Animals & Nature · Unit 9
Reptiles and Amphibians
Scales and slime: snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodiles, frogs and newts
These two groups get lumped together and should not be. The difference is water: amphibians need it to breed and mostly breathe partly through their skin, while reptiles solved both problems and left the water behind.
The unit covers what defines each group, snakes and lizards, turtles and crocodilians, and the frog and newt life cycles that make the amphibian dependence on water visible.
This unit breaks down into 18 short steps and 108 questions, starting at difficulty 2 and building to 3. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.
- Steps
- 18
- Questions
- 108
- Difficulty
- 2-3
What this unit covers
- Turtles and Crocodilians
- Frog and Newt Life Cycles
- Snakes and Lizards
- What Makes an Amphibian
- What Makes a Reptile
Where this fits
Follows Animal Groups.
Where people slip
Cold-blooded is a misleading term. These animals regulate temperature by behaviour - moving into sun or shade - and a basking lizard can be warmer than you are.
How the unit is structured
Reptiles and Amphibians runs as 18 short steps that unlock in order. 13 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 2 and climb to 3 as you progress.
Challenge rounds
Example questions
30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 108 in the unit altogether.
Frog and Newt Life Cycles
- Build the sentenceLevel 2
1. Build a sentence about amphibians.
Answer: Frogs start life in water
Frogs start life in water as tadpoles.
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
2. Which threaten amphibian populations? Pick all that apply.
- Chytrid funguscorrect
- Pond and wetland losscorrect
- Water pollutioncorrect
- Too many ponds
Disease, habitat loss, pollution and climate change all contribute.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
3. What do most tadpoles eat?
- Algae and plantscorrect
- Fish only
- Birds
- Nothing at all
Tadpoles mostly graze on algae and plant material at first.
- Put in orderLevel 2
4. Order the stages a frog passes through as it grows.
Answer: Frogspawn -> Tadpole -> Tadpole with legs -> Froglet -> Adult frog
Spawn, tadpole, back legs, froglet, adult frog.
- Fact or fibLevel 3
5. Amphibians are among the most threatened groups of animals on Earth.
Answer: True
True. A large share of species are at risk of extinction.
- Sort into groupsLevel 3
6. Sort each feature as reptilian or amphibian.
Answer: Dry keratin scales = Reptile; Shelled eggs on land = Reptile; Permeable moist skin = Amphibian; Jelly-covered eggs in water = Amphibian
Skin and eggs are the clearest dividing lines.
Snakes and Lizards
- True or falseLevel 2
7. Some snakes kill prey with venom while others squeeze it.
Answer: True
True. Constrictors coil and tighten instead of using venom.
- Type the answerLevel 2
8. What do we call a snake that kills by squeezing its prey?
Answer: constrictor
Constrictors such as pythons tighten their coils.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
9. Why do chameleons change colour?
- For signalling, temperature and sometimes camouflage
- Only ever for camouflage
- To attract rain
- To digest food
Colour change signals mood and status and helps regulate temperature, as well as sometimes hiding them.
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
10. Which defences do lizards use? Pick all that apply.
- Dropping the tailcorrect
- Camouflagecorrect
- Threat displayscorrect
- Producing milk
Dropping the tail, camouflage and threat displays are all used.
- Multiple choiceLevel 3
11. How can a snake swallow prey wider than its head?
- Its jaws are loosely connected and stretchcorrect
- It chews the prey first
- It dissolves prey outside the body
- It cannot do this
Its jaw bones are loosely connected and its skin stretches enormously.
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
12. Which techniques do researchers use to study reptiles? Pick all that apply.
- Radio trackingcorrect
- Camera trapscorrect
- Mark and recapturecorrect
- Interviewing the animals
Radio tracking, camera traps and mark-recapture are all used.
Turtles and Crocodilians
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
13. Which threats do sea turtles face? Pick all that apply.
- Getting caught in fishing gearcorrect
- Plastic pollutioncorrect
- Loss of nesting beachescorrect
- Too many predators of plastic
Fishing bycatch, plastic, beach development and light pollution all harm them.
