to know diferences between invertebrates ad vertebrates

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Key Concepts about...
VERTEBRATE AND INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS
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1. Characteristics of Animals
2. Basic Structures of Animals
3. How We Classify Animals
4. Vertebrate and Invertebrate Animals
4.1. Vertebrate Animals
4.2. Invertebrate Animals
5. Threatened and Endemic Species
Index
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Check out the meaning
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in the unit Glossary!

3. 1. Characteristics of Animals
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The animal kingdom is very extensive and diverse. Like all living beings, animals are
born, develop, eat, reproduce and die.
They also have a few characteristics in common that set them apart from other
living beings like plants and fungi:
They are capable of movement
Nearly all reproduce by sexual reproduction
They eat other living beings (they are heterotrophs)
They have sense organs that are developed to a greater or lesser degree

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Animals have different outer and inner parts to see, hear, grasp objects, defend
themselves, move from one place to another, breathe and eat.
For example, fish have gills to breathe underwater, and mammals have hair for
protection against the cold.
Some body parts are used by animals for different purposes:
2. Basic Structures of Animals
LIMBS
Limbs allow animals to move around, but
they also have other functions. Squirrels use
their front legs to grasp objects and jellyfish
have tentacles to capture their prey.
TAIL
Scorpions use their tails as a weapon that
injects venom into their prey. In birds, the tail
is a rudder that helps them steer.
SENSES
The sense
organs of
more advanced
animals are
more complex.
Dogs have a very
developed sense
of smell, and
because of this they are used
to rescue people and identify
suspicious packages.

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3. How We Classify Animals
When we observe animals, we detect similarities and differences between them.
In other words, we are aware that we can group different animals into certain
categories according to a PATTERN, for example: a feeding pattern (eat grass, eat
meat, etc.) or behavior pattern (are solitary, travel in groups, etc.).
WHERE DO ANIMALS LIVE?
Many are terrestrial and others spend their lives in the water. Birds fly.
There are also some animals that travel underground, such as moles.
WHAT DO THEY EAT?
Herbivores, such as horses, eat plants. Carnivores, like octopuses, eat
other animals. Omnivores, such as seagulls, eat everything. Decomposers
turn the carcasses and excrement of other animals into inorganic material
used by plants. Many insects are decomposers.

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HOW DO THEY BREATHE?
Many animals, like lizards, breathe with the help of lungs. Fish extract
oxygen from water with the help of gills. Insects breathe through
tracheae, small holes that carry oxygen to their cells. Earthworms breathe
through their skin.
HOW DO THEY REPRODUCE?
Most animals reproduce by sexual reproduction, which involves a male
and a female.
Asexual reproduction does not involve a male and a female. Instead, new
individuals are born from a single parent. An example is a starfish, which can be
formed from the detached arm of another starfish.
Gills
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HOW DO THEY INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER?
Some animals travel in groups to protect themselves
from predators and to obtain food. Bees and ants live
in colonies, groups that have social organization.
Other animals, such as bears or rhinoceros, are
solitary and only seek the company of other members
of their species to reproduce.
HOW ARE THEIR YOUNG BORN?
Viviparous animals are animals born from their mother’s
womb, as is the case for most mammals. Oviparous animals
lay eggs, inside which the young complete their development
until they are ready to be born. All birds are oviparous.
There are also some animals that produce eggs that remain
inside the female until the young is developed and ready to
hatch. These are called ovoviviparous animals. Many sharks
and snakes are ovoviviparous.
3. Clasificamos a los animales
Learn more in the unit
“ECOSYSTEMS”

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Though larger than invertebrates, they are a
minority in the animal kingdom. Only 2 out of every
100 species of animals are vertebrates
They are oviparous, ovoviviparous or viviparous
Have a brain and a more developed nervous system
4. Vertebrate and Invertebrate Animals
In addition to the previous classification, there is a major classification that divides
all animals into two groups: vertebrates and invertebrates.
VERTEBRATES
VERTEBRATES
FISH
FISH
REPTILES
REPTILES
BIRDS
BIRDS
M
AM MALS
M
AM MALS
A
MPHIBIAN
S
A
MPHIBIAN
S
VERTEBRATES
Animals WITH a vertebral column
Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals
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9. BACK TO INDEX 4. Vertebrados e invertebrados
They make up the most numerous and diverse
group in the animal kingdom. 98 out of every 100
species of animals are invertebrates
Nearly all are oviparous
They have a brain and a less developed nervous
system
INVERTEBRATES
INVERTEBRATES
MOLLUSKS
MOLLUSKS
ECHINODERMS
ECHINODERMS
CNIDARIANS
CNIDARIANS
SPONGES
SPONGES
WORMS
WORMS
A
RTHROPOD
S
A
RTHROPOD
S
VERTEBRATES
Animals WITHOUT a vertebral column
Arthropods, mollusks, worms, sponges,
cnidarians and echinoderms
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VOLVER AL ÍNDICE 4. Vertebrados e invertebrados
¿Did you know?
When talking about animals, we usually say “Most animals...,”
because there are always animals that aren’t like the others. In
other words, that are the exception.
COLD-BLOODED AND WARM-BLOODED
∞
∞ Warm-blooded animals (endotherms) are animals whose body
temperature remains constant.
∞
∞ Cold-blooded animals (ectotherms) depend on the temperature of
their environment to regulate their body temperature.
∞
∞ Most invertebrates are ectotherms. Among vertebrates, birds and
mammals are endotherms, but most fish, amphibians and reptiles are
ectotherms.

