REPTILES

Reptiles (meaning "to creep") are a group of animals that have scales (or modified scales), breathe air, and usually lay eggs. The term reptile is loosely defined in everyday English to mean scaly, cold-blooded, egg-laying animals. In cladistics (a way of classifying life forms), the reptiles are more strictly defined and include the descendants of the most recent common ancestor of the turtles, lepidosaurs (lizards, snakes, tuataras), and archosaurs (crocodilians, dinosaurs, and birds). The maintenance of body temperature (cold- vs. warm-blooded) is not a factor in this classification, but skull and egg structure are.

Some Reptilian Extremes:

Biggest (Most Massive) reptile - the estuarine crocodile (over 7

m (23 ft) long).

Smallest reptile (and smallest lizard) - the British Virgin Islands

gecko (only 18 mm = 7/10 inches long) Fastest reptile - the spiny-tailed iguana (tracked at 34.9 km/h = 21 mph) Biggest (heaviest) snake - the anaconda of South America. Longest Snake - reticulated Python (over 10 m long)

Fastest-moving snake - probably the poisonous black mamba Biggest lizard - the Komodo dragon (up to 3 m long) Biggest turtle - the leatherback turtle (up to 2.5 m) Most poisonous land snakes - the taipan (from Australia), black
mamba, and krait.

Only poisonous lizards - the Gila monster, the beaded lizard Weirdest ability - horned lizards can squirt a thin spray of blood
from their eyes up to of 3 feet (0.9 meter) away.

The earliest reptiles appeared during the Upper Carboniferous period of the Palaeozoic era. Many forms evolved and flourished in the Mesozoic era, which is known as the Age of Reptiles. Since then the great majority of reptilian species have become extinct; only 5 of the 23 orders of reptiles that have existed now have living representatives. The best-known orders are cited below.

The reptile skeleton is almost completely ossified (non-cartilaginous). The skull is joined to the vertebral column by a single condoyle, or joint, as in birds. The ribs of the thorax are attached to the breastbone; and when a sacrum (pelvis-connected portion of the spine) is present, sacral ribs articulate with the pelvic girdle. Two complete pairs of limbs may be present, or they may be reduced or lost, as in snakes and some lizards. The skin is covered with scales, and bony plates may be embedded beneath the skin.

The reptilian heart consists of three chambers, including two auricles and one ventricle. In the crocodilians, however, the ventricle is almost completely divided into two chambers by a septum, or partition. Both of the embryonic aortic arches (certain arterial branches found in vertebrate embryos) persist in reptiles, in contrast to birds and mammals, in which only one develops. Blood in the veins returns to the heart from the tail and hind limbs, through the kidneys, by a renal portal (vein-capillary) system; blood from the abdominal region returns by a portal system passing through the liver. The urinary bladder is present only in turtles, tortoises, and lizards

The majority of reptiles are primitively oviparous (egg-laying), but many snakes and lizards are viviparous (giving birth to live young). Existing reptiles are characterized by the development of two embryonic membranes: a protective amnion, or egg sac, and a respiratory allantois, or vascular foetal membrane. The amnion, which all reptiles, birds, and mammals have, prevents the egg from drying out, so the early stages of the animal's life cycle do not have to depend on water. In most snakes and some lizards, only one lung is functional; in other reptiles, both lungs are equally developed. The thorax and abdomen are not separated by a diaphragm, and breathing is accomplished by muscles of the body wall.

Being bound by the temperature of their environment, reptiles hibernate in regions where the winter is cold, and some forms aestivate that is, become inactivein exceptionally hot and dry regions. Reptiles are commonly referred to as cold-blooded, which is actually misleading, because some reptiles when active maintain their bodies at a higher temperature than most mammals. The important difference in temperature physiology is that reptiles rely on external sources of heat, whereas birds and mammals use internal heat. Reptiles regulate their body temperatures by taking advantage of different sources of outside warmth, such as

direct sunlight, warm stones and logs, and the heated earth. By using such heat sources to varying degrees, individual species of reptiles keep their bodies more or less at the constant temperature characteristic of the particular species. Often this body temperature is well above the temperature of the surrounding air. Only when the animal is inactive or dormant is the body temperature approximately the same as that of the environment.

Alligator

Alligators are large, Crocodile African Rock meat-eating reptiles. The American Go to a simple Python version (unlabeled crocodile is a rare, African Rock meat-eating reptile and with no Pythons are large with a long, tapered information). snakes that kill by snout. constricting their prey.

American

Anaconda
The biggest snake in the world.

Boa

Angonoka (Ploughshare) Tortoise

An endangered species from Madagascar.

Black Caiman
The Black Caiman is a large, meat-eating reptile from fresh water habitats in South America.

A large constricting An Australian snake from South and Central lizard with a America. long, blue tongue.

Bluetongued Skink

Constrictor

A Rhynchocephalia: tuataras
Tuataras found only on a few small islands off the coast of New Zealand, tuataras are the sole descendants of an order of ancient reptiles that lived more than 200 million years ago. The animals grow extremely slowly; they may not reach maturity for 20 years and can live for over 100 years. Tuataras are nocturnal, sleeping during the day and hunting for insects, birds, or small lizards at night.Dorling Kindersley This order contains the lizard-like reptiles known as tuataras, which are differentiated from the lizards by osteological (bone and skeleton) characteristics. Rhynchocephalians are well known from the Triassic and Jurassic periods,

but all are now extinct except the New Zealand tuatara, of the genus Sphenodon.

