AWAKE

Click here to view the list of Reptiles present in Kentucky

Characteristics :

• Have a backbone
• Have dry, scaly skin that sheds periodically during growth
• Most live on land
• Eggs typically laid on land and have a leathery, flexible shell; in some, female retains egg inside body but developing embryo is nourished by a yolk rather than by mother’s body
• Embryo is surrounded by watery fluid, called amnion; this type of egg is called an amniotic egg; animals that lay eggs in water, such as fish and amphibians, do not make amniotic eggs
• Are cold-blooded, or more appropriately, ectothermic; they must absorb heat from their environment rather than generating it inside their body
• Breathe with lungs

Taxanomy:

• Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
    • Class:Reptilia
      • Order: Crocodilia (crocodiles, alligators)
        
        Rhynchocephalia (tuataras)
        
        Squamata (lizards, snakes)
        
        Testudines (turtles)