- Fact or fibLevel 2
14. Mother crocodiles guard their nests and carry hatchlings to the water.
Answer: True
True. They give more parental care than most reptiles.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
15. Where do sea turtles lay their eggs?
- In sand on a beachcorrect
- On floating seaweed
- In coral
- Deep on the sea floor
They come ashore and bury eggs in sandy beaches.
- True or falseLevel 2
16. Some tortoises can live for well over a hundred years.
Answer: True
True. Several have been documented past a hundred and fifty.
- Type the answerLevel 2
17. Which reptile has a bony shell and no teeth, using a sharp beak instead?
Answer: turtle
Turtles and tortoises crop food with a beak.
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
18. Which measures protect nesting sea turtles? Pick all that apply.
- Protecting nesting beachescorrect
- Reducing coastal light pollutioncorrect
- Modifying fishing netscorrect
- Removing all sand
Beach protection, reduced lighting and net modifications all help.
What Makes a Reptile
- Fact or fibLevel 2
19. There are more species of reptile than of mammal.
Answer: True
True. Reptiles number well over ten thousand species.
- Fill the blankLevel 2
20. The tuatara of New Zealand is the last survivor of an ancient reptile ____.
- lineagecorrect
- island
- forest
- climate
Its lineage separated from other reptiles very long ago.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
21. Why do snakes and lizards shed their skin?
- Because the old skin cannot grow with themcorrect
- To change colour permanently
- To keep cool
- To make a nest
The old skin does not grow, so it must be replaced as the animal gets bigger.
- True or falseLevel 2
22. Most reptiles lay eggs with tough shells on land.
Answer: True
True. The shell stops the egg drying out away from water.
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
23. Which are reptile groups? Pick all that apply.
- Snakes and lizardscorrect
- Turtles and tortoisescorrect
- Crocodilianscorrect
- Salamanders
Squamates, turtles and crocodilians are the main living reptile groups.
- Type the answerLevel 3
24. Which reptile group contains lizards and snakes?
Answer: Squamata
Squamata is the largest reptile order.
What Makes an Amphibian
- Choose all that applyLevel 2
25. Which of these animals are amphibians? Select every one.
- Frogcorrect
- Toadcorrect
- Newtcorrect
- Gecko
Frogs, toads and newts are amphibians.
- Multiple choiceLevel 2
26. Why are amphibians easily harmed by polluted water?
- Their skin absorbs substances directlycorrect
- They drink enormous amounts
- They cannot swim in it
- They are not affected
Their permeable skin absorbs whatever is in the water.
- Sort into groupsLevel 2
27. Place each animal in the reptile or the amphibian group.
Answer: Lizard = Reptile; Crocodile = Reptile; Salamander = Amphibian; Toad = Amphibian
Dry scales mean reptile, moist skin means amphibian.
- Type the answerLevel 2
28. Which fungal disease has devastated amphibian populations worldwide?
Answer: chytrid
Chytrid fungus attacks amphibian skin, which they need to breathe.
- True or falseLevel 3
29. Poison dart frogs get their toxins from the insects they eat.
Answer: True
True. Captive frogs fed different diets lose their toxicity.
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
30. Which are true of amphibians? Pick all that apply.
- Permeable moist skincorrect
- Eggs without waterproof shellscorrect
- Metamorphosis in most speciescorrect
- Feathers
Permeable skin, aquatic eggs and metamorphosis are typical.
Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.
How you practise
This unit mixes 9 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.
- Build the sentence
- Choose all that apply
- Fact or fib
- Fill the blank
- Multiple choice
- Put in order
- Sort into groups
- True or false
- Type the answer
Practise Reptiles and Amphibians
108 questions across 18 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.
Play this unitMore units in Animals & Nature
- What Is an Animal?What makes something an animal, and what every animal needs
- Pets and Farm AnimalsThe animals we live and work with, and how to care for them
- Animal GroupsMammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and creatures without backbones
- Habitats and HomesWhere animals live, from rainforest to polar ice, and the homes they build
- Baby Animals and FamiliesEggs and live young, animal parents, and growing up
- What Animals EatDiets, teeth, hunting, and how energy flows through a food chain
- MammalsFur, milk and warm blood, from bats and whales to big cats
- BirdsFeathers, beaks, flight and song across the bird world