceans, but that's just me i guess. I have multiple characteristics, however, i don't think that I am a very complex animal. I would love for you to get to know me better! Remember, don't judge me before you get to know me! I am really a pretty nice guy! You will see this too if you sit back, relax, be open-minded, and tell you a little about myself! :)

I am often called a "blind eel." I guess this name fits me pretty well, but I think that this title makes me appear to be stupid and not as good as an eel. I am an animal who is almost blind. Yes, I do have eyes! They are located just under the skin, so they are of little or no use. In order to deal with this downfall in my life and the life of all of the other hagfish, we have strong developed senses. These senses include the sense of touch and the sense of smell. With my keen sense of smell, I am able to locate my food.

Many may say that I am a monster of a creature because of my voracious eating habits. I have a total of four pairs of sensing tentacles that you will find arranged around my mouth. I do not have a jaw, but I have two pairs of tooth-like rasps on the top of my tongue-like proje ction. As I pull my tongue back into my mouth, the pairs of rasps pinch together. I use this bite often in order to tear into the flesh of the dead and/or dying fish which I found on the muddy ocean floor. When I get ready to eat, I attach myself to a passing or dead fish. I then bore myself into the inside of my host. Once I am inside, I eat the fish with by rasping tongue from the inside out. In addition to these things. I often tie knots in my body to which will help me eat. Since I like to eat from the inside out, I tie a knot and move it up and down my body. This then enables me to dig a big and deep enough whole so that I can get into the middle of my prey's body to eat on its flesh. In addition to fish, I also eat small invertebrates. Food is very scarce at these depths, so I will eat almost anything that I can find. A big part of my diet consists of polychaete worms. In addition to me being a big eater, I have a very slow metabolism. I have even gone up to seven months without eating any food.

Another function that we hagfish preform is reproduction. Unlike the many other fish, us hagfish undergo direct development, with no larval stage. My newly hatched young are basically an exact image of me and my mate. As a young hagfish, I was considered a hermaphrodite just like everyone else. This meant that I had both sex organs as a baby. As I grew older and became a more mature animal, I a female, but I still can change my sex in between seasons. The eggs that I produce are approximately an inch long, and are coated in a tough shell. My eggs are actually quite large in comparison to those of other fish. Because of my large sized eggs, I can only produce a small amount. Even though us females only produce a limited number of eggs, exists in very large numbers. I have even seen a vast population of 15,000 hagfish in a small area. Saying this, I am sure that you can guess that we have a low morality rate.

The function of response is an important part of the life that I live. I am able to respond to the environment in which I live. In order to do this task, I use specialized cells called nerve cells. These nerve cells hook up together to form a nervous system. A nerve cord, is on the dorsal side sends and receives messages. I use two main senses in responding to my environment. These senses are smell and touch.

I also carry out the function of movement pretty well. Though I have no backbone, or am made up of any bone as a matter of fact, I am still able to properly function. My body is made up of cartilage. I guess you can say that the cartilage is the structure in which my skeleton is made up of. I find it very easy to swim because of my great flexibility. When I swim i make a "figure-eight" type motion with by body. We also possess a lateral line system and an advanced chemosensory system with Schreiner organs, which resemble taste buds. To tell you the truth, I am not to sure why they would characterize me in a group with vertebrates because I do not have a vertebrae, and only have a partial skull. This is what makes me so unique among living chordates.

One of the seven essential functions of animals is excretion. As we all know, kidneys are a part of our excretory systems. A kidney is a structure that form and excrete urine, regulate fluid and electrolyte balance, and act as endocrine glands. I, as a matter of fact, have a primitive kidney. Another structure needed for excretion of waste products is the intestine. At the end of the intestine, we find the anus. The anus is the location of which I excrete decomposed waste products from my body after I take in all the nutrients from the food that I eat.

I also give off this weird slime. The slime that I give off consists of mucins and protein threads. I produce my slime in concentrated form from a series of pores that line on the side of my body. When I release my slime into seawater, the very concentrated slime begins to expand at a very fast rate and grow into a sticky gel. I often use my slime to act as a protection from any attacker by suffocating them. My slime production occurs when I am alarmed or disturbed.

My circulatory system includes both closed and open blood vessels, with a heart system that is more primitive than that of vertebrates. This system comprises a "brachial heart", which functions as the main pump, and three types of accessory hearts: the "portal" heart carries blood from my intestines to my liver, the "cardinal" heart moves blood from my head to my body, and the "caudal" heart which pumps blood from my trunk and kidneys to my body. None of these hearts are innervated. This means that these hearts are possibly altered my hormones. All animals need circulation in order to survive in life. Circulation is used to transport oxygen, nutrient molecules, and waste products among the cells in their body. I have a two chambered heart that is very successful in doing just that.

When I say that I respire, I am stating that I take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide. I respire in a way in which I use my gills. I bring the water in through my nostrils, over my gills, and after I take in the oxygen, I let the carbon dioxide out through my mouth. In addition to gills, I can also respire through my skin.

I have to say, there are many characteristics that describe me and my body structure that enable scientists to place me in to the phylum and sub-phylum that I am in today. To be in the phylum Chordata there are certain characteristics that I must portray. I must have bilateral symmetry. This means that they can cut my in half long ways, and I would look the same on both sides. However, please don't so that! I mean, what have I ever done to you? I also have a segmented body, including segmented muscles. Three germ layers and a well-developed coelom is another characteristic. A coelom is a fluid-filled body cavity lined with mesoderm, if you didn't know. I have a single, dorsal, hollow nerve cord, and most of the time it is an enlarged anterior end (brain). Well, let me ask you this. Have you ever disected an earthworm? If you have, you may have a better understanding of what I am trying to say here. If you have disected a worm, you say the nerve cords. Well, mine is similar. I also have a tail projecting beyond the anus. You would find this at the posterior end of my body. And YES, posterior means the back of my body. I am sorry, but NO I do not have a tail growing out of my head. At some time in my development I would have Pharyngeal pouches present. I must also have a ventral heart, with dorsal and ventral blood vessels and a closed blood system. Also, if you've disected an earthworm, you would have observed this. Mine looks just the same. Again, this does not mean to kill me and play around cutting me open. A complete digestive system is required of all animals in the phylum Chordata. Lastly, a bony or cartilaginous endoskeleton is usually present.

An animal in the sub-phylum vertebrae is an animal that is a chordate and has a spinal column. Like all other vertebrae’s I am built up of numerous specialized tissues and organs. I am made up of cartilage. Unlike many other animals in this sub-phylum, I do not have a spinal cord. Vertebrae are made of cartilage or bone and cartilage. They normally have closed circulatory system (veins and arteries with a heart with 2, 3, or four chambers). I still fit this sub-phylum because I have a closed circulatory system with two chambers. My movement is provided by muscles attached to the endoskeleton. Also, I have a digestive system with large digestive glands, liver, and pancreas, and kidney. What I find most interesting about myself is that I am two sexes. I was born with both reproductive glands and I can choose between seasons what I want to be. In addition to this, I can only use sexual reproduction. Lastly, just as we say with chordates, vertebrae have bilateral symmetry. I fit in this sub-phylum pretty well.

Citations:

"Age of Animals." 28 Apr 2008 <http://universe-review.ca/I10-27-hagfish.jpg>.

"CHAPTER 12 FISH, AMPHIBIANS & REPTILES." 28 Apr 2008 http://dj003.k12.sd.us/SCHOOL%20NOTES/chapter_12.htm.

