Characteristics of Animals
Sources: (partial list)
Yahooligans, animals
http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/content/animals/
Electronic Zoo
http://netvet.wustl.edu/ssi.htm
Our Class Animal: Fish
Goldfish:
 has bones inside
 breathes using gills
 fins for swimming
 eyes to see
 mouth to eat
Robyn’s Goldfish Page:
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/gfish.htm
Our Class Animal: Snail
 Snails:
 soft bodied, no bones
 shell for protection
 Breathes through skin
or gills (some snails
have a simple lung)
 mouth scrapes food off
of surfaces – tiny plants
 “eyes” on tentacles
Snail
mouth
All About Snails:
http://www.kiddyhouse.com/Snails/
 moves on a flat “foot”
Song link:
http://www.songsforteaching.com/intellitunes/snail.htm
Comparing Goldfish and Snails
How are
goldfish and
snails alike
and
different?
Our Class Animal: Earthworm
worm
mouth
Earthworm:
 long tube body
 many body segments
 no bones
 breathes through skin
 simple eyes
(light/dark)
 mouth to eat
Comparing Worms and Snails
How are
worms and
snails alike
and
different?
Our Class Animal: Gerbil
Gerbil:
• has bones
• ears to hear
• eyes to see
• nose and lungs to breathe
• mouth to eat
• four legs to move
• long tail
• fur coat
American Gerbil Society (Gerbil Care):
http://agsgerbils.org/
Gerbil_Care_Handbook/intro.html#what
Comparing Gerbils and Fish
How are
gerbils and
fish alike and
different?
What is another animal that
is like a gerbil?
How are gerbils and
______ alike and
different?
?
What are fish like?
Large Mouth Bass
Atlantic Salmon
Great White Shark
How is a Goldfish the same or
different than a Rainbow Trout?
Goldfish: http://fish.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/Cyprinidae/goldfish.jpg
Rainbow Trout: http://www.usbr.gov/mp/ccao/field_offices/new_melones/images/activities_rainbow_trout.jpg
What is a fish?
An animal with bones having fins for moving, gills
for breathing, and usually scales.
Fishes come in an amazing variety of
shapes and colors, but they all have three
important things in common.
All fishes live in water, have fins, and use
gills to get oxygen from the water.
Do you know what animal this
is?
Bullfrog
Toad
Frogs and Toads
How is a salamander the same or
different than a frog?
Spotted Salamander
What is an amphibian?
An animal with bones that is smooth-skinned with a
land and water form. The land form has lungs for
breathing and legs for moving.
Like fishes, amphibians are vertebrates –
- that is, creatures with a backbone and
an skeleton (bones) inside.
Amphibians live part of their life in water
and part on land. Even those species that
lay eggs on land start life in a fluid-filled
egg, breathing through gills.
What are reptiles like?
Five lined Skink
(Lizard)
Painted Turtle
Garter Snake
Reptiles: Alligators and Crocodiles
What is a reptile?
An animal with bones inside that is covered with
scales. It
Today there are 6,800 reptile species on
earth; the major groups are alligators and
crocodiles, turtles, lizards, and snakes.
All reptiles are cold-blooded, which is why
they warm themselves in the sun, and
have bodies covered in dry, horny scales.
Some reptiles lay eggs; others give birth
to live young.
What are birds like?
Some birds are colorful.
American
Goldfinch
Some birds blend into their
surroundings.
Ring-necked Pheasant
Some birds eat seeds.
Northern Cardinal
Some birds eat insects.
Woodpeckers
Downy
Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Some birds are the same and
different.
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Some birds capture and eat
animals larger than insects.
talons
Coopers Hawk
How are these hunters the same?
Swainsons Hawk
Snowy Owl
American Eagle
How are these bird feet the same?
How are they different?
Some birds swim on water.
American Coot
Mallard
How are these feet made for
swimming?
Are there other birds that you
have seen?
What is a bird?
An animal with bones feathers and wings. Birds have
lungs to breathe air.
Birds are warm-blooded creatures, like
we are, but they lay eggs, like most
reptiles.
All birds have feathers and wings, and
most birds are able to fly.
Birds are amazingly varied in their
shapes, sizes, colors, and behavior
patterns. There are more than 9,000
different species of birds in the world.
What are mammals like?
Some mammals spend their time on
the ground, some live in trees.
Deer mouse
Gray Squirrel
Some mammals eat plants and spend
time in the water.
Beaver
Some mammals eat plants and live
on land.
Eastern Cottontail
Rabbit
Some mammals can change color.
Snowshoe Hare
Summer
Winter
Some mammals have hooves
?
What animals do
you know that
have hooves?
There is a mammal that flies.
Little Brown Bat
Some mammals eat insects.
Brown Long-eared
Bat
Animals that eat other animals are
called predators.
Skunk
Mink
Black Bear
What is a mammal?
An animal that feeds its babies with milk from the
mother's body and has fur or hair covering it. Mammals
have bones (a skeleton) and lungs to breathe air.
Mammals live on land, at sea, in the air, and under the
ground. All mammals, from bats to whales, share a
number of important traits that make them different
from other animals.
Mammals are warm-blooded, they have fur or hair,
and most mammals give birth to live young (rather
than laying eggs).
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Let’s make a list of animal
characteristics.
Animals are living things.
Animals have to “eat” food for energy.
Animals need water.
Animals breath in oxygen from the air.
Animals need a place to live.
Animals give off waste.
Animals react to the world around them.
Animals create more animals like
themselves.
Are you an animal?