CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS BASED ON THEIR HABITAT

Terrestial Animals - Animals which can only live on Land.

Examples:
- BEAR
- CAT
- DOG
- DEER
Aquatic Animals - Animals which can only live on Water.
Examples:
- FISH
- OCTOPUSES
- LOBSTERS
- SEAHORSE
Amphibians - Animals which can live both on land and on water.
Examples:
- FROGS
- TOADS
- SALAMANDERS
Arboreal Animals - Animals which live primarily on trees.
Examples:
- SQUIRREL
- RODENTS
- CHAMELEON
In order for us to understand how all living organisms are related, they are arranged
into different groups. The more features that a group of animals share, the more
specific the group is. Animals are given scientific names so that people all around the
world can communicate about animals, no matter what language they speak (these
names are traditionally Latin words). Animals belong to a number of different groups,
starting with theanimal kingdom.

Kingdom
All living organisms are first placed into different kingdoms. There are five different
kingdoms to classify life on Earth, which are Animals, Plants, Fungi, Bacteria, and
Protists (single-celled organisms).
Phylum
The animal kingdom is divided into 40 smaller groups, known as phylum.
Here, animals are grouped by their main features. Animals usually fall into one of five
different phylum which are Cnidaria (invertebrates), Chordata (vertebrates),
Arthropods, Molluscs and Echinoderms.
Class
The phylum group is then divided into even smaller groups, known as classes. The
Chordata (vertebrates) phylum splits up into Mammalia (Mammals), Actinopterygii
(Bony Fish), Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fish) , Aves (Birds), Amphibia (Amphibians)
and Reptilia (Reptiles).
Order
Each class is divided into small groups again, known as orders. The class Mammalia
(Mammals), splits into different groups including Carnivora, Primate, Artiodactyla and
Rodentia.
Family
In every order, there are different families of animals which all have very similar
features. The Carnivora order breaks into families that include Felidae (Cats), Canidae
(Dogs), Ursidae (Bears), and Mustelidae (Weasels).
Genus
Every animal family is then divided into small groups known as genus. Each genus
containsanimals that have very similar features and are closely related. For example,
the Felidae (Cat) family contains genus including Felis (small Cats and domestic Cats),
Panthera (Tigers, Leopards, Jaguars and Lions) and Puma (Panthers and Cougars).

Species
Each individual species within the genus is named after it's individual features and
characteristics. The names of animals are in Latin so that they can be understood
worldwide, and consist of two words. The first word in the name of an animal will be
the genus, and the second name indicates the specific species.
Example 1 - Tiger
Kingdom: Animalia (Animal)
Phylum: Chordata (Vertebrate)
Class: Mammalia (Mammal)
Order: Carnivora (Carnivore)
Family: Felidae (Cat)
Genus: Panthera
Species: Panthera tigris (Tiger)
Example 2 - Orang-utan
Kingdom: Animalia (Animal)
Phylum: Chordata (Vertebrate)
Class: Mammalia (Mammal)
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae (Great Apes)
Genus: Pongo
Species: Pongo pygmaeus (Orang-Utan)
Communication
For most animal species, keeping in touch with other animals of their species if often
essential to their survival. Animals communicate with one another for a variety of
reasons including hunting for food, warning others of approaching danger and
attracting a mate. Different animals use different methods to communicate including
eye-movements in lizards, body language, noises and hand gestures. Female glowworms even light up their tails in order to let the males know where they
are. Animal communication can be easily identified around the world, and noises such
as whistles, chirps, bellows, screams, howls, grunts and squeaks are common
throughout all of our habitats.

Instinct
Instinct in animals is something which is engrained into that animal when it is still
developing and hasn't even been born yet. Instinct is thought to be hereditary, passed
on from the parents so baby animals instinctively know how to get food from their
parents. Although instinctive behaviour is behaviour at a very basic level, without
natural instinct many animals simply would not survive as baby birds wouldn't know
how to get food from their mother and beavers wouldn't know how to build a dam.
Many animals rely on their instincts to sense approaching danger, or when searching
for a mate.
Intelligence
Intelligence in it's simplest form is the ability to make a decision based on having
learnt from previous experiences, how much an animal remembers and their levels of
communication. Despite being the most dominant animals on Earth, the level of human
intelligence does not greatly exceed the level of intelligence of a number of
other animalsincluding, dolphins, apes and dogs. Many animals that migrate long
distances every year, somehow must know which path they are taking, or which
direction to swim in, some remember completely using "landmarks" to ensure they are
on the right track and the ability for sea turtles to always land on the same spot, on the
same beach is still a mystery.
Strategies
In order to survive successfully within their environment animals often have a number
of ways in which they do things, known as strategies. Animals have various strategies
for defending themselves, hunting prey, resting and finding a mate, all of which differ
betweenanimal species but can also differ greatly within a species.
Many animal species that live together in groups, often have a dominant (alpha) male
member who defends and protects his females and their young. Male lions for
example, protect their females and cubs from harm by either intimidating or attacking
unwanted intruders. The female lions are the ones who hunt for food, and they often
develop quite complicated and technical techniques in order to catch prey more
successfully.

