Types of reptiles
found in the world and the history of their development
Reptiles:
Lizards,
dinosaurs, crocodiles, turtles and snakes all belong to that ancient class of
animals known as reptiles, and there are many diverse reptile species that
include more than 10,000 different species.
Although land
vertebrates dominate the planet, reptiles still occupy every system.
Environment
beyond the far north and south.
What are
reptiles? How did they evolve over the years? What are the most important main
types of reptiles? How do they reproduce? With us you will learn the answers to
these
questions,
let's go.
What is the
description of a reptile?
What makes a reptile a?
Types of reptiles |
Tiger and raise a tiger
What are reptiles:
The reptile's
body is covered with dry scales, and most reptiles have four legs that enable
them to move easily on land.
Lives and
snakes can flow easily and quickly even though they have no legs.
Preserving
scales and the ability to move quickly allow reptiles to live away from water,
and many of them live in dry places.
What are the
characteristics of reptiles?
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Types of reptiles
Another phenomenon that enables reptiles to live away from water is their
way of
breeding.
Most reptiles
lay eggs that have a hard skin shell that keeps the small animal inside them.
There is no
need for the egg to be surrounded by water or moisture and it can be placed
wherever it is on the ground.
Some reptiles
give birth to their young alive.
Instead of
laying eggs، Although reptiles can live on
land, some reptiles, including turtles, crocodiles, and a number of snakes,
prefer to live in water, except for reptiles that lay eggs that go out to land
to lay eggs, and the majority of reptiles live in hot tropical regions of the
world.
Reptiles hunt
other animals for their food, and the sense of sight of reptiles is very
important and they can usually see with colors, and many of them have an
improved sense of smell.
Snakes track
their prey in a way that tastes some dust particles that indicate the smell of
their prey.
Hearing in
reptiles is not acute, although snakes sense An animal approaches it because
the ground vibrates, and snakes can also sense the body heat that emanates from
some animals.
Land turtles and some lizards feed on plants, but the majority of reptiles eat other animals, and small reptiles hunt insects and other invertebrates, but large reptiles can kill any animal that approaches them, and reptiles, in turn, constitute food for other animals that are often other reptiles.
Predatory
birds hunt reptiles skillfully, as do some types of mammals, such as raccoons
and foxes.
Snakes with
their sharp fangs can resist, and cobras can spew poison on their enemies,
while other reptiles may resort to terrorizing the enemy.
The
Australian frilled lizard blows skin folds around its head, appearing as if it
is larger than it is.
And more
terrifying.
Why are
reptiles cold-blooded?
Types of reptiles
History and development of reptiles:
When
four-legged vertebrates appeared on Earth about 400 million years ago,
semi-aquatic amphibians were the first to evolve.
This
semi-aquatic lifestyle was reflected in their shape and behavior, but many
advances in lungs, bone structure, and egg formation enabled early reptiles to
move away.
About water,
the first clear signs of reptiles appeared in the fossil record about 310 to
320 million years ago, and at that time، Most
of their territory was covered with swamps, and reptiles characterized by the
absence of a hole in the back of the skull were among the first reptiles to
develop.
Reptiles with
two holes near the back of their skull include modern reptiles and almost all
reptiles from the past 250 million years.
Over millions
of years, the class of reptiles continued to undergo much evolution and change,
and archosauromorphs, which include dinosaurs, crocodiles, and birds, first
appeared in the fossil record around the late Triassic period just over 200
million years ago, and flourished and became particularly prominent in the
Jurassic period.
Primary
turtles first appeared around the same time and have maintained the same body
shape ever since,
Squamata may
have evolved in the Middle Jurassic period
about 160 to 170 million years ago, but true snakes did not evolve until about
100 million years ago.
Part of this
evolution has been driven by sudden massive changes in the ecosystem, including
the mass extinction that occurred 250 million years ago that killed about 90%
of all species on the planet, and of course the asteroid impact and volcanic
activity that drove all flightless dinosaurs to extinction.
About 65
million years ago, and since then,
Reptiles
evolved to a smaller size and began sharing the ecosystem with birds and
mammals (which had already separated from early reptiles about 300 million
years ago).
Types of
reptiles
Birds
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Snakes are a type of reptile:
Snakes are
reptiles with long, thin bodies and no legs.
There are
more than 3,000 species of snakes in the world, and they live everywhere except
Antarctica, Iceland, Ireland, Greenland, and New Zealand.
There are
some lizards that resemble snakes because they do not have legs, but the way to
know The difference between them is that lizards have eyelids and snakes do
not, and almost all types of snakes are covered with scales, which serve two
main purposes، They help trap moisture in
arid climates, and
reduce
friction as the snake moves.
Amphibians
Mammals
Reptiles
meaning
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Crocodiles are a type of reptile:
Crocodiles
include a group of large reptiles, including oligosaurs, crocodiles, caimans,
and gharials.
They are
ferocious predators and can be found all over the world.
Larger
species are able to devour large mammals from antelope to bison, others prey on
small animals, and some feed on fish.
