The examples of the animal kingdom encompass multicellular organisms, heterotrophic and sensory abilities. Animals possess characteristics that distinguish them from the mineral and plant kingdoms.
In the first instance, animals are multicellular organisms. That is, their bodies are made of many specialized cells.
Another characteristic is that they are heterotrophs. This means that they consume other living or dead organisms to feed themselves.
In addition, they have sensory capacities (their organs detect environmental stimuli such as light and sound), they can move from one place to another and they have internal digestion.
The 25 examples
To better explain the examples, we will divide them among the 7 large groups of animals.
Protozoa
They are the smallest, simplest and most primitive animals. Most of them are microscopic. In fact, they were not known until the microscope was invented.
Protozoa live in aquatic habitats such as fresh, brackish, or salty waters, moist soils, and decaying organic matter. Some varieties parasitize in humans causing infections.
Among them are:
1- Entamoeba histolytica
2- Giardia lamblia
3- Tritrichomonas fetus
Sponges
Another example from the animal kingdom is sponges. They are animals with the appearance of plants and are rather sedentary.
They were considered plants by early naturalists because of their frequent branching and lack of obvious movement.
One of their main characteristics is that they have a high regeneration power. On the other hand, they are completely aquatic, mainly marine.
About 10,000 varieties of sponges are known. Among them are:
4- Calcareous sponges
5- Demosponges (Demospongiae)
Worms
They are relatively small, elongated, and soft-bodied invertebrates. The following are members of the group:
6- worms
7- tapeworm or lonely
8- Insect larvae
Arthropods
They are animals with bilateral symmetry (left / right), segmented body, hard exoskeleton, jointed legs and several pairs of limbs. Arthropods include:
9- Mites
10- Spiders
11- Scorpions
12- Centipede
Mollusks
In general, mollusks have a soft, non-segmented body, a muscular foot or tentacles, and a mantle that can secrete a shell.
Most have an internal or external shell and a radula (kind of tongue). Some mollusks are:
13- Snails
14- Slugs
15- Squid
16- Clams
17- Mussels
18- Octopuses
Fishes
These vertebrates live in water, are cold-blooded, breathe through gills, and have skeletons (bones or cartilage).
Also, they have scaly skin (except eels). Instead of limbs, they have multiple fins. Two members of this species are:
19- Eels
20- Swordfish
Reptiles
They are cold-blooded vertebrates that breathe air through lungs.
Their body is covered by a special skin made up of scales, shell or a combination of both, and they reproduce by eggs. To this group belong:
21- Crocodiles
22- Snakes
Mammals
Despite their differences, all mammals share four typical traits: hair, mammary glands, a jointed jaw, and three small bones of the middle ear.
On the other hand, most have specialized teeth and movable outer ears. Some examples of this broad group are:
23- Monkeys
24- Tigers
25- Humans
References
- Animal Kingdom. (s / f). At Merriam Webster Online. Retrieved on October 17, 2017, from merriam-webster.com.
- Holland, P. (2011). The Animal Kingdom: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: OUP.
- Bhaskara Rao, D. (2010). Animal Kingdom. New Delhi: Discovery Publishing House.
- Sarà, M. (2017, August 27). Sponge. In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved on October 20, 2017, from britannica.com.
- Worm. (s / f). At Merriam-Webster Online. Retrieved on October 20, 2017, from merriam-webster.com.
- The arthropod story. (s / f). In understanding evolution. Retrieved on October 20, 2017, from evolution.berkeley.edu.
- Overview of molluscs - Phylum Mollusca (2015, September 30). In Australian Museum. Retrieved on October 18, 2017, from australianmuseum.net.au.
- What is a Fish? (s / f). Encyclopaedia of Life. Retrieved on October 18, 2017, from eol.org.
- Reptiles (2012). In National Geographic. Retrieved on October 18, 2017, from nationalgeographic.com.
- Mammals. (2012). In National Geographic. Retrieved on October 18, 2017, from nationalgeographic.com.