1. The morphological feature is the body size of a reptile Chlamydosaurus kingii also known as the frilled lizard. This is from the class Reptilia, order Squamata, family Agamidae and subfamily Amphibolurinae. The morphological trait is the body size used during bipedal motion as a secondary prey defense strategy. The average body size of a Chlamydosaurus kingii is 85cm from head to tail. The hypothesis for the adaptive significance of a long body is to aid in ability to flee from a disturbance. A larger body may allow for increased velocity to be attained in times of threat to the lizard. A bipedal style of running is used when fleeing after a sufficient level of velocity has been reached (Shine. R and Lambeck. R, 1989). The advantage to a longer body as opposed to a shorter body would be the muscles available to aid in the generation of a high velocity in a short amount of time. Looking at the evidence that exists the focus is on the frilled necks and their adaptive significance in predator warning signaling. Some of this evidence produced as an outcome of these experiments is still useful. It was determined that the bipedal form was used when needing an increase in velocity in a quick response. This was determined though close watching of the lizards in their habitat monitoring their behaviour. When prey was close the bipedal form …show more content…
This could have some bias as it would have more success in the primary defensive strategy so it would be less likely to have the opportunity to observe large body success in prey avoidance. Therefore a good solution would be to have the experiment include inhibiting safely the frilled neck so it was unable to be used on both small and large body sized lizards and then look at escape results. This would involve attaching the item that is securing down the frill neck be placed unused on the active frill neck for a controlled
The name Dakosaurus means "tearing lizard". The Dakosaurus ' average length is 4-5 meters long which, in American length system, is about 13-16 feet long, and weighed about 18,000 lbs. It 's Latin name is "Dakosaurus Andiniensis". The person who named it was Friedrich August Von Quenstedt in 1856.
It was the day after a large downpour in Boone, NC and a student in a Herpetology class offered through Appalachian State University’s Biology Department decided to lead a group herping, searching for amphibians and reptiles, in the woods near Hebron Rock Colony. We left at 9 p.m. to drive to the trail and from there, we began to scavenge the side of the road for native species of salamanders. With head lamps and aquarium fish nets, we began to head downhill to a small stream. The proper way to herp is to go at night while it is dark, cool, and wet. It is ideal to go herping immediately after it has rained because salamanders are more likely to be found outside of their burrows because their skin will remain moist in wet conditions.
These desert adapted frogs usually emerge during warm wet nights to feed. The Bilby has adapted too. With their big ears and sharp claws. The large ears have several purposes. The main reason for having large ears is for something called “thermo regulation” (to cool the bilby).
They were believed to have become tree dwelling in the later species. The discovery of the anklebones is substantial because paleontologists had only the animal’s teeth and jaws to study. The anklebones were found in the
Particularly, I believe that fossils of our ancestors show that we had to develop bipedalism because of natural selection and environmental factors. Grade I: The Lemuroids The best place to observe Lemuroids of all shapes and sizes is Madagascar, where there are more than 30 different kinds (LemurWorld). They can also be found on the Comoro Islands. They can weigh anywhere from 1 ounce to 20 pounds.
Because it jumps at anything, the horned frogs have a nickname called Pac-man. Sleeping, the red eye tree frog uses its suction cup to hang upside-down. With it transparent skin the glass frog is who has sticky skin to help when in a stick situation has blue bones. The most important is the horned frog jumps at anything. Seriously, watch out when walking around the horned frog because the horned frog can pierce you with its horns.
This article stood out to me because I used to want to be a Paleontologist and I am also a big fan of the Jurassic Park movies. This article takes a look at the Velociraptor and the genetic makeup as well as phenotypes that it displays. A recent discovery showed that the real Velociraptor was a lapdog-sized predator covered in feathers. In Jurassic park the velociraptors are shown as raptors that are bigger than humans and have a rough scaly skin. If you look at the arm bones of Velociraptor you can see a row of bumps, identical in size and shape to the quill knobs of living birds: the anchor points for big wing feathers...”
