Question

Three common characteristics of adult vertebrates are?

Answer 1

We humans are considered "vertebrates,"
because we have a backbone.

I'll talk a little bit about each of the three common characteristics of ADULT vertebrates.

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1. Two pairs of jointed appendages

We each have a pair of arms,
and a pair of legs.

That's two pairs of appendages, you see?

And our arms and legs have joints.

We can find joints in our fingers, our wrists, our elbows, our shoulders, our hip/thigh attachments, our knees, our ankles, and our toes.

Joints everywhere!

That's what it means to have "jointed appendages."

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2. Cephalization

"Cephalization" is an anatomical term,
which means that we have sensory organs,
and main nervous tissue,
in our heads.

You see,
we humans have a nose for smelling,
eyes for seeing,
a tongue for tasting,
ears for hearing,
and a brain that does everything for our body.

And where are all these things?

In and on our head! Of course!

That's what it means to have "cephalization."

Many of our main sensory organs are in and on our heads.

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3. Internal skeleton.

INTERNAL means INSIDE.

And you know what a skeleton is. It's our bones.

Having an INTERNAL skeleton means that our bones are INSIDE of our bodies.

Simple, yes?