vertebrates

1. Animals that have a spinal cord enclosed in a backbone.

Human beings are vertebrates.

The five traditional class es of vertebrates are amphibians, birds, fishes, mammals, and reptiles. (Compare invertebrates.)

Example Sentences

In most vertebrates, this crossing transfers information from the right eye to the left side of the brain and vice versa.

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Until now, only humans and a few other vertebrates, including pigeons and macaques, were known to distinguish between these two durations.

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Researchers found that this ancient system, shared across all vertebrates, can independently produce center-surround interactions -- a core visual process that helps detect edges, contrast, and attention-grabbing details in the environment.

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"The marine environment is the cradle of a lot of vertebrates," said Liu, an assistant adjunct professor of integrative biology and an assistant curator in the UC Museum of Paleontology.

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Nine known types of bats are true carnivores, meeting more than half of their energy needs by eating vertebrates such as frogs, birds, or even small mammals.

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