Name: ______________________________________ Period: ______________ Due Date: ___________________
: Answer question number 1 in complete and coherent sentences. Do not use your book. You and I will be able to determine how much information you know about this unit’s topic: chordates, before we start this unit.
1. Scientists place vertebrates into the following groups: Jawless fish, sharks (and their relatives), bony fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Scientists could have just left the group as one big group —vertebrates, instead of dividing it up further into “jawless fish,” “sharks & their relatives,” “bony fish,” ect. What did the scientists have to know about all the animals in the vertebrates group to make these divisions?
-helps us to organize information about the animals
-learning about an animal can provide insight into other animals in the group
Complete the chart that follows. Jawless fish, sharks & their relatives, and bony fish have are categorized as “fish” on this chart. For each group, you are to complete 4 steps. You may write in bullet points. Do not use your book. Again, this will show you and me how much information you have about the unit before we actually begin.
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Group name
1. Fish
2. Amphibians
3. Reptiles
4. Birds
5. Mammals
Draw an example of an animal found in this group (you may use colored pencils, if you wish). Write the name of the animal too.
What habitat are these animals found in? (List all those that apply: Aquatic, Desert, Forests
(all types), Grassland, Tundra, or
Other________).
If you were an animal in this group, how would you feel about your life (where you live, how you eat, your “friends,” ect)?
Describe characteristics unique to these animals, include adaptations other groups before it do not have. fins, scales, gills
Lungs, limbs
Rough skin, amniotic egg
Feathers, flight, endothermy
Hair, mammary glands
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Note the first row “Nonvertebrate chordates.” The answer “no” is filled in for every characteristic (vertebrae, jaws & paired appendages, true bone, ect). Fill in “yes” or “no” for the other animals (“jawless fishes,” “sharks & their relatives,” ect).
Vertebrae Jaws and Paired
Appendages
True Bone Lungs no no No no
Four Limbs Amniotic Egg
(amniotic sac with many nutrients, provides support for growing fetus) no no
Endothermy
(the ability to regulate one’s body temperature) no Nonvertebrate chordates
Jawless fishes yes no no No no no No
Sharks & their relatives yes
Bony fishes
Amphibians
Reptiles
Birds yes yes yes yes
Yes
Mammals yes yes yes yes yes yes
No yes yes yes yes yes
6 no
No
Yes yes yes yes no no no yes yes yes no no no no yes yes no
No no no
No yes