"Craniata." 28 Apr 2008 http://www.palaeos.com/Vertebrates/Units/020Craniata/100.html.

"Fish Characteristics." St*rfish- student and teacher resource. 22 Apr 2008 http://www.starfish.govt.nz/science/facts/fact-fish-chars.htm.

"Hagfish." 26 Apr 2008 <http://www.gma.org/fogm/myxine_glutinosa.htm>.

Lee, Jean. "Hagfish Aren't So Horrible After All." JYP. 2002. 28 Apr 2008 <http://www.jyi.org/volumes/volume5/issue7/features/lee.html>.

Marshall, Patrick. "Myxinidae Information." 19 May 2001. 26 Apr 2008 http://www.networksplus.net/maxmush/myxinidae.html.

Miller, Kenneth, and Joseph Levine. Prentice Hall Biology. Student. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc, 2006.

Schewe, Phil. "A Close Look at Hagfish Slime." Physics News Update. 4 Nov 2003. 27 Apr 2008 http://www.aip.org/pnu/2003/split/660-3.html.

"The Atlantic Hagfish." Monsters of the Deep Sea. 24 Apr 2008 http://www.seasky.org/deep-sea/atlantic-hagfish.html.

"The Kunkel Fish & Aquatic Invert Site." 23 Sep 2007. 24 Apr 2008 <http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/kunkel/fish/albatross-iv/al0509/AL050962.JPG>.

"Introduction to the Myxini." UCMP. 12 Jun 1997. 28 Apr 2008 <http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vertebrates/basalfish/myxini.html>.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYRr_MrjebA

http://shiftingbaselines.org/blog/458373-hagfish.jpg

Order Insectivora (e.g. Hedgehog)

FritzBoudreaux — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:02:25 CDT

I am an Algerian Hedgehog, or the North African Hedgehog, better known as Atelerix algirus. I live mainly in Europe around Algeria, France, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Spain, and Tunisia. I am about 200cm long. I have a larger snout and longer legs then most hedgehogs. This makes me faster than most of my brothers. I have sharp pointy quills all over my body. My head and feet tend to be brown in color and my underbelly tends to be white. What sets me apart from most other hedgehogs are the quills on the crown of my head, which is my widow's peak, along with my clipped ears. I am a wild hedgehog, while some of can be bred and kept as pets.
I belong to the class Mammalia. I belong to this class because of my presence of hair, or my quills. I have a more complex lung and a diaphram. I have a jaw and jaw joint with two sets of teeth. I belong to the subphylum Vertabrata because I have a spinal column,numerous specialized tissues and organs, a vertebrae made of cartiledge or bone and cartiledge, a closed circulatory system, a skull to protect my brain, bilateral symmetry, and an outer epidermis. I belong to the Phylum Chordata because of my bilateral symmetry, pharyngeal pouches, and my boney endoskeleton.

Reproduction:
My species reproduces sexually. My gestation period for myself ranges from about 30 to 40 days. The size of my litter can vary from 3 to 10 baby hoglets. On average, I tend to produce two litters in a given season. My baby hoglets weight anywhere from 12 to 20 grams. The time of year when my season occurs is from October to March. One of my baby hoglets mature in about 8 to 10 weeks of age. My species does not mate for life, which means we do not participate in "pair bonding".

Subphylum Cephalochordata (e.g. Lancelet)

TFB28 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:17:10 CDT

By: Thomas B

My name is Branchiostoma lanceolatum, but you can call me a Lancelet. I may seem like a boring creature, but there is much about me that the world does not know! One of the reasons that I am so unknown is that I am a primative chordate. Being a primative chordate, I have seen the evolution of many of my friends happen all round me. I will now tell you more about my environment and how I live.

I can only be found if you look very hard. My habitat of choice is buried in the sand at the bottom of the ocean and sea. Out of the all the oceans and seas in the world, my favorite is the tropical seas around Asia. Unfortunately though, my life is filled with much danger. In Asia, I am harvested commercially for food for humans and domesticated animals. Well anyway, lets talk about something more happy, like my body structure!

Out of all my characteristics, there is one that is obvious to everyone that sees me. That characteristic is my size. I am a very small creature only growing to be about 5 cm long. I may be a invertebrate but did you know that I am actually very similar to vertebrates! I am very closely related to humans and my other friends in the sea. I have a nerve cord running along my back, pharyngeal slits, and a tail that runs past my anus. This three characteristics classify myself as a vertebrate. Also like vertebrates, my muscles are arranged in blocks called myomeres. Unlike vertebrates though, I have a dorsal nerve cord that is not protected by bone but by a simpler notochord made up of a cylinder of cells that are closely-packed to form a toughened rod. My notochord, unlike the vertebrate spine, extends into the head. I know many of the terms that I just used are confusing so to help you understand me better here is a chart of all my body parts.

1. brain-like blister
2. notochord
3. dorsal nerve cord
4. post-anal tail
5. anus
6. food canal
7. circulatory system
8. atriopore
9. overpharynx lacuna
10. gill slit
11. pharynx
12. vestibule
13. oral cirri
14. mouth opening
15. gonads (ovary/testicle)
16. light sensor
17. nerves
18. metapleural fold
19. hepatic caecum (liver-like sack)

When it comes to other species in my class, I am very lonely. Actually I am the only species in Subphylum Cephalochordata. So what special things about me makes me the only animal in this class? Well, first lets talk about some of the characteristics of my class.

Subphylum Cephalochordata:

Invertebrate

Bilateral symmetry (equal halves)
Three germ layers and a well-developed coelom.
A single, dorsal, hollow nerve cord, usually with an enlarged anterior end (brain).
A tail projecting beyond (posterior to) the anus at some stage of development.
Pharyngeal pouches present at some point in development.
A bony or cartilaginous endoskeleton is usually present.

Finally, it is time to discuss why I am classifed as a living thing. I will now go through the seven characteristics and tell how I am related to each characteristic.

Feeding:
I am a filter feeder. This means that I get my nutrients from the water around me.

Respiration:

My method of respiration is different from anything you have ever heard or seen. I in fact breath through my skin. I actually have gill slits but I use them for feeding instead of breathing.

Circulation:
To move blood and oxygen through my body, I have a ventral blood vessel. This blood vessel moves my fluids through my body. Do you want to know something interesting? I have no heart! So don't get on my bad side...

Excretion:
To excrete waste from my body I excrete it out of my atriopore. But first, the waste moves from gill slits down to atrium. Bet you never heard of going out of your atriopore.

Response:
I use my nerve cord to sense everything that is happening around me. You could say that my nerve cord is my eyes and ears, since I actually don't have eyes or ears. Without my nerve cord, I would be easy prey for any predator in the sea.

Movement:
I normally do not move much, but when I do I use my small fins to propel myself through the water. I don't use my fins much though and I prefer to stay place in the sand.

Reproduction:
I reproduce through sexual reproduction. Me and all my friends each have our own individual sexes. For example, when I reproduce, my sperm is spewed out into the water. Once the sperm is in the water, a female lancelet will extract my sperm. Once the sperm has made contact with the egg of a female, a larvae with begin to form. Soon a new lancelet with be created.

