Animals live in various unique environments. Through evolution and adaptation, animals have adapted physical and behavioral mechanisms in order to survive in a variety of ecological surroundings. Adaptation is a body covering, part or behavior that an animal develops in order to survive in a particular environment. The environment or an ecological surrounding is the immediate habitat that affects the animal which includes water, land, air and other living things. Animals have developed adaptations over time. Animals’ adaptation matches with the way they are living. Different groups of animals such as fish, reptiles, birds, mammals and amphibians have their own general adaptation mechanisms. Skin covering is a good example of animal adaptation. The skin covering for various animals have evolved over time. The paper discusses the various forms of the skin and their associated coverings.
Animals have different body coverings. The skin body covering is one of the main characteristics used to distinguish animals from one another. The body covering helps to protect the animal in different environments. An animal’s class determines the body coverings. For instance the mammals have fur or hair, reptiles have dry scales, birds have feathers, amphibians have moist or smooth skin and fish have wet, slimy scales. Examples of animals with their respective covering are the armadillo which contains plates, the porcupine with quills and others.
The animals’ body coverings come in various forms of patterns and colors. The patterns and colors assist them to camouflage the surrounding like the Lion and leopard. The patterns and colors also help the animals to warn their enemies for example a skunk. The patterns and colors assist the animals li...
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...thers. Their outer layer of the skin covering is mostly smooth with the exception of some frogs and toads species. Slime is secreted by amphibians to lubricate the skin. Slime also helps them from becoming waterlogged. Amphibians secrete slime from many mucous glands contained in their skin. The skin of many amphibians must be maintained moist at all times to help the animal breathe since it is a respiratory organ.
In a nutshell, the body covering of many animals performs the three main functions; protection, insulation and water proof. Besides the three main functions, the skin covering of other animals have evolved and adapted in order for the animal to survive within a specific ecosystem. The adaptation depends on needs of the natural habitat where the animal resides. Different animals have different skin covering adaptation based on the natural surroundings.
Human skin is a multi-layered structure. It is generally divided into two layers, the epidermis and the dermis. Below the dermis a subcutaneous fat layer is found. The epidermis can be further divided into several sub-layers. These are the stratum corneum, the stratum lucidum, the stratum granulosum, the stratum spinosum, and the stratum germinativum. The stratum germinativum is usually referred to as the basal layer.
For example, water loss abrasion from outside. The system covers the skin and its appendages. Its main function is to act as an impediment to shield the body from the outside world. It also functions to possess body fluids, protect against disease, oust waste products.
The skin is the largest organ in the body, covering the bones and internal organs, protecting them from injuries, it serves as a barrier to germs, and bacteria and helps to prevent fluid loss. The skin helps to control the body’s temperature and also aids in removing certain body wastes, therefore making it a vital organ just as any other organ such as the heart or brain.
The clothes worn with a knight’s suit of armor gave both comfort and protection to the knight. The parts of a medieval knight's suit of armor were a complex series of garments, chain mail and iron plate. The pieces of a knight’s suit of armor covered the most exposed parts of a knight's body. Knights would wear under clothes consisted of a linen under-shirt and linen under-pants, woolen stockings covered the legs. A knight's underclothes were important. It prevented the armor from chafing the knight’s skin. A padded garment known by various names such as aketon, consisted of a quilted coat which was either sewn or stuffed with linen or even grass. This served as padding for additional armor worn over the top.
Gould, Edwin, George McKay, and David Kirshner. Encyclopedia of Mammals. San Francisco, CA: Fog City, 2003. Print.
Everyone has a family member, friend, or beloved pet so sick you were not sure if they would live or die, and you find out about a new surgery procedure or medicine available to save them. Have you ever wondered where these new surgery procedures or medicines come from? When you think about all the major medical advancements over the last few decades and beyond, it has depended on animal research. As research moves into the future, we need to understand how the body works and how diseases progress. We need to find ways to treat, cure, or prevent disease and disability. The use of animal research is providing us with new technologies and medicines, which are benefiting both humans and animals in treating and extending lives.
The integumentary system has five main functions. The five main functions of the integumentary system are protection, regulation, sensation, absorption, and secretion. It consists of the hair, nails, skin, sebaceous and sweat glands. The largest organ of the entire body is the skin. The skin consists of three different layers. The epidermis, the dermis, and the subcutaneous layer, these are the three layers of the skin. There is a layer that is deeper than the skin and contains body fat, that layer is called the hypodermis. Sweat glands are also called sudoriferous glands. One of the functions of the skin is to maintain homeostasis. Synthesis of vitamin D, excretion of urea, excretion of salts and water are a few things that the skin is also capable of. The top layer of the skin is called the epidermis. The epidermis contains five different layers. These layers are the stratum corneum, the stratum lucidum, the stratum spinosum, and the stratum basale. In the epidermis there are four different cell types. The keratinocytes which produce keratin, the merkel cells that are sensitive to touch, the langerhans cells which is a dendritic type off cell, and the melanocytes which produce melanin.
