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Blanche Crays, age 13, of Kankakee, Ill.,

How many different amphibians are there?

Some are swimmers, soma are crawlers, some wallow in the mud, some excel in diving or leaping. All belong to the class Amphibia., dwellers in the water and on land. All hatch from eggs and go through a fishy stage during which they use a pair of gills for taking oxygen from the water. Most of them swap their gills for a. pair of air‑breathing lungs later in life, Some keep their gills all their lives and some have both gills and lungs, A few have neither gills nor lungs. These take in oxygen through the skin which lines the mouth and throat.

In North America, we know and most of us love the frogs and toads, the newts and salamanders. Those of us who live in the southwest may also know the muddy little axolotl who, when conditions are right, can turn into a glamorous tiger salamander. Those of us who fish in lazy streams have perhaps met the fat, lazy hellbender or the little mud puppy with his collar of fringed gills, All these peace‑loving little animals are amphibians. If we counted all the amphibians that share our land with us, we would find that there are about 250 of them.

This is only one‑tenth of the great class of Amphibia.. Altogether, living in moist and fairly warm regions through the world, there are about 2500 of these charming animals. The class is subdivided into three orders. The order of the tailless amphibians includes, as you may guess, all the frogs and toads. The salamanders belong to a separate order of Amphibia.. They are the tailed amphibians and some of them have most amazing life stories. The third order includes a number of wormy, legless animals most of which enjoy life in the warm, wet tropics,

Some people go through life without meeting up with the charming and gentle amphibians, Yet, these little darlings play a vital role in all our lives. Frogsand toads devour tons of enemy insects and they themselves become foodfor many birds, snakes and hungry four‑footed creatures who help to makeour luxurious planet interesting.

What’s more, the amphibians rates among the most successful of land animals, Their family tree dates back 340 million years. At that time their ancestors ware the first backboned animals to leave the ancient seas and take up life,on the dry land. Our newts are like smaller editions of those brave pioneers. For a time, they were the most advanced of the land animals, then the gentle creatures gave way to the towering dinosaurs. Since then they have survived successfully as smaller creatures, content to share and enjoy the wonderful planet which is their home.