<a href="http://animals.jrank.org/pages/1666/Lancelets-Cephalochordata.html">Lancelets: Cephalochordata - Physical Characteristics, Behavior And Reproduction, Lancelets And Vertebrates, Florida Lancelet (branchiostoma Floridae): Species Account - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, HABITAT, DIET, CONSERVATION STATUS</a>

"Lancelet." Lancelet. April 25, 2008. Wikipedia. 29 Apr 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancelet>.

Order Sirenia (e.g. Manatee)

jennyleigh016 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:59:43 CDT

My name is Trichechus inunguls. Most people however, know me as an amazonian man atee. Although, old fisherman tales used to describe me as the mythical creature the mermaid. I live in countries such as Brazil, Ecuador, Columbia, and Peru. I live in the Amazon River and in the Amazon River Basin. However, I am shy, and I never go out into open water, or out into sea and I can't survive in salt water. I am also considered an endangered species.I am the smallest of all manatees. I am a vegetarian and enjoy eating aquatic plants in my habitat. I have a slow metabolism which allows me to survive in the dry season when much of my food disappears. I am the largest animal in the river, and can reach the length of 3 meters, and can weigh up to 300 kg. I am the most unique looking manatee, because in most cases I am a dark gray-black color, with a white belly. color and am also slow moving and gentle. I am also the only type of manatee that doesn't have "finger" nails. My closest relative is an elephant. I spend most of my time relaxing and floating around. I have a paddle shaped tail, and two pectoral flippers, which allow me to be a great swimmer. I am the only manatee that is able to survive in freshwater.

Although I am a peaceful, gentle animal, I still have some natural dangers, such as jaguars and sharks. People also have a pull in the my numbers dropping. Manatees like me, are constantly hit by boats, caught in fishing nets, and live in poluted and dangerous water. Illegal hunting is also a huge problem for my species. I have been a protected species since 1973, and it is now illegal to hunt manatees like me, but natural causes are also causing manatee numbers to drop. I like to live in shallow water, and my food source is mostly plants on the surface. People have been trying to control the river flow, which cuts down on my food source. I really hope that our manatee numbers continue to improve.

I am a mammal because:

1. I have some type of hair. I am completely hiarless except for the bristle on my snout.
2. I have mammary glands which I would use to feed my young.
3. I have sweat glands.
4. I have a vertebret.
5. I have many different types of teeth.
6. I have a layer of fat producing glands, which would keep me warm in cold weather if i needed it.

Studies on my species show that we renew about 90% of the air in our lungs in a single breath. Humans renew only about 17%. I can stay submerged underwater for about 20 minuets. The more active the manatee however, the more we need to breathe. Reproduction only occurs during the flood season. My reproduction process is slow and takes about 13 months.Female manatees like myself reach sexual maturatey at the age of five. Male manatess do not reach sexual maturatey until they are nine years old. I only produce one young every 1-3 years. My calf stays by my side for about two years.Twins are extreamly rare. We can usually been seen traveling with other manatees and their young. I could be compared to a giant food processor. About 40% of my food that I excreate is produces in small peices for other animals to eat.

I have many organs and tissues just like humans. I have a four chamber heart and lungs just like humans. Below are some examples of what my inside would look like:

The lifespan for manatees like me can be up to 60 years.

http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/manatee/adaptations.htm

http://www.uoregon.edu/~lbaule/photogallery/mammal.htm

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/manatee.html

http://www.brazilianfauna.com/amazonianmanatee.php

http://www.junglephotos.com/amazon/amanimals/ammammals/manateenathist.shtml

http://www.sirenian.org/amazonian.html

Class Amphibia (e.g. Poison Frog)

horsechic4bibis — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:58:14 CDT

It's Not Easy Being Green!!
By: Elizabeth F.

Hey guys, I'm Kermit. My scientific name is Dendrobates auratus, but most people call me a green a nd black poison frog. I live in South America, and it is so hot down here! I guess that's a good thing because I'm cold blooded. I would never be able to survive in Alaska with those polar bears and moose. They are some crazy animals be able to survive up there.

I am in the phylum Chordata because I have a spinal chord, and I am in the subphylum Vertebrate because I have a spine. A spine is a column of bones that support my back and protects my spinal chord. It helps support my body and stretches from my posterior end right above my anus to my cranium. My spinal chord also stretches this length. It is a dorsal nerve chord, and it is the main nerve chord in my body. I am also in the phylum Chordata because at one point in my life I had a tail that passed my anus, but that eventually dissappeared. I also have a notochord, or an endoskeleton in vertebrates, during some point in my life.

Next, I am in the class Amphibia because I begin my life in the water, where I breathe with gills. The second stage of my life is spent on land, where I breathe with lungs. I am also considered an Amphibian because my skin has no scales and produces a mucus that helps protect me. Like I mentioned earlier, I am ectothermic, or cold-blooded. I perform external fertilization, but other Amphibians are able to carry out internal fertilization as well. The reason I am not considered a reptile is because I do not have claws on my toes. Finally, I am classified as an Amphibian because I have a three-chambered heart with two atrium and one ventricle.

I began as an egg. My mom laid my siblings and I on a leaf, and immediately my dad fertilized us. When we hatched, my dad put us on his back and carried us to a large body of water where we grew and developed. Once we had developed our lungs and legs, we climbed out of the water and have been living on land ever since.

Oh yeah, I am a tetrapod, which means I have four limbs, and according to scientists my four legs evolved from pectoral and pelvic fins. I know, pretty interesting, huh? But anyways, my skin is very moist and produces a mucus that helps to protect me. My skin is also very poisonous. Scientists believe that the reason I am so poisonous is because of the bacteria and insects that I eat. I don't know if that's true. I don't know whether the bugs I eat are poisonous or not, I just eat them because they taste good. The poison probably gives it an extra zing.

Oh my gosh! I almost forgot to mention that I am in the kingdom Animalia. Wow, that's the biggest one, and I almost forgot about it! Anyways, I perform all of the life functions that are required for an organism to be considered part of the Animal Kingdom.

Functions:

Feeding: When I was a tadpole, I was a filter feeder and an herbivore. I ate algae, and I was
always eating. I guess that's why I grew so quickly. When I developed into an adult, my digestive system changed to break down strictly meat. Now I eat insects and spiders.

Respiration: During my lifetime, I perform two different kinds of respiration. At the beginning of my life I breathe through gills because my habitat is in the water. When I became an adult, I developed lungs and used those to breathe. I am also able to absorb some oxygen through my skin.

Circulation: My circulatory system forms what scientists call a double loop. The first loop carries oxygen-poor blood from the heart to the lungs and skin, and takes oxygen-rich blood from the lungs and skin back to the heart. The second loop transports oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the rest of the body back to the heart. My heart has only three chambers unlike mammals, which have four. During circulation, oxygen-poor blood is pumped into the right atrium. At the same time, oxygen-rich blood from the lungs and skin enters the left atrium. When the atria contract, they empty their blood into the ventricle. The ventricle then contracts, pumping blood out to a single, large blood vessel that divides and branches off into smaller blood vessels. (Miller, Levine)

Excretion: Amphibians have kidneys that filter wastes from the blood. The urine that is produced by the kidneys travels to the cloaca and out of the body. The cloaca is used for excretion and reproduction.

Reproduction: My mother laid us on a leaf where my dad immediately fertilized us. As we developed in our eggs, my dad would keep us moist by filling his cloaca with water and then depositing it on us. When it was time for us to hatch into tadpoles, my dad nudged us with his back legs to help us hatch. When we had finished hatching, he transported us on his back to a nearby body of water where we were left to finish developing.

