Question:

What are the anatomical and physiological differences between an amphibian and a mammalian?

by  |  earlier

0 LIKES UnLike

Anatomical and physiological please...

 Tags:

   Report

1 ANSWERS


  1. Amphibian larvae have many features in common with fish. Sometimes called pollywogs or tadpoles, these larvae live in water and have gills at the sides of their heads that enable them to breathe underwater. They also have a tail that they use in swimming. Most amphibian larvae have tiny teeth.

    most salamanders have four short legs and a long, strong tail, which they use for balance while walking on land and to propel them through the water when swimming. Caecilians have no limbs at all. They burrow in the soil by using their strong skulls as battering rams and swim by moving their muscular bodies back and forth like eels. Most adult amphibians retain their teeth, but in some species, teeth are reduced in size or not present at all.

    Adult amphibians typically have lungs, rather than gills, for breathing oxygen, but some water-dwelling species have both lungs and gills, and others obtain all the oxygen they need to survive through their permeable skin. A three-chambered heart pumps blood throughout a complex circulatory system, delivering oxygen and nutrients to the cells and carrying away waste products. The amphibian digestive system consists of a mouth, esophagus, stomach, and intestine, which opens into a chamber at their posterior called the cloaca. Digestive wastes are processed by the kidneys, excreted into the cloaca, then expelled from the body through a muscular opening in the cloaca. This opening is also where eggs and sperm exit the body.

    Amphibians are cold-blooded, or more correctly, ectotherms—that is, they are not able to generate their own body heat. Instead, their body temperature is determined by their surroundings. This means that they cannot control the speed at which their body systems work. In cold weather, they become sluggish, and some enter a state of reduced activity, or torpor, which is similar to hibernation.

    encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArt...

    The majority of mammals have seven cervical vertebrae (bones in the neck); this includes bats, giraffes, whales, and humans. The few exceptions include the manatee and the two-toed sloth, which have only six cervical vertebrae, and the three-toed sloth with nine cervical vertebrae.

    Breathing is largely driven by the muscular diaphragm at the bottom of the thorax. Contraction of the diaphragm pulls the bottom of the cavity in which the lung is enclosed downward. Air enters through the oral and nasal cavities; it flows through the larynx and into the trachea, which branches out into bronchi. Relaxation of the diaphragm has the opposite effect, passively recoiling during normal breathing. During exercise, the diaphragm contracts, forcing the air out more quickly and forcefully. The rib cage itself also is able to expand and contract to some degree, through the action of other respiratory and accessory respiratory muscles. As a result, air is sucked into or expelled out of the lungs, always moving down its pressure gradient. lots more - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammalia

Question Stats

Latest activity: earlier.
This question has 1 answers.

BECOME A GUIDE

Share your knowledge and help people by answering questions.