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Caecilians in the Eastern Himalayas are colloquially known as "back ache snakes", [64] while in the Western Ghats, Ichthyophis tricolor is considered to be more toxic than a king cobra. [ 65 ] [ 66 ] Despite deep cultural respect for the cobra and other dangerous animals, the caecilian is killed on sight by salt and kerosene. [ 65 ]
Snakes are thought to have evolved from either burrowing or aquatic lizards, perhaps during the Jurassic period, with the earliest known fossils dating to between 143 and 167 Ma ago. [9] [10] The diversity of modern snakes appeared during the Paleocene epoch (c. 66 to 56 Ma ago, after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event).
Ophiophagy (Greek: ὄφις + φαγία, lit. ' snake eating ') is a specialized form of feeding or alimentary behavior of animals which hunt and eat snakes.There are ophiophagous mammals (such as the skunks and the mongooses), birds (such as snake eagles, the secretarybird, and some hawks), lizards (such as the common collared lizard), and even other snakes, such as the Central and South ...
The world's smallest known vertebrate, Paedophryne amauensis, sitting on a U.S. dime.The dime is 17.9 mm in diameter, for scale. The word amphibian is derived from the Ancient Greek term ἀμφίβιος (amphíbios), which means 'both kinds of life', ἀμφί meaning 'of both kinds' and βίος meaning 'life'.
Trophallaxis: eating food regurgitated by another animal; Zoopharmacognosy: self-medication by eating plants, soils, and insects to treat and prevent disease. An opportunistic feeder sustains itself from a number of different food sources, because the species is behaviourally sufficiently flexible.
The list below largely follows Darrel Frost's Amphibian Species of the World (ASW), Version 5.5 (31 January 2011). Another classification, which largely follows Frost, but deviates from it in part is the one of AmphibiaWeb , which is run by the California Academy of Sciences and several of universities.
Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν herpetón, meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (including snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodilians, and tuataras).
The most diverse group, Lepidosauria, is first known from the Middle Triassic (240 million years ago) fossils, but likely originated in the Permian (approximately 300-250 million years ago). [1] Living lepidosaurs, which include snakes, lizards, and rhynchocephalians, occupy a wide range of environments and niches. [ 2 ]