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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'. The term was initially used as a general adjective for animals that could live on land or in water, including seals and otters. [8]
While amphibians continued to feed on fish and later insects, reptiles began exploring two new food types, other tetrapods (carnivory), and later, plants (herbivory). Carnivory was a natural transition from insectivory for medium and large tetrapods, requiring minimal adaptation (in contrast, a complex set of adaptations was necessary for ...
This cladistic approach defines "tetrapods" as the nearest common ancestor of all living amphibians (the lissamphibians) and all living amniotes (reptiles, birds, and mammals), along with all of the descendants of that ancestor. In effect, "tetrapod" is a name reserved solely for animals which lie among living tetrapods, so-called crown tetrapods.
However, the resource is sometimes non-food related or may be solicited by adult animals. Begging behavior is most widely studied in birds, however, mammals, amphibians, and invertebrates perform begging displays. Generally in food solicitation, begging behavior is instinctive, although in some instances it is learned (e.g. pet cats and dogs).
Many kinds of birds are known to congregate in groups of varying size; a congregation of nesting birds is called a breeding colony. A group of birds congregating for rest is called a communal roost. Approximately 13% of all bird species nest colonially. [110] Nesting colonies are very common among seabirds on cliffs and islands. Nearly 95% of ...
Birds sometimes also form associations with non-avian species. Plunge-diving seabirds associate with dolphins and tuna, which push shoaling fish towards the surface. [201] Some species of hornbills have a mutualistic relationship with dwarf mongooses, in which they forage together and warn each other of nearby birds of prey and other predators ...
There definitely were no muppets during the Permian Period, but there was a Kermit - or at least a forerunner of modern amphibians that has been named after the celebrity frog. Scientists on ...
Sauropsida (Greek for "lizard faces") is a clade of amniotes, broadly equivalent to the class Reptilia, though typically used in a broader sense to also include extinct stem-group relatives of modern reptiles and birds (which, as theropod dinosaurs, are nested within reptiles as more closely related to crocodilians than to lizards or turtles). [2]