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4.1. Vertebrate Animals
fish
They live in fresh and salt water. They breathe underwater with the help
of gills, and they have elongated bodies, fins and skin with scales.
They are divided into 3 major groups: cartilaginous fish,
such as sharks; bony fish, such as tuna; and jawless fish,
such as lampreys.
AMPHIBIANS
FROGS AND TOADS, SALAMANDERS AND CAECILIANS
They are terrestrial but live near lakes and ponds. They have four
limbs, except caecilians, and thin, bare skin (no hair, scales or
feathers).
They breathe through gills (when born) and through lungs (when adults). They
are the only vertebrates that undergo metamorphosis: they are born in the
water like fish.

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4.1. Vertebrados
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REPTILES
LIZARDS, CROCODILES, TURTLES AND SNAKES
They are terrestrial or aquatic and have four limbs (except
snakes). They breathe through lungs, and they have scales and a
skeleton that is more developed than that of fish and amphibians.
birds
Most birds fly, but some cannot.
They have a beak, feathers, two wings and two legs. They breathe
through lungs and are oviparous, like most fish, amphibians and
reptiles.
MAMMALS
They are terrestrial or aquatic, such as dolphins. Bats are the only
mammals that fly.
They are the most evolved group in the animal kingdom. They breathe
through lungs, have hair and four limbs. Nearly all are viviparous.

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4.2. Invertebrate Animals
Arthropods
INSECTS, SPIDERS, CRUSTACEANS AND CENTIPEDES
It’s the most extensive and diverse group in the animal
kingdom.
They live on land or in the water, and some fly. They have articulated limbs, a
segmented body and an exoskeleton. Some undergo metamorphosis.
MOLLUSKS
SNAILS, CLAMS, MUSSELS, OCTOPUSES AND SQUID
They have soft bodies and move with the help of a foot or tentacles.
Snails have a shell and are terrestrial. Clams and mussels have two shells and are
aquatic. Octopuses and squid have bare bodies, and they have arms or tentacles.
They are predators.

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WORMS
They are aquatic or
terrestrial, as well as
parasitic.
They have elongated, soft,
cylindrical bodies that are
divided into rings. They do
not have legs.
SPONGES (or PORIFERANS)
They are the
simplest animals.
They are not mobile; most
spend their lives fixed to the
sea floor.
They have a sac-shaped body
perforated by pores, through
which water and nutrients enter.
CNIDARIANS
SEA ANEMONES,
CORAL AND
JELLYFISH
They are sac-shaped and
have venomous tentacles
around their mouth to
defend themselves and
catch prey.
Jellyfish are active predators, and polyps
(coral and sea anemones) spend their lives
stuck to rocks.
ECHINODERMS
SEA URCHINS AND STARFISH
They live at the bottom of the
sea and have radial symmetry.
Starfish have arms, move along the sea
floor and are predators. Sea urchins
have spines and do not move.
4.2. Invertebrados
Learn more in the unit
“LIVING BEINGS”

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THREATENED SPECIES are species of animals whose survival is
endangered because of natural causes or human activity. These
species need attention and protection to avoid the danger of
becoming extinct and one day disappearing.
An ENDEMIC SPECIES is a species that lives only in one very
restricted area on the planet. Many endemic species are in
danger of extinction, since they usually have small populations.
Some species of lemurs, a type of
primate ENDEMIC to Madagascar,
are in danger of becoming
extinct.
5. Threatened and Endemic Species
Cause and effect: Why are there endangered species?
Pollution, the cutting down of forests, construction, poaching and the
introduction of invasive species are human causes that negatively affect the
lives and habits of animals, and can lead to their disappearance.
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