Reptiles vs Amphibians
Six key features that tell scaly reptiles apart from soft-skinned amphibians.
Reptiles and amphibians are both cold-blooded vertebrates, and people often mix them up — but they are actually very different animals. The easiest way to tell them apart is to check their skin, their eggs, and where they need to live. Use the cards below to compare the two groups side by side.
Dry and waterproof, covered in tough overlapping scales or bony plates made of keratin. Shed as they grow.
Thin, smooth, and moist — no scales at all. Must stay damp because they can also breathe through it.
Leathery-shelled eggs laid on land, hidden in sand, soil, or leaf litter. A few species give birth to live young.
Soft, jelly-covered eggs laid in water or very damp places. No hard shell, so they would dry out on land.
Love warm places — deserts, rainforests, grasslands, even the open sea. Can live far from water.
Always need moisture. Found near ponds, streams, swamps, and damp forest floors around the world.
Breathe air with lungs their whole life, from the moment they hatch.
Start with gills as larvae, grow lungs as adults, and also absorb oxygen through their moist skin.
Cold-blooded (ectothermic). Bask in the sun to warm up and move to shade to cool down.
Also cold-blooded, but stay in cooler, shadier, damper places to stop their skin drying out.
Babies hatch looking like tiny adults and can look after themselves straight away.
Go through metamorphosis — a tadpole or larva transforms into a very different-looking adult.