Animals

Animals of many shapes and sizes live in all parts of the world. They walk or crawl on land, fly in the air and swim in the water. Horses, canaries, toads, butterflies and worms are all animals. So are oysters, beetles, elephants, lobsters, sponges, seals and snakes. Many animals are so small that they can be seen only with a microscope. The largest animal is the blue whale. Nobody knows exactly how many kinds of animals there are. So far scientists have grouped more than a million kinds of animals. But every year hundreds of new kinds are discovered.

Many scientists divide living things into five man groups — animals, plants, fungi, protists and minerals. It is usually easy to distinguish animals from other types of organisms. For example, most animals move around but most plants and fungi are held to the places.

Tame animals and wild animals are grouped according to the way they act with people. Wild animals are usually afraid to come close to people. Only a few kinds of wild animals have become tame in large numbers. Most of them are the well-known pets and farm animals. The great majority of animals are wild. Individual wild animals can usually be tamed but they easily become wild again.

Land animals include a wide variety such as apes, butterflies, eagles, elephants, horses, pigeons and spiders. Water animals include such different creatures as fishes, lobsters, sponges and whales. Some kinds of animals spend part of their lives on land and part in water. These animals include dragonflies, frogs, horseshoe crabs, salamanders, sea turtles and toads.

The temperature inside the bodies of some animals stays about the same all the time. These animals are called warm-blooded. The temperature inside the bodies of other kinds of animals varies from time to time. Such animals are called cold-blooded.

Zoologists classify animals according to their body characteristics. They separate the animals with one or more of the same body characteristics into major groups. Each of these groups is called a phylum. Every phylum is divided into groups called classes. The classes are divided into orders and the orders into families. The families are divided into genera and the genera into species.

Every kind of animals fits into a marvelous system of nature. Animals help build up life by serving as food for people and for plants. But animals also destroy life. They hunt and kill other animals and they eat plants. As a result, animals help keep in balance the total number of plants and animals. The balance of nature is so important that it is often called the web of life.

Answer to the following questions.

1. How many species of animals live on the earth?

2. How many groups do scientists divide living things?

3. What animals belong to the group of land animals?

4. What is the main difference between tame and wild animals?

5. What animals spend part of their lives on land and part in water?

6. What animals are called warm-blooded / cold-blooded?

7. What is the classification of animals connected with?

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