Symphanee+Williams

The animal kingdom is a main classification of all living organisms including all animals. The animal kingdom consist of many different types of animals. Scientist have divided all animals into subgroups called phyla. Animals are classified as belonging to a specific group based on their characteristics. The animal kingdom consist of the following groups: Mullusk, Bird, Dolphin, Arachnid, Echinoderm, Protozoa, Insect, Primate, Amphibian, Crustacean, Reptile, Metazoa, Mammal, Marsupial, Fish and Rodent. To succeed in keeping all these animals safe we must come together and help make the environment safe. There are many ways to help such as eliminating mercury from your home, clean or replace water filters, check and fix water leaks, recycle, join other groups that are trying to save the environment, and much more! A Mollusk is an invertebrate of a large phylum (Mollusca) that includes snails, slugs, mussels, and octopuses. They have a soft, unsegmented body and live in aquatic or damp habitats, and most kinds have an external calcareous shell, A echinoderm are marine invertebrates with tube feet and five-part radially symmetrical bodies, Arthropods are invertebrate having jointed limbs and a segmented body with an exoskeleton made of chitin, and Aves are class of vertebrates that comprises the birds. These are a few yet informative classes of the animal kingdom. Each animal varies in characteristics and physical forms. Mollusks live nearly everywhere on Earth. Most live in water, but some live on land, usually in damp places. Most mollusks move with a muscular structure called a foot. The feet of different kinds of mollusks are adapted for different uses, like crawling, digging, or catching prey. Many mollusks have an organ called a radula (RAD you lah), which is a flexible ribbon of tiny teeth. The tiny teeth scrape food from a surface, such as the surface of a leaf. A radula may have as many as a quarter-million teeth! Mollusks were among the first inhabitants of the Earth. Fossils of mollusks have been found in rocks and date back over 500 million years. Mollusk fossils are usually well preserved because of their hard shell. Most mollusks have a soft, skin-like organ covered with a hard outside shell. Some mollusks live on land, such as the snail and slug. Other mollusks live in water, such as the oyster, mussel, clam, squid and octopus.  Land living mollusks, like the snail, move slowly on a flat sole called a foot. Ocean living mollusks move or swim by jet propulsion. They propel themselves by ejecting water from their body. For example, the squid ejects water from a cavity within its body, and the scallop ejects water to move by clamping its shell closed.Other ocean living mol lusks, like the oyster, attach themselves to rocks or other surfaces, and can't move. They feed by filtering small food particles from water that flows through them. 

 Arthropods have jointed limbs, hard exoskeletons, segmented bodies, and molt-- or shed--their shells in order to grow. Crabs, beetles, centipedes, squillas, pill bugs, and walking sticks demonstrate a variety of ways some of the one million different species of arthropods walk. One of the primary physical characteristics of arthropods is their tough external skeleton, which is made of a material called chitin. This exoskeleton protects the internal body parts and provides a framework for the body. Arthropods' bodies are composed of a series of segments and are bilaterally symmetrical. That means that the right side is the mirror image of the left. Arthropods also possess jointed legs and other jointed appendages. With the insects, trilobites, spiders, horseshoe crabs, scorpions, ticks, mites, sea spiders, centipedes, millipedes, (whew!) and a few other various and sundry groups, the subphylum Crustacea helps make up the largest phylum of life (Arthropoda); with some three quarters of a million described species. They all share Metamerism: a division of the body into definite segments. A pair of appendages per segment (at least in the primitive condition). A nervous system with a dorsal, anterior brain, ventral nerve cord and ganglionic swellings in each segment. Similar embryology/development. Chitinous exoskeletons that cover the entire body; growth through periodic molting. A muscular system that moves the animal by pulling on the exoskeleton. Echinoderms are characterized by radial symmetry, several arms (5 or more, mostly grouped 2 left - 1 middle - 2 right) radiating from a central body (= pentamerous). The body actually consists of five equal segments, each containing a duplicate set of various internal organs. They have no heart, brain, nor eyes, but some brittle stars seem to have light sensitive parts on their arms. Their mouth is situated on the underside and their anus on top (except feather stars, sea cucumbers and some urchins).

Echinoderms have tentacle-like structures called tube feet with suction pads situated at their extremities.  Considered as the best characterized and distinctive phylum of the Animal Kingdom, the sea urchins, sand dollars, sea stars, basket stars, sea lilies and sea cucumbers make up the Echinodermata (='spiny-skinned). Many of these are attempted as marine aquaria specimens. Few specimens survive very long due to being inappropriate, poorly handled or forced into unsuitable habitats. Many species are outright dangerous to the their fellow tankmates and you, the hobbyist! Whether you "inherit" Echinoderm with "live" rock or plunk down your hard-earned cash on purpose for a specimen or two this article will inform and inspire you re these prickly metazoans.  These tube feet are hydraulically controlled by a remarkable vascular system. This system supplies water through canals of small muscular tubes to the tube feet (= ambulacral feet). As the tube feet press against a moving object, water is withdrawn from them, resulting in a suction effect. When water returns to the canals, suction is released. The resulting locomotion is generally very slow.  Echinoderms have tentacle-like structures called tube feet with suction pads situated at their extremities. These tube feet are hydraulically controlled by a remarkable vascular system.This system supplies water through canals of small muscular tubes to the tube feet (= ambulacral feet). As the tube feet press against a moving object, water is withdrawn from them, resulting in a suction effect. When water returns to the canals, suction is released. The resulting locomotion is generally very slow. 

Compared to other classes, birds are fairly uniform. For example, the weight of the largest of the flying birds usually reaches only 33 pounds, just 6,600 times the weight of the smallest birds. Most birds have the ability to fly. This requires a lot of energy and lots of special physical characteristics. Almost all birds have feathers, which are made of keratin (the same substance that makes hair and fingernails). Hollow bones are another characteristic needed for flight. This makes the bird weigh less and more able to stay in the air. The laying of eggs is a feature that all birds have in common, but the size of the eggs and how often they are laid varies from species to species.

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