The phrase "vertebrate animals" refers to animals that have an internal skeleton made up of bones called a backbone or a spine. This includes animals like mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Full definition
2) Facility license for experimental utilization and care of vertebrate animals in research and training (mandatory for all experimental manipulations requiring anaesthesia). (infrafrontier.eu)
«[It] has a single row of belly scales, it has very snake - like vertebrae, it has a body longer than the tail, it has hundreds of vertebrae, it has the remains of other vertebrate animals in the stomach and so it was a carnivore, it has backward pointing teeth. (newscientist.com)
policies regarding human subjects, live vertebrate animal subjects in research, and safe laboratory practices (grants.nih.gov)