Biologists have long known that feathers and hairs both start as structures called placodes. In reptiles, however, biologists had found distinct skin areas that yielded scales but no placodes.

On an island in Papua New Guinea, a 3-foot-long creature with a black tongue made itself at home in a village garden — or it tried to, at least. Locals spotted the “smooth” animal and caught it. They ...

does that mean that birds are reptiles, too? "I would say that any modern biologist would, or should, say that birds are ...

Jonathan Choquette is the Lead Biologist on the Ojibway Prairie Reptile Recovery program with Wildlife Preservation Canada (WPC), and he is very pleased to see the town propose ...

By analyzing the flowerpot snake’s unique genome, scientists at The University of Texas at Arlington are uncovering how the tiny reptile repairs its DNA and ... a professor of biology at UTA and a ...

These changes separate the reptiles from the amphibians. #1, the evolution of stronger, more effective jaw mechanisms, is the subject of this lecture and one topic in last week’s lab. The other ...

Cornified scales of reptiles increased their capacity to live in terrestrial environments. The stratum corneum is very thin, with little keratin. Skin is used for gas exchange. Thick keratin layer ...