CLIL A  Unit 1

Focus on Biology: Vertebrates and invertebrates

Vertebrates
There are five main types of vertebrates. They’ve
all got an internal skeleton. They’ve got a head
and their skin is covered in hair, fur, feathers or
scales. They usually have a tail and they use their
legs to move (fish use their fins). They use their
lungs or gills to breathe. Some vertebrates, for
example, mammals, are warm-blooded. Others,
like reptiles, are cold-blooded.
Invertebrates
There are many different types of invertebrates.
They haven’t got an internal skeleton. Some
have a hard external skeleton or a shell around
a soft body. Most of them use their gills or skin to
breathe. All invertebrates are cold-blooded or have
no blood at all.
Molluscs – snail Annelids – earth worm

shell
fur Reptile – crocodile

external
scales tail
Mammal – rabbit skeleton

Cnidarians – jellyfish

fin wings
scales

no lungs or gills no blood

Fish – goldfish gills beak tentacles

Did you know? feathers

Only 3% of the
world’s animals are Bird – hummingbird Porifera – sponge Echinoderm – starfish
vertebrates.

1 Read the text and circle the correct option. 4 Take turns to describe and guess an animal.
1 Goldfish are vertebrates / invertebrates. Answer these questions.
2 Starfish are vertebrates / invertebrates.
• Is it a vertebrate or an invertebrate?
2 Read the text again and find: • What features has it got? (feathers, scales,
hair, etc.)
1 four different skin coverings. • Any other information? (colour, size, etc.)
2 two parts of the body used to move.
It’s a vertebrate and a mammal. It
3 Read the facts. Are they true (T) or false (F)?
breathes through lungs. It’s got four
1 Fish have fins, gills and scales. legs, a head and tail, and hair on its
2 Rabbits are cold-blooded.  body. It’s quite large and has brown
3 Starfish have got tentacles. spots.
4 Sponges haven’t got lungs or gills. Is it a
5 Birds have got wings, feathers and giraffe?
a beak.
6 Reptiles are cold-blooded, and
they’ve got scales.

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