Movement: When my brothers, sisters, and I were tadpoles, we moved around similarily to fish. Because we had tales, we were able to propel ourselves through the water with these by swishing them from right to left. Now I use my fours legs to move around. I don't walk like most four legged animals; I jump. My hind legs are specially built for this, and I am able to clear large distances with one hop. My toes also have mini suction cups on the bottom, and these enable me to climb things in my habitat such as trees.

Response: My brain has the same basic parts as that of a fish. I have a well-developed nervous and sensory system. My eyes are large and can move around in my sockets. They are protected from damage by a transparent nictitating membrane that is located inside the regular eyelid and can be closed over the eye. I hear through tympanic membranes, or eardrums, located on each side of my head right behind my eyes.

Bibliography

Desert Vista High School, "Chordates." Desert Vista High School. 29 Apr 2008 http://staff.tuhsd.k12.az.us/gfoster/standard/bverts.htm.

Miller, Jessica. "Amphibian Orders." Livingunderworld.org. livingunderworld.org. 23 Apr 2008 http://www.livingunderworld.org/anura/database/dendrobatidae/dendrobates/auratus/.

Miller, Kenneth R., and Joseph Levine. Biology. Student ed.. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2006.

Order Anura (e.g. Red-Eyed Tree Frog)

JKane — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:42:30 CDT

Hello, I am a Litoria chloris. When my friends ask for my name, I tell them Red-Eyed Tree Frog, but then I can't help but tell them my scientific classification. I am very proud of my scientific classification. I am of the phylum Chordates because I have a hollow dorsal nerve chord, a notochord, pharyngeal pouches, and, though you can only see it when I'm just a little tadpole, a tail extending beyond the anus. Unlike the tasty insects that I am very skilled at catching, if I do say so myself, I have a backbone putting me in the subphylum Vertabrata. Amphibian means double life, and that is exactly what I have. I live in water as a tadpole, then when I grow up I leave all my friends in the water and develop lungs to breath on land. I have moist, light-green skin great for blending in with leaves. The mucous gland I have works to keep my skin moist. I think it would be pretty awesome to have scales and claws, but I don't really need them so I don't have any. All of these traits put me in the class Amphibia. I am of the Order Anura because of my advanced ability to jump, which definitely comes in handy when a frog like me jumps to catch an insect in mid-air. Yum insects! I love to eat grasshoppers, crickets, and, when I'm feeling a little cannibalistic, I even like to eat other frogs, but my absolute favorite is definitely moths. I'm so glad I've grown out of the diet I had when I was young and had to either filter feed or eat little bits of algae. I had to have a long, coiled structure in my digestive system to help me break down all that algae . Now I have shorter intestines, a strictly meat feeding apparatus and digestive tract to help me with all those moths.My digestive system is set up like this: a yummy moth slides down my esophagus into my stomach. From the stomach it goes to the small intestine where digestive enzymes are manufactured and food is absorbed. Tubes connect the intestine with my liver, pancreas, and gallbladder which secrete important substances. What is left of the moth goes to the large intestine and out through my cloaca where multiple things leave my body. Besides what was left of my moth, both urine (which is an excretory product of the kidneys that help filter the blood of wastes) and eggs leave my body through my cloaca. I am a female and during the summer months I come out of my safe home high in the trees to respond to the "waa-aa...waa-aa" calls of males, which can be unbearably loud to humans. I mate externally, and the male fertilizes my eggs as they are deposited. I must lay my eggs (which consist of an embryo surround by a jelly-filled membrane and a gel cover) safely on the underside of leaves right above pools on the ground so that when my babies, brown tadpoles, hatch they fall directly into the water. At this point I leave them to fend for themselves. When my babies hatch, they start out as tadpoles, but must metamorphose before the pools dry out. They gradually grow limbs, lose both tail and gills, and adjust their digestive systems to solely meat. My babies, as young frogs, start out a mustard color then turn green later on. I remember when I had gills as a tadpole for gas exchange. Now as an adult, I use lungs. This well suits the change from living in water to living on land. As an adult and when I am young, I breath a little bit through my skin. Breathing brings oxygen to my blood. My blood is pumped through a three-chambered heart which includes a left and right atrium and a ventricle. My circulatory system forms a double loop. My first loop carries oxygen-poor blood from my heart to my lungs and skin. It then takes oxygen-rich blood from the lungs and skin back to the heart through my left atrium. My second loop transports oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the rest of the body. It then carries oxygen-poor blood from the body back to my heart through the right atrium. When my atria come together inside my heart, they empty my blood into my ventricle. The ventricle contracts, pumping blood into a single vessel that divides and branches into smaller vessels. Although there is some mixing of oxygen-rich and poor blood, most oxygen-poor blood goes to the lungs, and most oxygen-rich blood goes to the rest of my body. My body, let me tell you about my body. When I was young, just a small tadpole, I moved like a fish, wiggling and using a flattened tail. I now have well-developed hind limbs for jumping long distances as all frogs do. Unlike other frogs, however, I have highly-refined discs on my toes, much like suction cups, which serve me well in climbing trees, leaves, or whatever I want. A frog like me has to be careful climbing trees. I've heard plenty of horror stories from my fellow frogs of frogs being eaten by bats, snakes, or birds. A frog really has to use its brain. My brain has well-developed nervous and sensory systems. My eyes are the biggest pride of my sensory organs. They can move around in their sockets, spot and respond to tasty moths, and they are a brilliant, bright red which is where I get my name from. The surface of my eyes are protected from damage underwater and kept moist by a transparent nictating membrane which is covered by a regular (if anything about me is "regular") eyelid. My ear is a tympanic membrane, located on each side of my head. In response to the external stimulus of sound, my tympanic membrane vibrates, sending sound waves to my skull and inner ear.
Sometimes its hard living two lives, but throughout the years I think I've adapted pretty well, don't you?

Works Cited

Circulatory System. Digital Frog International Inc.. Picture.

<http://www.digitalfrog.com/resources/froggallery .html>, 2008.

Dorota. "Red Eyed Tree Frog." Frogland. 2006. AllAboutFrogs. 27 Apr 2008

<http://allaboutfrogs.org/info/species/redeye.html>.

Internal Anatomy. Donna Juffer Williams . Picture. Brandon Valley Middle School.

<http://dj003.k12.sd.us/science%20labs/dissection/frog%20dissection .html>, 2008.

Miller, Kenneth R., and Joseph S. Levine. Biology. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River,

New Jersey and Needham, Massachusetts: Pearson Education Inc., 2006.

Metamorph. Focus on Frogs. Picture. <http://www.wildsuburbia.net/html/frg/frg_red

_eye.htm>, 2008.

Red-eyed tree frog Tree frogs are found on every continent except Antarctica. Klein

/Still Pictures. Picture. <http://www.newint.org/issue378/life.htm>, 2005.

"Red-eyed Tree Frog Fact File ." Wildlife of Sydney. 2007. Australian Museum. 27 Apr 2008

<http://www.faunanet.gov.au/wos/factfile.cfm?Fact_ID=275>.

Red-eyed Tree Frog. Picture. <http://www.rfadventures.com/amphibians.htm>, 2008. Red-Eyed Tree Frog Printout. EnchantedLearning.com . Picture. <http://www.

enchantedlearning.com/cgibin/paint/aGTH3uaTiMuaTQCtaTfvaTPhDaTw pEaR2UufzCCIfzkdTfTnHtaTa0DaaNejfjEjjbG67baGlDkaGQWbaGPQBa Gq2taGacMazE7KfGTVkaGrJiG/subjects/amphibians/redeyedtreefrog.html>, 2001-2008.

