Film title: Vertebrates

Is it a bird?

Is it a plane?

No, it's a flying dragon!

Flying dragons are amazing lizards.

Strictly speaking they can't actually fly, but their wing-like skin flaps allow them to glide from tree to tree with all the grace of a tropical bird.

All lizards have dry, scaly skin.

This means they are classed as reptiles.

reptiles

Reptiles are very different from birds.

birds

But they are both classed as vertebrates.

Vertebrates are animals with a spine or backbone.

vertebrates
animals with a backbone

There are five different groups of vertebrates.

In addition to reptiles and birds, there are mammals, fish and amphibians.

reptiles
birds
mammals
fish
amphibians

The five groups of vertebrates all have differences and similarities.

Fish, amphibians and reptiles are known as cold-blooded, as their internal body temperature changes depending on their surroundings.

cold-blooded
changing body temperature

Birds and mammals have a steady body temperature and are called warm-blooded.

warm-blooded
steady body temperature

Birds and most amphibians, reptiles and fish lay eggs to reproduce.

Mammals on the other hand give birth to live offspring and suckle them with milk.

Humans are also vertebrates.

So you belong to the same animal group as, you've guessed it ... the incredible flying dragon!

Vertebrates are divided into five groups.

Find out which groups of animals have backbones.

Learning points

• Vertebrates are animals with an internal backbone.
• Vertebrates can be divided into five groups with distinctive features: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.

Embed this film

<iframe src="http://www.tigtag-aksorn.com/film/embed/vertebrates-188/" height="445" width="515" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen ></iframe>

Copy and paste the embed code above to include this film on other websites.