Category Zoology

Animals with backbones are called vertebrates. They have a bony skeleton under their skin and muscles, which provides a strong framework that supports their body and helps them move. They may look very different at first glance, but all vertebrate skeletons share some features, such as a skull to protect the brain.

Vertebrate animals can be either warm-blooded or cold-blooded. A cold-blooded animal cannot maintain a constant body temperature. The temperature of their body is determined by the outside surroundings. Cold-blooded animals will move around during the day between the shade and the sun to warm up or cool down. Cold-blooded animals are ectothermic, which means outside heat. Reptiles, amphibians, and fish are all cold-blooded. 

Warm-blooded animals are able to regulate their internal temperature. They can sweat or pant to cool off and have fur and feathers to help keep them warm. Warm-blooded animals are called endothermic, meaning “heat inside”. Only birds and mammals are warm-blooded. 

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If an animal is to stay alive, it is vital for it to be able to sense what is happening around it. The five major senses that animals use are sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Some animals have extra senses and can detect electricity or even magnetism!

Some dolphins, whales, and bats navigate and track prey using echo location. This is a very advanced form of hearing that allows them to “see” their surroundings by listening to and analyzing the way sound reflects off objects in their environment. Many fish sense their surroundings with a lateral line system, which detects changes in water pressure. This allows them to feel the movement of other animals in the water nearby. Snakes use a special apparatus called Jacobsen’s organ to smell. The snake’s forked tongue collects chemicals from the air, which it pulls in and holds against the organ, located in the roof of its mouth. Sharks, and some other fish are sensitive to the electric fields generated by other animals in the water. They use this information to track prey. Weak electric currents are sometimes used to repel sharks.

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Some female animals, such as seals, grow their young inside their bellies before giving birth. The babies may stay with their mother for a while to learn how to find food and avoid predators. Other animals, including birds and some reptiles and insects, lay eggs and protect them until the newborns hatch.

During sexual reproduction, the haploid gametes of the male and female individuals of a species combine in a process called fertilization. Typically, the small, motile male sperm fertilizes the much larger, sessile female egg. This process produces a diploid fertilized egg called a zygote.

Some animal species—including sea stars and sea anemones, as well as some insects, reptiles, and fish—are capable of asexual reproduction. The most common forms of asexual reproduction for stationary aquatic animals include budding and fragmentation, where part of a parent individual can separate and grow into a new individual. In contrast, a form of asexual reproduction found in certain insects and vertebrates is called parthenogenesis (or “virgin beginning”), where unfertilized eggs can develop into new male offspring. This type of parthenogenesis is called haplodiploidy. These types of asexual reproduction produce genetically identical offspring, which is disadvantageous from the perspective of evolutionary adaptability because of the potential buildup of deleterious mutations. However, for animals that are limited in their capacity to attract mates, asexual reproduction can ensure genetic propagation.

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Many animals are able to send messages to each other. This is called communication. They may use their body to communicate. Monkeys, like this mandrill, can scream a warning, while many birds have their own special song. Some animals, such as beetles, use chemicals scents to send a message. Many animals communicate by smell: they release pheromones (airborne chemicals) to send messages to others. Pheromones play an important part in reproduction and other social behavior. They are used by many animals, including insects, wolves, deer, and even humans!

Bees dance when they have found nectar. The scout bee will dance in the hive, and the dance directs other bees to the location of the nectar. Chimpanzees greet each other by touching hands. Male fiddler crabs wave their giant claw to attract female fiddler crabs. White-tailed deer show alarm by flicking up their tails. Dogs stretch their front legs out in front of them and lower their bodies when they want to play. Elephants show affection by entwining their trunks. Giraffes press their necks together when they are attracted to each other. Gorillas stick out their tongues to show anger. Horses rub noses as a sign of affection.

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Animals move around in a variety of ways, including hopping, jumping, running, crawling, slithering, flying, or swimming. Many animals use their legs to move, but others may use wings or fins. There are also many animal species that depend on their environment for transportation, a type of mobility called passive locomotion, e.g., sailing (some jellyfish), kiting (spiders), rolling (some beetles and spiders) or riding other animals (phoresis).

Animals move for a variety of reasons, such as to find food, a mate, a suitable microhabitat, or to escape predators. For many animals, the ability to move is essential for survival and, as a result, natural selection has shaped the locomotion methods and mechanisms used by moving organisms. For example, migratory animals that travel vast distances (such as the Arctic tern) typically have a locomotion mechanism that costs very little energy per unit distance, whereas non-migratory animals that must frequently move quickly to escape predators are likely to have energetically costly, but very fast, locomotion.

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Animals get their energy from food. Many are carnivores, which means they eat meat. Others are herbivores, called omnivores, eat both animals and plants. Some animals, including some worms, insects, lampreys and the vampire bat, feed on blood. A few animals eat a wide range of both plant and animal food: they are omnivores. Finally, detrivores, such as dung beetles and crabs, eat dead or rotting food and wastes. Animals don’t only need protein and energy, they also need vitamins and minerals. Farmers can buy vitamin and mineral mixes that can be supplemented into an animal’s daily ration. Vitamins and minerals can also be feed as a solid block that the animals will lick while out grazing.

Two very important minerals are calcium and phosphorous. These minerals are important for proper bone and teeth development, metabolism, and more. It is normally suggested that the ratio of calcium to phosphorous is about 2:1 for normal functions. One easy way to keep this balance is to feed dicalcium phosphate. Like other nutrients, the levels of these minerals also depends on the age of the animal.

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