Tadpole. Focus on Frogs. Picture. <http://www.wildsuburbia.net/html/frg/frg_red_eye.htm>, 2008.

Order - Rodentia (e.g. Chipmunks)

chelseag — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:10:46 CDT

By: Chelsea Gatterdam

My name is Tamias speciosus, but most people call me Theodore. I am also more commonly known as a Lodgepole Chipmunk. My colors may not be original, but I look beautiful in three neutral colors, brown, black, and white! I live in open-canopy forests with a mix of shrubs and trees. I'm the cutest thing at about five to six inches long.

Phylum Chordata
I may be little but I'm classified under the large phylum of chordata. They like to call me that because I have bilateral symmetry, a segmented body with legs and claws, and a bushy tail. Inside me I'm classified as a chordata because I have an endoskeleton, a coelem, a hollow nerve cord, closed blood system, a well developed anterior end, also known as the brain, for my superior knowledge, and a complete digestive system for all the delicious food I eat.

Subphylum Vertebrata
Those humans then started calling me more names, saying I was part of the subphylum vertebrata. I guess that means I'm special because only two percent of animal species are vertebrates. They like to call me a verterbrate because I have a spinal column held together by strong ligaments. I also fall into this subphylum because I am built of many tissues and organs that I use for different functions, have a very complex nervous system for me to move about quickly.

Class Mammalia
More specifically than a vertebrate, I'm a mammal. I'm a mammal because I feed my precious young milk through my mammary glands, homeothermic, meaning I have a stable body temperature, and have a beautiful fur coat that everyone wants. I have a high metabolism to keep my slim and trim, a four chambered heart, a more complex lung, a jaw with jaw joint, and two sets of teeth to chew the acorns and other things I munch on.

Order Rodentia
Being as popular as I am, I am also part of the order rodentia. Rodentia is the largest order in the class of mammals, representing forty-three percent. The characteristic that sets us apart are our teeth. I have one pair of upper incisors, and one pair of lower incisors. These incisors have a thick enamel with a large gap in the tooth rows. These teeth grow continually throughout my life. I have no canines and rarely more than twenty-two teeth.

Seven Functions of Survival
As being considered part of the phylum chordata, subphylum vertebrata, and class mammalia, I carry out the seven functions for needed for survival: feeding, respiration, circulation, excretion, response, movement, and reproduction.

Feeding
As chipmunks are known, I too love to eat, stuffing my cheeks with all sorts of food. I'm an omnivore because I eat both plants and small organisms considered animals. I prefer seeds, nuts, acorns, and fruits or berries because I need five servings a day. However, I also eat slugs, insects, spiders, nestling birds, eggs, mice and even some small snakes. I pick up most of my food off the the floor of the woods, but I also climb trees to find my favorite nuts and berries. I eat as I please, but I always remember to store enough in my burrow to get me through the winter. With my razor sharp teeth I can easily chew through anything.

Respiration
Like most everyone, it's usually good if I'm breathing. My complex lungs are pumped by two sets of muscles. I use my strong chest muscles to pull air in and push air out. I can do this by moving my ribs up and down to either increase or decrease the size of my chest cavity. My diaphragm, a muscular wall seperating two cavities, contracts, pulling the bottom of my chest cavity downward. This increases my cavity size and allows fesh air to rush into my lungs.

Circulation
Like mentioned as one of my classfication characteristics, I have a closed circulatory system made up of many pumps and blood vessels. My four chambered heart sends deoxygenated blood to my lungs. From my lungs, my blood travels back to my heart and I pump the rest of it throughout my body and by way of blood vessels. By seperating circuits, one moves blood to and from my lungs and the other to and from the rest of my body.

Excretion
Being a chipmunk, I have one of the most highly developed kidneys. This is important to me as it controls the composition of my body fluids. My kidneys take my nitrogenous wastes from my blood in the form of urea. Urea, water, other body wastes form into urine, then carried to my urinary bladder. This is stored in my urinary bladder until it leaves my body. Solid wastes are excreted through my anus. As wonderful as it is for me to tell you this, we all do it.

Response
I'm not just saying this because I'm a chipmunk, but us chipmunks are very smart with highly developed brains. My brain is made up of three parts, the cerebrum, cerebellum, and medulla. My cerebrum controls the behaviors of learning, thinking, and understanding. Living amongst larger animals, it is important that my cerebellum coordinates my movements effeciantly. Lastly, my medulla keeps me alive by making sure my body functions are taking place, my heart rate is normal, and that I'm breathing. I have very well developed senses so I can gather information from my surroundings. My best responses to any danger are my teeth and fast running to get away,

Movement
I have the ability of quick, lightning fast movement. I may have short, little limbs, but I run on my four agile legs. It is said that I can run fifteen feet per second. You can always tell when I'm in a real hurry because I run with my tail straight up in the air. My movement can sometimes be seen as spastic and kind of comical as I pop up and speed off again.

Reproduction
The other chipmunks and I reproduce internally. Nutrients, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and wastes are exchanged through my placenta while embryos are placed there. The placenta allows the embryo to develop longer inside me for the thirty day gestation period. Our mating season occurs in May and June after we emerge from hibernation, so the breeding takes place near a female's burrow. Males often compete for us females. At the end of our gestation period, female lodgepole chipmunks give birth to between four and six naked, blind young.

Works Cited

Chipmunk 1. Digital. 2007.

Chipmunk Cheeks. Digital. 2006.

Chipmunk on Tree. Digital. 2008.

"CHIPMUNKS Genus Tamias ." 14 Sep 2001. 29 Apr 2008 <http://www.montereybay.com/creagrus/chipmunks.html>.

Circulatory Paths in Vertebrates. Digital. 2005.

"The life of the chipmunk animal." eSSORTMENT. 2002. 29 Apr 2008 <http://www.essortment.com/all/chipmunkanimal_rzkd.htm>.

"Lodgepole Chipmunk (Tamias speciosus speciosus)." Southern California Camping. 29 Apr 2008 <http://www.socalcamping.com/fieldguide/mammal/lodgepolechipmonk.html>.

Lower Jaw. Digital. 2007.

Myers, Phil. "Order Rodentia." Animal Discovery Web. 2008. 29 Apr 2008 http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Rodentia.html.

Newborn Chipmunks. Digital. 2008.

"Rodents: Rodentia - Physical Characteristics." 2008. 29 Apr 2008 http://animals.jrank.org/pages/3344/Rodents-Rodentia-PHYSICAL-CHARACTERISTICS.html.

Running Chipmunk. Digital. 2008.

Skeleton Diagram. Digital. 2006.

Order Testudines (e.g. Snapping Turtle)

phillipprovost — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:46:41 CDT

Background Information On Alligator Snapping Turtle

I belong to the class Testudines, my scientific name is Macrochelys temminchii, also know as a Alligator Snapping Turtle. I am large, with a long heavy head, and three dorsal ridges and I have large scales that give the appearance of making me look like a dinosaur. I can be immediately distinguished from the common snapping turtle by having three rows of plates and spikes that are raised on my carapace or shell, and regular snapping turtles are smooth on there carapace. My colors are usually gray, yellow, or olive green that are all usually covered though with algae. My eyes are covered with a yellow tint all around to give myself camouflage from other animals.

