• Amphibians include frogs, toads, and salamanders.

•  Almost all are very much tied to the water for at least part of their lives.

•  Almost all lay their eggs in water and pass through tadpole or larval stages with gills to an air-breathing adult stage, a process called metamorphosis.

•  Most have delicate, thin skin and cannot survive far from water or moist woodlands because they use their skin to help them breathe.

• They are ectothermic with an endoskeleton.

Frogs usually have:

•  bulging eyes 

• long back legs that help them hop, climb, or swim. 

• They range in color from bright green to brown and often have unique markings that help with identification.

• external eardrum (tympanum)

• Some can freeze solid in the winter

•  they communicate using vocal calls

Toads are a type of frog!

•  they live more on land than in the water

• have shorter legs, and dry, typically warty skin

• often have large poison (parotid) glands behind their eyes to make them bad tasting to predators, but in New England are not usually harmful to humans

Because of their sensitive skin and specific habitat requirements, these shy creatures can tell us a lot about the health of our environment!

•  many of them use their wet skin as a surface through which to breathe, some don't have lungs

• They have external gills at a younger life cycle stage

• Like frogs, they start their lives in water and are adults mostly on land

•  they communicate using touch and chemicals

Newts have a strange 3-part life cycle

•  begins life as a fully aquatic creature with visible gills

• terrestrial (land) bright orange stage with poisonous skin

• finally returns to the water as a yellow and green adult with red spots and lays eggs

• Include snakes, lizards, turtles.

• First vertebrates to become truly independent of water.

• Eggs have a hard shell to prevent water loss, enabling reptiles to lay their eggs on land (including turtles and alligators).

• Scaly skin enables them to thrive even in the hot, dry climate of deserts.

• They are ectothermic with an endoskeleton.

• The vast majority of snakes aren't venomous.  

• The provide a valuable service by eating potential pests  like mice and slugs

• Snakes have more to fear from us than we do from them.  Many suffer from habitat loss and hunting

• All snakes are carnivores, which means they eat meat. Their diet varies with size and species and can include insects, worms, amphibians, fish, small mammals, and occasionally birds.

• Snakes lay leathery eggs on land

• They shed their skin in order the grow.

• On the underside of their bodies, their scales, called scoots, are horizontal to help them move.

Turtles are reptiles, like snakes and lizards, but they’re more ancient than either of those groups. The first turtles appeared over 200 million years ago. 

• Although many turtle species live in the water, all must breathe air and lay eggs on land. 

• All turtles have shells. Because these shells are made of modified bones like ribs, turtles can’t crawl out of them. 

• The shell covering a turtle's body consists of a top part called the carapace, a bottom part called the plastron, and connecting parts called bridges. 

• Turtles have no teeth. Instead, their jaws are hard and bony with sharp edges.

• They are ectothermic with an exoskeleton.

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• They are endothermic with an endoskeleton.

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• They are endothermic with an endoskeleton.

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• They are ectothermic with an endoskeleton.