The accompanying maps show the distribution of habitats of the most conspicuous

species in the three subregions. Depicted on these maps are the habitats of black
bears, brown-grizzly bears, caribou, moose, Sitka black-tailed deer, Dall sheep,
mountain goats, bison.
The distribution of these and a few other representative species is presented in the
subregional descriptions. The species mentioned should be considered as merely
illustrative of the distribution of the thousands of other species that occupy the same
habitats. The Dall sheep, for instance, shares its alpine ranges with many other animals,
including single-celled protozoa in the soil; nematodes, both free-living and parasitic;
mites; spiders; insects; pikas; hoary marmots; golden eagles; and wandering tattlers, to
name a few.
An aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or
invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life.
[1]
Some examples of invertebrates are
cnidarians. This phylum consists of jellyfish, anemones, corals, and hydras. Another type of invertebrate
aquatic animal is the annelids which are segmented worms. There are three different classes they are
polychaetes, oligochaetes, and hirudinea.
[2]
It may breathe air or extract its oxygen from that dissolved
in water through specialised organs called gills, or directly through its skin. Natural environments and
the animals that live in them can be categorized as aquatic (water) or terrestrial (land). Animals that
move readily from water to land and vice versa are referred to as amphibians. When animals live in
water, they have special adaptations to help them survive in an aquatic habitat. The more time the
animal spends in the water the quicker they adapt to their new habitat. There are numerous ways that
an aquatic animal can adapt to their habitat.
egument " is applied to any outer covering of an animal. Basically, it means the skin, although many
scientists describe the exoskeleton of arthropods as an integument. An exoskeleton is a coating of hard
protein type substances that entierly cover the outside of the animal. It provides a place for muscle
attachment. The vertebrate skeleton is internal and muscles attach from the outside. This permits larger
growth of the animal. Vertebrate animals have developed some very interesting excrescences, or
projections of the skin, some of which are well-known and easily oberved by most people. They are
scales, feathers, and hair. Although these characteristics are common among the most vertebrates, they
are not all that common in the animal world as a w
Amphibians are ectothermic, tetrapod vertebrates of the class Amphibia. Modern amphibians are all
Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial,
arboreal or freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Amphibians typically start out as larva living in water, but
some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this. The young generally undergo
metamorphosis from larva with gills to an adult air-breathing form with lungs. Amphibians use their skin
as a secondary respiratory surface and some small terrestrial salamanders and frogs lack lungs and rely
entirely on their skin. They are superficially similar to reptiles but, along with mammals and birds,
reptiles are amniotes and do not require water bodies in which to breed. With their complex
reproductive needs and permeable skins, amphibians are often ecological indicators and in recent
decades there has been a dramatic decline in amphibian populations for many species around the globe.