As a testudines, my body is made up of a bony shell that gives me protection from other predators. My ribs and vertebrate are fused to the upper part of my shell. As having a vertebrate that spans the length of my whole body and into my tail, it allows me enable my muscles and helps me move muscles throughout my body. I am some what though of a terrestrial animal. I am considered though aquatic because I live most of the time under water fishing for fish so that I can eat. Although I live most of the time in the water, I only come up out of the water to lay my eggs.

Seven characteristics of what I live by:

The seven characteristics that I have to live by to be able to live are Feeding, Respiration, circulation, Excretion, Response, Movement, and Reproduction.

Reproduction:
During reproduction, I mount to the back of the female. I grasps her shell with all four of my feet and inseminate her. The eggs that my mate lays on land are about fifty yards from the water take about nine to eleven weeks to hatch. When the eggs are first laid they are amniotic that have a yoke and a egg white that eventually turn into baby turtles. When the baby turtles hatch they are about two to three inches long.

Feeding:
The way that I feed is by being a scavenger and an active hunter. Most of the time I look for food during the night. During the day, I usually lie quietly in the bottom of a dark body of water and open my jaws to reveal a small pink worm like lure in the back of my gray mouth. The lure attracts fish, and when the fish enters my jaws, I either swallow the fish whole, or slice it in two by the sharp jaws that I have, or even impale the fish with the sharp tips of my upper and lower jaws. I eat any kind of fish and I also eat frogs, snakes, snails, worms, clams, crayfish, aquatic plants, and other turtles. I feed year round by taking advantage of those warm winter days that do not come very often to search for food.

Respiration:
The only way that I can breath is by flexing the membrane located across from the rear part of my shell behind my lungs. By using my abdominal muscles, I inhale by pulling the membrane back and exhale by pulling the membrane forward. The action that I perform compresses or expands the lungs in my body. But this is the way that I breathe out of the water. The way that I breathe when I come up from the bottom of the water is by exhaling passively using pressure and I inhale actively.

Circulation:
My circulatory system consist of a three chambered heart, veins, and arteries. The blood that is pumped from my heart is pumped out and divided into my two lungs. Once the blood is in my lungs it is oxygenated. The blood from the left lung flows to three main arteries in my body. These three main arteries are brachiocephalic and the two aortic arches, which direct the blood into my head, neck, limbs, tail and many other important organs. All the blood that is pumped to the vital areas is pumped back to my heart through my veins and the process is repeated.

Excretion:
I eat food just like all the other animals and humans in this world. Once I have eaten my food and it digest through my body. All the food that my body did not take in was moved through my digestive system to my anus and excreted out of my body.

Response to the enviroment:
Bening a Alligator snapping turtle I am native to the southeastern region of the United States. I am confined to the river systems that drain into the Gulf of Mexico. I generally live in the deep water of large rivers, canals, lakes, and swamps and I espically like the muddy bottoms of freshwater lakes.

How I Move:
The way that I move is by pushing my self through the water with my feet. I use them like humans use there feet. I kick and push them to create push and that prople me through the water. When on land though I walk on all four of my feet at a slow a peachful pace.

Got to Go:
Well I am glad that I got to give you all this great information on me. I hope that it helped you understand who I am and how my body works, how I live and act in the enviroment that I live in, and what I look like.

Biblography

"Alligator Snapping Turtle ." Discovery Channel October 5th 2007 April 29th 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIeL0g8GpXM.
Miles, Les. "alligator snapping turtle photo." Cryptomoundo. 29 Apr 2008 http://www.cryptomundo.com/wp-content/Alligator_snapping_tu.jpg.
"alligator snapping turtle information." Hardware Outdoors. March 3rd 2003 . 29 Apr 2008 http://reptile.new21.org/dk/turtle/alligator-snapping-turtle.jpg.
Freeman, Frank. "Photo of the Week." Alligator snapping turtle. september 1st 2002. 29 Apr 2008 http://www.brownlog.dreamhost.com/photooftheweek/2002/2002q3/20020901.jpg.

Order Squamata (e.g. King Cobra)

PatrickN33 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:42:27 CDT

By: PatrickN

My name is Ophiophagus hannah. I am the world's longest venomous snake. Really I am not a true cobra. I am longer than a real cobra. I can be from 13ft. up to 18ft. That is longer than most crocodiles! My fangs are half an inch long. I shed my skin 4-6 times a year as an adult. I have very good eyesight. I am able to see up to 330ft. away. I am able to hear through my skin and jawbone. I taste and smell with my forked tongue. I am actually more intelligent than true cobras. I have a life span of 20 years.
I live throughout Southeast Asia from India to southern China to Malaysia, from Indonesia to the Philippines.
I am generally found in dense or open rainforests, as well as mangrove swamps, bamboo thickets, savannas, and even around human settlements. I am an excellent swimmer and I am often found near streams. I am often found in mountainous regions of India, up to altitudes of 6500 ft above sea level. I hunt during the day and during the night.
I do not have the typical diet of rodents like most snakes. My diet is composed solely of reptiles, mostly other snakes. I usually prey upon non-venomous snakes. I will also prey upon Indian cobras and even smaller king cobras. I will also feed on lizards.

Feeding: I hunt for my food by smelling the air with my forked tongue. When I find a prey, I will rear up to 1/3 my body length and strike. If my prey flees, I am able to follow in this upright position for long distances. When I catch my prey, muscles send the venom from the glands, through the fangs, and into the victim. I then swallow my catch whole and I usually don’tfeed again for several weeks.

Reproduction: I reach sexual maturity at 5-6 years of age. The breeding season begins in January, and is evidenced by me shedding my skin. In females, the shedding releases pheromones, which help me find a female. When we find each other, I will entwine my body around the female, and we may stay in that position for several hours. My sperm eventually fertilizes the eggs, and the female becomes pregnant. The female can store the sperm for several years, using it to impregnate herself several times. The female lays 20-50 white eggs two months after mating. The eggs are laid in a nest made during the two month period. We are the only snakes that make nests. After a 60-70 day incubation period, the eggs hatch. Just before the juveniles emerge, the female abandons them, possibly to keep her from eating her young. That is sacrifice you can make for your babies.

Response: When I feel threatened or if I am hungry I will rear my head back about 1/3 my body length and strike sinking my ½ inch fangs into my prey. Then I release the venom. The venom is a neurotoxin, and in humans can cause pain, swelling, hypertension, nausea, abdominal pain, drowsiness, limb paralysis, unconsciousness, and finally death. The symptoms begin to show 15-30 minutes after the attack. So you don’t want to be bitten by me. I can sense thing by using my tongue.

Excretion: I excrete venom through my fangs. I also excrete waste.

Movement: I move like most snakes, on my belly. When I am being challenged by something I will stay in an upright position for some time. I use my muscles to move on the ground.

Respiration: I breathe like most mammals do.

Circulation: I also have the same circulatory system as most mammals.

"King Cobra." Angel Fire. 28 Apr 2008 http://www.angelfire.com/mo2/animals1/snake/kingcobra.html.

"King Cobra." 28 Apr 2008 http://www.kostich.com/king%20cobra%20body.jpg.

"King Cobra Eating." RobCarmichaelReptiles. 28 Apr 2008 http://robcarmichaelreptiles.com/wp-content/plugins/rndimgdisplayer/randomimages/King_Cobra_Eating.png.

