Vertebrates
Use the following activities and reproducibles to help your
students learn valuable information about the varied
world of vertebrates.
c Background
for the Teacher
Vertebrates are animals with
backbones. There are about 40,000
species of vertebrates. They are
divided into eight classes, including
birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and
mammals.
Mammals…
• are warm-blooded, and most are
covered with hair or fur
• give birth to live young and feed
young their milk
Birds…
• are warm-blooded and covered with
feathers
• can be found in almost every environment around the world
Amphibians…
• are cold-blooded animals
• live in water when they are young and
move to land when they are grown
• are divided into three groups: frogs
and toads; newts, salamanders, and
sirens; and caecilians (wormlike creatures)
Reptiles…
• are cold-blooded animals covered
with scales
• lay eggs, and most live in warm or hot
climates
• are divided into four groups: lizards
and snakes, turtles and tortoises,
crocodilians, and tuatara (a lizardlike
reptile, in its own group, that is the
oldest species of reptile)
Fish…
• are cold-blooded animals that live in
seas, oceans, ponds, rivers, and
lakes
• (most) are covered with scales and
use gills to breathe
d
Vertebrate Class Acts
(Research, Geography)
Give your students the opportunity to practice
their world geography skills while learning about five
of the eight classes of vertebrates. Begin by sharing
the background information at the left with students.
Next, divide your students into five groups and assign each group a vertebrate class: mammals, fish,
reptiles, amphibians, or birds. Provide each group
with a 5" x 25" strip of different-colored tagboard
and markers or crayons. Explain to each group that
vertebrates can be found in many parts of the world.
Direct the group to use encyclopedias and other resource materials to find out where members of its class
are located. Have the group find two vertebrates in its
class in each of the categories shown below. Then instruct the group to make a chart and add pictures to its
tagboard piece as shown. Display each group’s chart
on a bulletin board or wall, one above the other, to form
one large chart. Encourage your students to refer to the
information about each class throughout their study of
vertebrates.
MAMMALS
N. America S. America
Africa
Asia
Europe
Australia
Arctic
1. star-nosed
mole
1. sloth
1. zebra
1. flying lemur
1. badger
1. koala
1. polar bear
1. dolphin
2. Alaskan fur
seal
2. jaguar
2. giraffe
2. Kitti’s hognosed bat
2. alpine
marmot
2. kangaroo
2. Arctic fox
2. blue whale
FISH
N. America S. America
Africa
Asia
Europe
Australia
Arctic
Books With a Backbone
Amphibians (Our Living World series) by Edward R. Ricciuti (Blackbirch Press, Inc.; 1993)
Birds and How They Live (See and Explore series) by David Burnie (Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc.; 1999)
Frogs Swallow With Their Eyes! Weird Facts About Frogs, Snakes, Turtles, and Lizards by Melvin and Gilda Berger (Scholastic
Inc., 1996)
Mind-Blowing Mammals (Amazing Animals series) by Leslee Elliott (Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.; 1994)
Reptile (Eyewitness Books series) by Colin McCarthy (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; 1991)
4 What Is a Fish? (The Science of Living Things series) by Bobbie Kalman and Allison Larin (Crabtree Publishing Company, 1999)
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