The integumentary system is composed of the skin and the structures related to the skin, which include the hair, the finger nails, the sensory receptors and the glands (Shier, Butler, & Lewis, 2009). This system has an important function since it provides protection to the body, helps to maintain body temperature, and contains sensory receptors (p.117). The skin has essential function such as regulating homeostasis and body temperature, also delaying the loss of water from deeper tissues, storing sensory receptor, synthesizing biomechanical, and discharging waste from the body (p.117). The skin has two layers: the epidermis (outer layer) and the dermis (inner layer) (p.117). There is also a subcutaneous layer or hypodermis (p.117). According to Shier, Butler, and Lewis 2009 “as its name indicates, this layer is beneath the skin and not a true layer of the skin” (p.117). This layer has the blood vessels that supply the skin (p.117).
Atelerix albiventris, also commonly known as the four-toed hedgehog, is a fascinating organism with a plethora of intriguing characteristics. The hierarchical classification of this organism is as follows: Kingdom Animalia, phylum Chordata, class Mammalia, order Insectivora, family Erinaceidae, genus Atelerix, and species albiventris. In the genus Atelerix, there are four other species. The members of this genus include the four-toed hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris), the Somali Hedgehog (Atelerix sclateri), the Southern African Hedgehog (Atelerix frontalis), and the North African hedgehog (Atelerix algirus) (Santana 2010).The two distinctive features of the class Mammalia are the presence of hair and mammary glands. The function of hair is to serve as an insulator while the mammary glands enable females to produce nutritious, calorie-rich milk and nurse their young. Members of the order Insectivora are insect-eating mammals that have a long snout and either covered in fur or spines. Insectivores are seen as primitive mammals because they lack certain advanced characteristics seen in complex mammals, such as the primates. Instead of a ridged brain they have a smooth brain and instead of two separate openings for the genitals and anus, they have a cloaca, which serves as the opening for both the urinary and reproductive tracts. Furthermore, three commonly known mammals in this order Insectivora are the hedgehog, mole, and the. The genus Atelerix contains the African hedgehogs, which are distinguishable spines covering their bodies, a white fur belly, and typically are between six to eight inches in length (Vaughan 1972)
For years studies and observations have been made on the relationship between body size and physical orientation of an animal. In 1847 Carl Bergmann was one of the first to do observations with this phenomenon (Dictionary of Theories 2002). Bergmann noticed that warm-blooded animals living at climates high in latitude are bigger in size than those living in climates of lower latitudes (Dictionary of Theories 2002). Research has shown there is a correlation of surface area to volume in animals that are located in different parts of the globe. Animals living in a cooler climate have a larger volume, but decreased surface area to retain as much body heat as possible. The inverse is true for animals living in warmer regions; these animals have a smaller volume and larger surface area to allow the body to cool efficiently (McNab 1971). Bergmann’s rule has brought valuable insight into the study of character traits and how we identify where animals originated. One example that I came across is with the Andean passerine bird, a study was done in 1991 by G. R. Graves. He noticed the size of ...
...for more accurate predictions of how species will evolve and whether or not certain species will survive and what adaptations could promote or inhibit that process. There are different methods of adaptation available for animals and plants to employ in nature. Thus, exploring adaptations during our lectures would grant us better insight into what caused certain things to demonstrate specific adaptations and would aid in the explanation and expansion of convergent evolution.
There fur is actually clear, hollow tubes filled with air. “An outer coat of long guard hair that sticks together when wet protects a dense, thick under coat.” When a polar bear rolls, water rolls off of the guards hairs. “Scarring or residue on the fur can cause the “white” fur to appear to human eyes as cream colored, yellow, or even pink in the Arctic light.” A polar bears fur may look white, but it is actually clear because each hollow hair reflects the light. On warm or sunny day it traps the suns infrared heat and keeps the bear warm at 98 degrees fahrenheit. Underneath the bears fur, the skin is actually black but soaks up all the suns heat and it helps them stay
are slit and they are skinned. Some of these beautiful animals remain fully conscious throughout the entire process.
" Society & Animals 18.2 (2010): 183-203. Academic Search Premier -. EBSCO. Web. The Web. The Web.