What Is A Reptile?

Reptiles are animals that are vertebrates, which means they have a stiff supportive backbone. In that way they are similar to human beings, but reptiles are far removed from us in the evolutionary scheme of things. Reptiles are much more ancient, and were around at the time of the dinosaurs, and before. The earliest reptiles walked the Earth 300 million years ago.

Reptiles are cold blooded – their body temperature depends on the temperature of their surroundings and they have a scaly skin. They lay eggs with hard shells and yolks to feed the growing young, which are fully formed when the eggs hatch. Some reptiles live in water but all lay their eggs on dry land. Some snakes and lizards have eggs that develop inside them, so they appear to give birth of live young.

Reptiles include snakes, tortoises, turtles, alligators and crocodiles, lizards and some of the extinct dinosaurs, such as the plesiosaurs.

A reptile is a cold-blooded animal.