Remember the five kingdoms? One of them was Animalia. Well, we can divide animals into 2 groups whether they have a backbone or not.
Animals that have a backbone, like us, are called vertebrates. All vertebrates belong to the phylum Chordata because they have a supporting rod that runs the length of their body. Does the phylum part ring a bell? Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, species. Hopefully, it's getting easier as it all links together. So, we are vertebrates OK. Animals that don't have a backbone are called invertebrates.
Now, back to the vertebrates. These can be divided into 5 groups. The groups are:
Amphibians Reptiles Birds Fish Mammals
Fish have gills to take Oxygen from water, so do young amphibians, like tadpoles. The other groups and adult amphibians have lungs. We are mammals so we have lungs.
We could also divide up the animals into how they reproduce whether it is external fertilisation or internal fertilisation. Also, many vertebrates lay eggs and they are called oviparous.
Mammals like us give birth to live young - we are called viviparous.
Mammals like us give birth to live young - we are called viviparous.
Another way we could group and classify the vertebrates is by using their body temperature. Animals like us - we're mammals remember, keep our body temperature the same regardless what the environment temperature is. We are warm blooded but use the proper name which is homeothermic. Mammals and birds are both homeotherms. The other animals are cold blooded but you must use the word poikilothermic. Fish, reptiles and amphibians are all poikilotherms.
Just remember to use the fancy words and not just warm or cold blooded. A lizard is cold blooded but if it lies in the sun it will get warm blood - obviously. That's we - and I mean by that you, must use the words homeothermic and poikilothermic.
