US states adopt official reptiles, including lizards, snakes, alligators, turtles, and tortoises. Only half of the states have a reptilian symbol, with some sharing species such as the eastern box turtle and painted turtle. The Blanding’s tortoise is Minnesota’s unofficial state reptile, while the desert tortoise is the official state reptile of California and Nevada. […]
Reptiles are ectothermic animals with scales, and there are over 8,200 species, making them more diverse than mammals. They are polyphyletic, and birds, which descended from dinosaurs, are not considered reptiles. Reptiles and synapsids split from each other a long time ago, and there are four living orders of reptiles: Crocodilia, Sphenodontia, Squamata, and Testudines. […]