Class Mammalia (e.g. Dolphin)

mks722 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:38:07 CDT

Class Mammalia: From Mice to Men

My name is Tursiops truncatus. That's just my scientific name though. It's too hard to remember and impossible to spell. Well, it is for me at least, and I'm a pretty smart animal. So you can just call my kind the Bottle-nose Dolphin. Just to prove to you how naturally bright I am, I'm going to tell you all about just what makes me, a sea creature, a mammal. Before I get into that, though, I'm going to give you some background info on the class mammalia, or for the less bright ones out there, mammals.

This would be my friend, Lily, and I just showing off a few of our synchronized flips. I'm the one on the left. I know, I know. I got skills!

Characteristics of Mammals

The class of mammals, out of all the classes, is considered the most advanced class. Mammals vary greatly in size and contain many animals, including humans, dolphins, mice, etc. The shrew, which weighs less than some insects and has a body that is only a little more than 2 inches long, is the smallest mammal. On the other side of the spectrum, the blue whale is the largest mammal, which can sometimes weigh as much as 130 tons and measure up to 100 feet long. Appearance and shape are characteristics that differ throughout the class. You may just think of mammals as animals that walk on four legs, but not all of them do. Some mammals fly. Mammals such as dolphins and whales have even taken fish-like shapes and spend their entire lives in the ocean. Pretty amazing how different one class can be!

This is a picture of the smallest mammal, the elephant shrew.

This is a picture of the largest mammal, the blue whale.

So now you may be wondering "What exactly is a mammal?". Well, I have an answer for you. All mammals are vertebrates, which means they are animals with backbones. Another characteristic common throughout the mammal's class is that they all have lungs, breathe in air, and are warm-blooded, which means that they are able to maintain a constant body temperature regardless of the outside temperature, kind of like a thermostat. Mammals and birds share a common characteristic. That is the possession of four-chambered hearts that circulate blood efficiently to all parts of the body. Most mammals (there are two types that lay eggs) give birth to living young and provide protection and care for them before and after birth. Mammals are the only animals that possess true hair and the capacity to produce milk. In fact, the word "mammal" comes from the Latin word "mamma" which means "breast".

A mother gorilla nursing her baby. A diagram of a mammal's heart.

Mammals have other characteristics too that aren't so obvious. For instance, a mammal's heart and lungs are separated from the stomach by a wall of muscle called the diaphragm. A mammal's lower jaw has a single bone on each side. Mammals also have different types of teeth adapted to different uses. And most importantly, mammal brains are much more highly developed than the brains of any other animal. Which is how I'm able to tell you all this cool stuff that make us part of the same class.

Diagram of a mammal's brain.

Mammals have had great advantages throughout time. The mammal's warm blood, superior intelligence, and the improved methods of caring for young are just a few characteristics that make mammals what many scientists consider as the dominant animals of the world.

An adult male human taking care of his adorable baby.

Yet we mammals didn't start out immediately as mammals. Strange as it may seem, we rose from the reptile family. A branch of reptiles began to grow coats of hair instead of their rough skin and slowly turned warm-blooded during the Mesozoic era. Some of them began to keep eggs inside their bodies instead of laying eggs. The first mammals were probably very tiny and timid creatures, and could be compared to today's rats and mice. They were nocturnal and hid for protection during the day. When conditions of the Earth gradually changed, the dinosaurs could not adapt to this dramatic shift, so their numbers grew smaller and smaller. When they died out, the more adaptable mammals later arose in the Miocene epoch.

One of our supposed reptile ancestors. A strange little thing if you ask me. Hard to believe we came from him.

Between 3500 and 5000 species of mammals live in the world today and more varieties under them. Many of these animals can trace their lineage to their ancestors that adapted and survived through the Ice Age. Now, mammals have developed in a bewildering variety of sizes and shapes, classified by scientists according to body structure and relationships. In all, under the mammal kingdom, there are now 18 different groups or orders.

Chart of all mammals.

Here is a video that summarizes all the characteristics of mammals.

Characteristics of Dolphins

Now, I'm going to get into the characteristics of my favorite type of mammal, me (dolphins)! We are marine mammals. This means that we have all the characteristics of mammals explained above. Dolphins are warm-blooded, have some fur (more like whiskers really), give live birth, make milk for our babies, breathe air, and live in salt water. (However, some of my friends who are other kinds of dolphins live in fresh water, but that's an exception. They march to the beat of their own drum if you know what I mean.) A dolphin is definitely not a fish.

We get quite offended when you call us that, so try to keep it all straight. Think of it as if we got you humans all mixed up with gorillas or monkeys. I don't think you would appreciate that very much and you would probably think we're a little dumb if we got that confused. Well, that's how we feel. Anyways, back to the characteristics. We are actually small whales, and are in the same family as killer whales and pilot whales. Bottle-nose dolphins are usually eight to nine feet long, and the males are normally bigger than the females. Our skin is a (beautiful) grayish color, with a lighter belly. When the air and water are very warm, my belly may turn light pink (Dolphins get "sun burnt" too. Don't think you're the only ones!). My skin feels rubbery, and I have a pretty thick layer of blubber underneath to keep me warm. Dolphins weigh around 400-500 pounds (Don't be thinking I'm fat. Blubber weighs a lot!).

I have to come up to the surface of the water regularly because I breathe air. I do only have one nostril, located on the top of my head which is called a blowhole. We dolphins use this blowhole to breathe, but we have no sense of smell! This is a definate bummer because I heard I smell quite good. A dolphin’s flippers actually have finger-like bones inside! Scientists believe that we used to be land animals. Their theory is that 50-60 million years ago, we (the supposed land animal version) started living in the water so we could catch fish easier. As we became better swimmers, they think we became more like how we are today, and less like land animals. Today, they believe we still have finger bones because we used to have arms and legs on land! A way that you can tell the difference between me and a shark or fish is that my tail fluke, or fin, is not perpendicular, or up and down, like a fish or a shark. Instead, the fluke spreads out side to side. When I swim, I push my tail fluke up and down to help me dive or leap out of the water. That's how I do all those cool tricks like the one in the picture at the top of this page and some more you've yet to see.

Here is a diagram of a dolphin's body.

Here's a little rhyme to help you make the connection between dolphins and mammals.

Dolphin Rhyme

We are both mammals

You and me

Your home is on land

My home is the sea

I can dive deep

I can jump high

And if you're

In a boat

I just might swim by
Rhyme created by M. Vogel

This is me (of course) on my vacation in the Gulf of Mexico last summer.

I'm the one front and center. Lily's to my left and our other friend, Anthony, is to my right.

This picture above and the one below are perhaps the coolest pictures of me and my posse ever taken. We like to ride the waves in. Maybe impress a few humans in the process.

Another picture of me being graceful.