Camouflage
The ability to be able to disappear into their surrounding environment is vital to the
survival of numerous animal species around the world. Some animals have similar
colourings to their surroundings so that they can blend in completely such as gerbils in
the sand, where other animals have colours and markings which help them go unseen,
like a zebra in a forest is harder to spot thanks to it's striped body markings.
Other animals, such as chameleons are able to adapt their camouflage to their
surroundings for example, by changing from brown coloured on ground level, to green
and blue when it is hiding in the foliage.
Migration
Animals like to be in the right place at the right time, in order to be able to get enough
food and to breed successfully. Many animals all over the planet embark on epic
migrations that can go on for thousands of miles. The most common migrations are
those of birdsthat leave the northern hemisphere as it cools in the winter, and fly to
warmer climates in the south. When the winter is over and the weather gets warmer
again, the birds return north. Many animal species migrate including wildebeest who
follow the African rains, sardines that stick to the cold-water currents, and caribou in
the Arctic Circle who embark on the longest-land migration every summer in huge
numbers.

Animal Anatomy
All living organisms, with the exception of basic single-celled organisms, are made up
of various different parts which enable them to function. The majority of
an animal's body is made up of water, cells and a protective or supportive structure
such as a skeleton made out of bone or a hard outer shell to protect it. There are
numerous processes that occur in an animal's body consistently and together such as
circulation and digestion.
Body Systems
Animals have a number of different body systems, each of which does a specific job in
order to keep the animal functioning. The heaviest body systems are the skeletal

system (although it is not present in all animals), and the muscular system which
connects the muscles to the brain so that they know what to do. Other body systems
include the circulatory system, where blood is pumped around the body of
the animal by it's heart; the digestive system which breaks down food and extracts the
nutrients from it so they can be turned into energy; and the respiration system which
controls an animal's breathing. All body systems are vital in the working of a healthy
animal.
Skeletons
Many animals have some kind of hard structure either on the inside of their body
(known as an endoskeleton) for support or on the outside of their body (known as an
exoskeleton) for both support and protection. Other animals may not have a hard
support system at all, like jellyfish for example, which are held together by a thin layer
of cells known as a membrane. Skeletons help to keep the animal stable by supporting
it's body shape, and some landanimals are so large that their bodies even contain extra
bony plates as the skeleton on it's own is not strong enough to support
the animal's weight.
Organs
Similar cells within the body of an animal form together in groups which are organised
into tissues, and various tissues make up different organs in an animal's body. There
are a number of different organs found in the body of an animal, each of which has a
specific task. Organs are linked to form organ systems, which carry out the vital
processes in ananimal's body that are key to it's survival, like the heart pumping the
blood around the body or the skin of an animal, protecting it's delicate insides from
the outside world.
Respiration
Animals need oxygen in order to survive and many animals get their oxygen by
breathing the surrounding air into their lungs, which is passed through the body and
exhaled as carbon dioxide (so animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon
dioxide). Respiratory systems differ between animal species, so birds and mammals for
example process the oxygen in different ways. Some animals however, do not have
lungs and instead use other methods in which they can get oxygen into their

bodies. Fish live in the water and so use gills in order to extract oxygen from the water
surrounding them. Gills are made up of thin, feathery flaps which draw the blood close
to the surface of the skin allowing the oxygen particles to pass into it. Other animals,
like some frog species also breathe through pores in their skin.
Senses
Typically, most animal species have five senses which are sight, smell, taste, touch and
balance. Certain species of animal have more heightened senses than others, like a
mole that lives under-ground so can barely see, to an eagle that can spot prey on the
ground from miles up in the air. Some animal species have also developed a "sixth
sense" such as echolocation in dolphins, whales and bats.
Movement
Being able to move independently is one of the factors that makes
an organism an animal. Movement is caused by the contracting of muscles within
an animal's body, and is displayed in countless ways throughout the animal kingdom.
Humans walk, cheetahs can run as fast as a car, ducks and geese
waddle, fish swim, birds fly and some insects get around by jumping. Some
adult animals however, such as barnacles and sponges become sessile by permanently
fixing themselves to another animal or object, they are still animalshowever as they
still respire and are able to move in their immature form.
Animals do some pretty strange things. Giraffes clean their eyes and ears with their tongues.
Snakes see through their eyelids. Some snails can hibernate for three years. But other weird
animal tales are hogwash. National Geographic Kids finds out how some of these myths
startedand why they're not true.
Myth
Ostriches bury their heads in the sand when they're scared or threatened.
How It Started
It's an optical illusion! Ostriches are the largest living birds, but their heads are pretty small. "If
you see them picking at the ground from a distance, it may look like their heads are buried in the
ground," says Glinda Cunningham of the American Ostrich Association.

Why It's Not True

Ostriches don't bury their heads in the sandthey wouldn't be able to breathe! But they do dig
holes in the dirt to use as nests for their eggs. Several times a day, a bird puts her head in the
hole and turns the eggs. So it really does look like the birds are burying their heads in the sand!

Myth
Opossums hang by their tails.
How It Started
Opossums use their tails to grasp branches as they climb trees. So it's not surprising that
people believe they also hang from branches.
Why It's Not True
A baby opossum can hang from its tail for a few seconds, but an adult is too heavy. Besides,
says Paula Arms of the National Opossum Society, that wouldn't help them survive. "Why would
they just hang around? That skill isn't usefulthere's no point."
Myth
Touching a frog or toad will give you warts.
How It Started
Many frogs and toads have bumps on their skin that look like warts. Some people think the
bumps are contagious.
Why It's Not True
"Warts are caused by a human virus, not frogs or toads," says dermatologist Jerry Litt. But the
wartlike bumps behind a toad's ears can be dangerous. These parotoid glands contain a nasty
poison that irritates the mouths of some predators and often the skin of humans. So toads may
not cause warts, but they can cause other nasties. It's best not to handle these critterswarts
and all!