10 interesting facts vertebrates

1. Vertebrates
Interesting Facts

2. In most birds, males and females
can be easily distinguished.
The males are generally much more colorful than the
females. The males use their colors to try to attract
mates. The females are generally dull brown colors.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chorwedel/5661149028/
Female Peacock
http://www.flickr.com/photos/burningbracelets/6180632909/
Male Peacock

3. Instead of ingesting food, some
vertebrates feed off of the
tissues of their prey.
Sea Lampreys use their mouth and tongue to bore a hole in
the side of a fish and ingest the blood and tissue.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emsef/2331177860/
The mouth of a Sea Lamprey

4. Bonobos, similar to Chimpanzees,
can only be found in the Congo in
Africa.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/graphicreality/4512176156/

5. The earliest known bird was the
Archaeopteryx.
It seemed to be capable of flight, but still retained many characteristics of
nonbirds.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14646075@N03/3935233154/
Archaeopteryx fossil

6. There are approximately 52,000
species of vertebrates.

7. Vertebrates include the largest
animal ever to exist on the planet.
Blue Whales can exceed a mass of 100,000 kilograms.

8. A fish discovered in 2004 is just
8.4 mm long.
It’s mass is roughly 100 billion times smaller than that of a blue whale

9. An early gnathostome, called a
Dunkleosteus, grew up to 10
meters in length.
It is thought that it could exert a force of 8,000 PSI at the tip of its
jaws.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/baggis/5040125114/

10. Monotremes are the only
mammals that lay eggs.
They are only found in Australia and New Guinea. They include only one species
of platypus and four species of echidnas.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/couchy/4287853248/
The Duck-Billed Platypus of Australia

11. About 95% of fish have skeletons
made of bone.
These fish are called “bony fish.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarasutherland/5160563320/
Clown Fish