Works Cited

http://www.crystalinks.com/dolphin.html http://eprentice.sdsu.edu/j041/kvogel/kv_t.html http://rarepicsaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2007/09/gdhdg.html http://www.weeksbay.org/photo_gallery/mammals/coastal_mammals.htm http://www.pelletlab.com/p_m_charts.shtml http://www.guitarboi.net/2007/11/16/clicking-work-time/ http://mymarinebiologyhome.blogspot.com/2007/12/adaptations-reptiles.html http://pro.corbis.com/search/Enlargement.aspx?CID=isg&mediauid=850C7ED8-F71C-4B4C-9434-982A319A4134 http://pages.slc.edu/~ebj/IM_97/Lecture10/L10.html

Order Chiroptera (e.g. Hoary Bat)

rachaelb047 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:34:26 CDT

Hoary Bat
by Rachael Brizzard

I am Lasiurus cinereus. I am also known as the Hoary bat but my real name is Harriet.
Most humans are afraid of bats but they shouldn't be. We're not scary and we won't bother you, but you should think of us like batman because were only here to help you. I come from the Class Mammalia because I have the characteristics of a mammal. I am able to live up to over 30 years in the wild. As a bat, my main purpose is to conserve heat. I hibernate in the winter, and i cluster with other bats while roosting to reduce heat loss. I have thick, long, soft hair that covers my entire dorsal surface extending to my elbow, the undersides of my wings, the upper arm, forearm and my tail membrane. My dorsal area ,including my tail, is a mixed brown-gray with a heavy white tinge, giving me a frosty appearance. My individual silky hairs are dark, yellow with white tips. My throat, elbows, my clawed thumb and my upper arm all have a yellow patch. My ears are yellow with black edges. My think fur help provides excellent insulation, which helps me survive in cold temperatures, and it helps me become camouflaged so I can hide from danger.

My Classification
I am from the Class Mammalia.There is approximately 925 species of living bats, this makes up around 20% of all known living mammal species. In some tropical areas, there are more species of bats than of all other kinds of mammals combined. So this makes us very populated animals! I am in the phylum Chordata because I have a spinal chord, and I am in the subphylum Vertebrate because I have a backbone. A spinal cord is a dorsal nerve cord. My flight membrane usually extends down my sides of my body and attaches to my hind legs. My tail membrane is called a uropatagium. In order for me to have my amazing flight muscles, the thoracic region of my body is quite vigorous.

The Difference Between Bats and Birds
Many humans confuse us with birds but in fact we have many different characteristics.These characteristics are what makes us bats be part of the mammal class. I may have wings and can fly but I'm not a bird. Unlike birds, I have fur and my babies are born live. My babies nurse from my mammary glands instead of getting food from my mouth. I also have hands, legs, and feet and a bird does not. I am also warm blooded. We can fly in different ways too! We can hover like hummingbirds while feeding on nectar, and we can soar in the air like eagles. Among vertebrates, bats, as well as birds, we have been able to conquer the beautiful blue skies in active flight because of back bones that enables us to have wings.

Location, Location, Location!
We live throughout the world from the Americas, southern Canada to central Chile and Argentina but my favorite place to live in is Hawaii (Aloha!). The tropical breeze and the sounds of the waves crashing back and forth is a sound i love to hear. Even though I have a great fur coat to keep me warm I prefer to live in warmer climates thats another reason why I love Hawaii. While living in these areas I have a preference for coniferous versus broad leaf trees. I like trees at the edge of clearings, but i sometimes live in my houses in the heavy forests with open wooded glades and shaded trees.

Feeding
My favorite type of food is insects from moths to mosquitoes. I can eat up to 600 to 1000 mosquitoes

Respiration
I am like a human because I breathe air through my lungs. I breathe in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide.

Circulation
Since I am a mammal, I have a double-loop circulatory system, a four chambered heart and blood vessels that pump blood throughout my body.

Excretion
I have kidneys that break down the insects and other food that I eat. My kidneys are made of small filtering tubes that remove wastes from my blood. Food enters my mouth, is digested in my stomach, and my waste products exit my body through my anus.

Response
My skull is large about 16 mm long with a large auditory bullae. I have large, strong teeth, with the first premolar located at the inner junction of the large canine. This enables me to chew my prey up. I also use echolocation while flying. I make shrills, and hissing sounds when something disturbs me. I am only of the only bats that makes an clear chatter during flight. I do not rely on vision because I have small eyes.

This video shows both Response and Movement.
Movement
I enjoy flying in the sky and I occasionally ,with some of my bat friends, race to see who can fly the highest and fastest its a came we like to call "bat topia." I am able to fly with the help of my hands and wings. While I flap my wings, I can go up or down by moving my membrane between my body and my fifth finger. This movement is called lift. When I move forward its called thrust by changing my shape of my membrane between my second and fifth fingers. While hunting, we use the techniques of soaring and gliding to find and catch our prey.

Reproduction
Hoary bats, such as myself, mate around the time of autumn migration. Copulation occurs before, during, or after the southward migration. Copulation is followed by delayed fertilization, a process in which the sperm is stored in the female reproductive tract all winter and is available to fertilize the egg when ovulation takes place in the spring. My litter size is usually two, but can range from one to four. I am able to give birth to my young while hanging upside down in the leafy shelter of my daytime retreat. My new babies skin is brown, darker on the body than on the wings, and lighter beneath. The throat and head are much paler and their feet are nearly black. Fine, silver-gray hair covers their dorsal area. The hoary bat's ears and eyes are closed at birth and open on days three and twelve, respectively. Purposeful flight is possible for the infants by the thirty third day. The young cling to their mothers in the day, while she sleeps, and hang on a twig or leaf while she hunts at night. All bats live on milk from birth up to six months of age. I feed my babies with my mammary glands.

I hope you enjoyed learning about bats and how they aren't hurtful. We are amazing creatures each and everyone of us. Now, I have to get back to the race. Ta Ta for now and don't forget my names Harriet and just make a shrill when you need me and I will be sure to come.

Works Cited
Wund, M. and P. Myers. 2005. "Chiroptera" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 21, 2008 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Chiroptera.html.

Anderson, S. 2002. "Lasiurus cinereus" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 21, 2008 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Lasiurus_cinereus.html

http://www.bats4kids.org/

http://www.avianweb.com/bats.html

http://www.hww.ca/hww2p.asp?id=63&cid=8

http://www.infovisual.info/02/064_en.html

http://www.tooter4kids.com/Bats/Facts.htm

CHS Animal Kingdom - Recently Updated Pages

Phylum Chordata

Contributors

Order Lepidoptera (e.g. Blue Butterfly)

Order Xenarthra(e.g. armadillo)

Subphylum Trilobite (e.g. Trilobite)

Order Odonata (e.g. Dragonfly)

Class Cephalaspidomorphi (e.g. Lamprey)

Order Proboscidea (e.g. Asian Elephant)

The Seven Functions of Elephants

Interesting Facts

Asian elephants once ranged from Irag in the west, throughout Asia southe of the Himalayas to northern China!

Just as humans are right or left handed, elephants are either right or left tusked!

Asian elephants have been used by humans for over 5,000 years as beasts of burden, in warfare and in ceremonial activities.

An infant elephant is cared for by its mother and other females called "aunties" in the herd.

Order Artiodactyla (e.g. White-tailed Deer)

Order Monotremata (e.g. Platypus)

Class Myxini (e.g. Hagfish)

Order Insectivora (e.g. Hedgehog)

Subphylum Cephalochordata (e.g. Lancelet)

Order Sirenia (e.g. Manatee)

Class Amphibia (e.g. Poison Frog)

Order Anura (e.g. Red-Eyed Tree Frog)

Order - Rodentia (e.g. Chipmunks)

Order Testudines (e.g. Snapping Turtle)

Order Squamata (e.g. King Cobra)

Class Mammalia (e.g. Dolphin)

Order Chiroptera (e.g. Hoary Bat)