They receive less rays from the sun and it doesn’t affect their body temp as much as the larger surface area. Another advantage is bringing the upper body, specifically the brain, a few feet higher off the ground and into a cool breeze and slightly cooler temps. This also aides in sweating and might be part of the reason that humans do not have the thick body hair that our ape cousins have
Sallan and Andrew Galimberti, the co-author of the study, looked at the fossil records of over one-thousand species of vertebrates that were alive during the ninety-six million year period before and after the mass extinction. For sixty million years the size of the vertebrates steadily increased in size reaching up to sizes matching a school bus. However, the vertebrate species that survived the mass extinction during the thirty-six million year period following the mass extinction were much smaller compared to the size of the vertebrates before the extinction. In fact, most of the surviving species observed by the team were measured to be less than forty centimeters in length. Information about this adaptation was published earlier in The Science Magazine, which stated that this change is unrelated to the climate and oxygen levels at the time.
The komodo dragon(Varanus komodoensis) also known as the komodo monitor is a large species of lizard found in the indonesian islands of komodo,rinca,flores,gili motang and padar. A member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae, it is the biggest living species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of three meters (10 feet) in rare cases and weighing up to 70 kilograms (150 pounds). The unusually large size has been attributed to island gigantism, since no other carnivorous animals fit the niche on the islands where they live. however, recent research suggests that the huge size of komodo dragons may be better understood as representative of a relict population of very large varanid lizards that once lived across indonesia and australia most of which with other megafauna died out after pleistocene.
This is because of the ratio of muscle fibers, capillaries and mitochondria it possesses. The body of a reptile (example lizard) has lots of tightly packed muscle fibers (to enable them run quickly).This leaves little space for the mitochondria (which provides energy, ATP) and capillaries (which is where exchange of air takes place). Lower energy is produced as the reptile runs. The muscle packed fibers ready to break down ATP to run is the reason Nick said reptiles are built for speed.
The first section will be a quick excerpt about the theropods, how they were classified, and how those specific types of dinosaurs related to birds. The second section will explain more about the fossils found, and how a new theory in bird evolution came about due to the discovery. The third portion will be about the skull shape and size of modern birds, and how that was a key point in the evolution of the aves. The last portion will discuss how dinosaurs went from having snouts full of teeth to the toothless beaks birds have today as well as a brief mention about the changed morphology in the arm and wrist muscles of dinosaurs. That portion will also discuss how some scientists were able to manipulate chicken embryos so that the modified body part looked more like that of a dinosaur and how the finding further tell how dinosaurs may have evolved into birds.
Reptile scales act as a protective layer to help prevent water loss from their bodies. Mammals are warm-blooded animals and reptiles are cold-blooded animals. Mammals are endothermic which means they can produce and control their body heat internally. Reptiles are ectothermic, they use their resources such as the sun to get
Millions of years ago, peculiar beings ruled the Earth. The Earth back then looked very different from what we call “Earth” in the present day. Even though the world fauna had been drastically changed from that which had been seen in the Paleozoic, that was not the only major occurrence. The Mesozoic era is sometimes called the age of reptiles. Mesozoic means “middle animals”, and dinosaurs were conceivably the most typical organisms in the Mesozoic.
What snake is consider the monarch of all snakes in CA, even the deadly rattle snake cannot bet this beast combat and nonetheless this creature prefers the comfort of being command by a baby. The CA king snake may be a nontoxic serpent endemic to the western America and northern United Mexican States. a relatively very little biological group of the common king snake and is after all found throughout an oversized selection of habitats that ar deserts, wetlands and biology areas. one in all the foremost normal snakes in captivity, the CA King snake can terribly wide look as a result of varied gift and captive-developed color morphs. Starting from black and white strips to brown and light-weight brown speckles that resemble a rattle snake.