There are two
types of crocodiles depending on the environment in which they live: freshwater
crocodiles and saltwater crocodiles, and the saltwater crocodile is one of the
largest reptiles in the world، Alligator species are found
mostly in the Americas, while crocodile species are found in Africa, Asia and
Australia.
Animals
Gray animal and Hippo
Chameleon is a type of reptile:
Chameleons
live mostly in the rainforests and deserts of Africa, and many chameleons are
able to change their color, which helps them attract mates, regulate their body
temperature, and keep out intruders, including bearded chameleons that live up
to eight years and can reach 24 inches in length.
You will be
happy to hear that the bearded chameleon is not close to extinction and this
means that we can expect to see these wonderful reptiles around it for many
years to come، It has a very distinctive
appearance because it has a pointed head, but what makes this even more
interesting is that it uses this structure to direct water into its mouth.
One of the
most wonderful things about bearded chameleons is that they can change their
color.
How
wonderful?
This makes chameleons one of the most common
types of reptiles, as many of us find that the changing color of nature is
captivating, and these reptiles are able to change color through a lot of
pigmented cells in their skin.
It can mimic
the color to which they change their surroundings or confirm their dominance,
in other words, show others who is boss, This makes this type of reptile
unique.
Respiratory
system in reptiles
Circulatory system in reptiles
Water turtles and land turtles are reptile species:
Water turtles
and land turtles have been around for nearly 200 million years, and not much
has changed about them at the time.
Although they
look similar, turtles usually live on dry land and have round, curvy legs.
On the other
hand, water turtles spend a lot of Their time in the water, many of them have
adapted webbed feet to help them swim in ponds and rivers, and in fact،
The foot is a useful way to distinguish the aquatic turtle from the terrestrial
turtle.
The feet of
the terrestrial turtle usually look like the feet of a young elephant.
While
semi-aquatic and aquatic turtles have webbed feet, only the sea turtle has true
fins.
The Indian
star turtle is another common type of reptile that can be found in Asia.
They can live
up to 80 years and can only travel less than one mile per hour.
This means
that it is very slow, and this turtle, like many other species, is very popular
in the animal trade.
Exotic pets, so you can expect a lot of people to have turtles as pets in their homes.
Lizards are a type of reptile:
Lizards are
one of the most common types of reptiles, as there are more than 6,000 species
around the world, and many lizards live on land, but there are also some
species that live in trees, and others underground, such as the worm lizard.
The lizard’s
diet usually consists of Insects and other small animals, and some lizards
enjoy plants.
However, there are larger lizards such as the monitor lizard, which preys on deer-sized animals، Similar to snakes, lizards shed their skin.However, unlike snakes, their skin usually peels off in large pieces, not all at once.
Reptile habitat:
Reptiles can
be found on most continents except Antarctica.
In Britain,
for example, common reptiles include Britain's only venomous snake, as well as
grass snakes and lizards.
There are six
native species of reptiles in the United Kingdom, three snakes (grass snake,
smooth snake, snakes) and three lizards (common lizard, sand lizard, and slow
worm lizard), and there are some species introduced to the United Kingdom.
Reptiles can
be found in a variety of habitats, from compost heaps to forest areas, and in
Britain it is easy to see reptiles basking in sunny areas, and it is likely
that if you see a snake as a reptile it will enjoy the sun's rays to warm
itself.
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Reptile body temperature:
Unlike birds
and mammals, reptiles do not maintain a constant body temperature, do not have
fur or feathers to keep warm, or sweat glands and the ability to gasp to help
them cool.
For this
reason, they desperately need to look for sunlight or shade to help maintain
their body temperature.
This makes
them cold-blooded animals with slow metabolism.
Reptile reproduction:
The most
common form of reptile reproduction is egg laying, but there are some notable
exceptions.
About 20% of
all lizards and snakes, including the boa, produce live young instead of eggs.
These newborn
reptiles have a non-mammalian placenta or some other means by which they are
transported.
Nutrients from mother to offspring and vice versa for waste، The main advantage of giving birth to live young is that they protect the eggs from predators in a hostile environment.
Only three
species of reptiles, including the three-toed yellow skink in Australia,
actually combine both eggs with live birth methods.
The skink's
offspring begin life covered in eggs, like any other reptile, but as the fetus
grows, the egg begins to thin until All that remains when it is born is a small
membrane، The main problem with this
method is that the thin eggshell does not contain enough calcium to feed the
offspring, and mothers seem to compensate for this by secreting calcium from
the uterus so that it can be absorbed by the developing fetus.
Evidence
suggests that the skink can choose to lay eggs before A few weeks if there
appears to be less risk to the offspring، In
harsher climates, the mother will keep her offspring inside her body longer to
protect them.
Asexual
reproduction is also very rare, although it is more common than the method of
live birth.
About 50
species of lizards and one type of snake participate in this method of
reproduction.
Evidence
indicates that these reptiles may adopt an asexual lifestyle out of necessity
because they are genetically isolated from other groups.
The problem
of asexual reproduction lies in the lack of genetic diversity, as offspring
inherit the same susceptibility to diseases as parents, But asexual reptiles
appear to maintain genetic variation by initiating the reproductive process
twice the normal number of chromosomes.
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best wishes