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Animals ClearlyExplained.Com

ClearlyExplained.Com

What is an animal? Animals are a group of organism we are most familiar with. They are classified by scientists as being part of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. They are typically are composed of many cells which are specialised to move and respond to the environment. Animals also get their energy from consuming other forms of life. ( plants don't need to consume other organisms.) Are humans animals? biologically yes but often we consider ourselves quite different due to our apparent freewill   Where does the word 'animal' come from? The name animal comes from the Latin word animalis, animalia and means vital breath or soul. This is also where we get the word animate, to animate is to bring to life.

Animals that eat other animals are called carnivores, those animals that eat plants are herbivores, and those that eat both are called omnivores.

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Why are animals important and valuable? Knowing about the living world helps us in all sorts of ways. Knowing how animals live, what they are made up of how they change and develop is one of the major interests we have. Did you know that October 4th is World Animal Day? more info at: world animal day, UK   The systematic and scientific study of animals is called Zoology ( coming from the word zoo meaning animal and _ology- study of ( although logos is greek for word)       Animal technology is really about the use of genetechnology to add special abilities to animals a technique also known as gene therapy. For example mice can have specific genes that have been knocked out which allows us to discover the causes of diseases.

The cultural importance of animals - This deals with how animals or even animal products have inspired the creative arts such as music and even paintings. For example the ballet Swan Lake was inspired by a swan. Just think about the numbers of movies with animals as the theme! Classical music with an animal theme includes Peter and the Wolf and Carnival of the Animals. The technological importance of animals - This deals mainly with how animals have been important in the development of tools of various kinds. For example animal bones may have been used as some of the first components for tools. Animals have also been used as a source of power for machinary (such as the horse and carriage) image: www.swanvalleywa.com In some cases animals provide special senses for people (eg dogs with their sense of smell) or even seeing eye guide dogs. image: www.guidedogs.com.au Some animals have inspired the development of new ways of approaching engineering problems (such as birds and insects for flight) or the development of new materials.

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News about animals News about animals comes up in a wide range of different ways. For example the discovery of new animals or discoveries of new characteristics or abilties of animals Try a google news search for animal species for some latest news headlines about recent discoveries. It is also useful to try some other resources such as your local zoo website or universities. eg here are some Australian zoos to get you started National Zoo & Aquarium, Canberra, Australia Tarongo and Western Plains(Open Range Zoo)

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How are animals classified? Animals are generally initially divided into groups called phyla, there are quite a few but here are some of the main ones: Porifera (sponges) Chordata (animals with backbones, includes all mammals, birds, marsupials) Nematoda (round worms) Mollusca( eg snails) Annelida (eg common earthworm) Arthropoda (insects, spiders, scorpions) images: wikipedia, except insect image R.Conan-Davies There area bunch of other phyla too , you can find a more complete list in the animal article from wikipedia.   New: Dolphins ClearlyExplained.Com

How do animals grow? The way animals grow is similar to other organisms, by cell divisions. Animals can be very diverse for example some animals develop and grow within an animal or externally in eggs. Some animals such as insects like butterflies go through metamorphosis. This means changing from a larvae into flying insect. Nearly all animals undergo some form of sexual reproduction. They have a few specialized reproductive cells, which undergo meiosis to produce smaller actively moving sperm or larger more passive ova or egg. These fuse to form zygotes, which develop into new individuals. Many animals (especially insects) are also capable of asexual reproduction. This typically takes place through something called parthenogenesis, where fertile eggs are produced without mating. For most animals , a fertislised egg called a zygote initially develops into a hollow sphere, called a blastula, which undergoes rearrangment and differentiation (forming of specialised tissues). This undergoes more complicated rearrangement. It first invaginates to form a gastrula with a digestive chamber, and two separate germ layers - an external ectoderm and an internal endoderm. In most cases, a mesoderm also develops between them. These germ layers then differentiate to form tissues and organs. Adapted from Wikipedia Article Animal Did you know that the study of animal development is sometimes called embryology? Many animals share the same genes for early development. These genes are called homeobox genes and they define things like segmentation and numbers of limbs. image: www.people.virginia.edu/ ~rjh9u/homeo.html

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What is history of animals? Animals have existed for millions of years on Earth. Animals have evolved by competing for resources and animals have adapted to every environment on Earth. One of the first animal like crreatures that existed on earth are called "Vendian biota". We know this from fossils of odd creatures that generally had segmented or frondlike with no visible organs other than tiny simple claw holds in some varieties. But many of these fossils are difficult to interpret. They are probably entirely late Precambrian (650 to 540 million years ago) Reference: Wikipedia - Vendian biota   Are you looking for the history of a particular animal? email your request

The cultural history of animals This is really about the how animals have been important in our cultural history. Some examples include the how the horse (image: wikipedia) has been used most often as a form of transport and their role in maintaining human empires. The domestication of animals such as cattle and sheep have had a profund effect on the ability to develop cities. It is not just common mammals that have been important in history and culture. The humble silk worm was essential for the development of the silk trade.

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The future of animals? How will animals look in the future? Well it really depends on how the environment changes. A TV series called 'The future is wiild" considers how animals might evolve in 5 million, 100 million and 200 million years into the future. A Gryken, a possible creature living in the future image: thefutureiswild.com reference: Future is Wild

Animals in space The other major question is whether there are animals on different planets or elsewhere in the galaxy or universe. What migh they look like , how might they reproduces might their source of energy be? Could we have animals living on other planets on our solar system? For example could we keep pets like cats or dogs on a colony on mars? What might happen to these animals, would they evolve differently?

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