B Squamata: lizards and snakes

Lizards are reptiles typically characterized by the following features: four legs, movable eyelids, scales along the sides and underside of the body, a long detachable tail, and a lower jaw with a rigid skeletal structure. Although some species of lizards, such as the glass snake (top, centre), lack external legs, they are still classified as lizards since they possess movable eyelids and a lower jaw that does not separate when swallowing large food items. Pictured here are (top, left to right) the chameleon, glass

snake, monitor (bottom), iguana, Gila monster, and gecko. This order forms the largest group of living reptiles, containing approximately 5,500 species of lizards and snakes. It also contains certain extinct forms called Pythonomorpha that had snake-like bodies and lizard-like limbs.

Blue-tongued Skink
An Australian lizard with a long, blue tongue.

Boa Constrictor
A large constricting snake from South and Central America.

Bull Snake
Also known as the gopher snake and the pine snake, this hissing constrictor lives in North America.

Emerald Tree Boa

A tree-dwelling nocturnal snake from South American rain forests.

Frilled Lizard
A lizard with a huge neck frill.

Geckos are the only A venomous lizard from Plant-eating lizards Iguanas are plant-eating lizards that make deserts of southwestern from moist lizards. North America. noise. habitats.

Gecko

Gila Monster

Green Iguana

Iguana

Iguana (unlabeled)
Iguanas are plant-eating lizards.

Komodo The King Cobra Liopleurodon was is the largest Dragon biggest plesiosaur. It the a was venomous snake The biggest lizard huge, swimming reptile in the world. It in the world and a that lived over a hundred lives in India, fierce predator. million years ago, during southern China, the Jurassic period. and southeast Asia.

King Cobra

Liopleurodon

Postosuchus
Postosuchus is an extinct reptile that lived over 200 million years ag

Python
Pythons are snakes that kill by constricting their prey.

Rattlesnake
Rattlesnakes are poisonous snakes that have a rattle at the end of the tail.

Snakes The slow worm is a legless lizard that looks like a snake (it is not a worm at all). Snakes are reptiles that have a long, narrow body and no legs.

Slow Worm

D Crocodilia: crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and gavials

American Alligator the American alligator, declared an endangered species in 1967, has since then slowly increased in numbers throughout its native range, which encompasses the south-eastern United States. Although alligators grow to a maximum length of 6 m (20 ft), the average is about 1.5 m (5 ft). American alligators feed on carrion, birds, mammals, other reptiles, and amphibians. Since alligators and other crocodilians are not able to chew their food, they either swallow small animals whole or twist off pieces of larger animals and swallow those whole.Edward Robinson/Oxford Scientific Films/BBC Natural History Sound Library. All rights reserved. Expand Crocodilians first evolved in the Late Triassic period, and are the closest living relatives of

dinosaurs and birds. The heart is almost completely divided into four chambers; the brain shows a greater amount of development; and the musculature of the stomach is so highly developed as to resemble a bird's gizzard.

Black Caiman
The Black Caiman is a large, meat-eating reptile from fresh water habitats in South America.

E Ichthyosauria
Interactivity Snake Anatomy

All members of this order are extinct. The order comprised large marine reptiles that had fishlike bodies and paddle-like limbs. Species of the typical genus, Ichthyosaurus, grew to lengths of more than 4 m (13 ft).

F Sauropterygia
This extinct order included the long-necked aquatic forms that had large bodies and limbs adapted for flying through the water.

G Saurischia and Ornithischia: dinosaurs

The well-known dinosaurs belonged to these orders of long-necked, long-tailed reptiles which first appear in Triassic strata. They became common in later times until the close of the Mesozoic era, when they became extinct (except for the birds).

H Pterosauria
Pterosaur the pterosaurs were the first animals apart from insects to develop flapping flight. Evidence suggests that some pterosaurs were warm-blooded. Pterosaurs flew in prehistoric skies in the Mesozoic Era until their extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period.Dorling Kindersley This is a group of extinct flying reptiles related to dinosaurs.

I Therapsida
The members of this extinct order are commonly called mammal-like reptiles as they are ancestral to mammals. They existed during the Permian and Triassic periods.

Desert Tortoise
A tortoise from southwestern North America.

Desmatosuchus
An extinct reptile that lived over 200 million years ago.

Geckos are the only A venomous lizard from Plant-eating lizards Iguanas are plant-eating lizards that make deserts of southwestern from moist lizards. North America. noise. habitats.

Gecko

Gila Monster

Green Iguana

Iguana

Iguana (unlabeled)
Iguanas are plant-eating

The biggest lizard Liopleurodon was the The King Cobra in the world and a biggest plesiosaur. It was a

King Cobra

Komodo Dragon

Liopleurodon

lizards.

is the largest venomous snake in the world. It lives in India, fierce predator. southern China, and southeast Asia.

huge, swimming reptile that lived over a hundred million years ago, during the Jurassic period.

Sea Turtle
Sea turtles are large marine turtles.

Snakes The slow worm is a legless lizard that looks like a snake (it is not a Snakes are reptiles that worm at all). have a long, narrow body and no legs.

Slow Worm

Tuatara The Spectacled Caiman is a common An unusual reptile meat-eating reptile from fresh water A turtle with from islands off New habitats in South and Central strong jaws and a Zealand. America. long tail.

Snapping Turtle

Spectacled Caiman

Turtles
Turtles are coldblooded animals that have a protective shell.

Turtle, Loggerhead Veiled Chameleon

A printout on the loggerhead turtle. A chameleon with a helmet-

like casque on its head.