Tevin+Johnson

There are many different types of animals in the world. Many animals are quite similar to each other. Others are quite different. Animals can be classified based on their similarities. Continue on, and learn more about your fellow Earth inhabitants.

Animals

What would our world be without the animals in it? Where would we find the beauty in nature. Now with all the different types of animals there are only 5 major kingdoms: Monera, Protista {Protozoan Phyla}, Fungi, Plantae, and Animala. Because of different kingdoms people are able to find out more information on just certain animals rather than just all them at the same time. Animals have been around for millions of years and are constantly evolving and adapting to the ever changing enviroment.

 Animals have been providing many different things to humans for thousands of years. They have provided food, clothing, homes, tools, and other things that would in other circumstances not be able to find or supply. They provided clothing for cavemen and tools for hunting and gathering, food to keep alive and homes to live in. Animals are a major part of our planet because they help to provide so many things. We would not be able to live in todays time without the help of animals.

Helping Our Environment

If we help to save our planet and all of its inhabitants then we can help to preserve our way of life. Our culture and our identity. We have to protect the things that are needed to keep our planet thriving. So reducing pollution to help our animals and people breathe cleaner air, by keeping our waters clean {Oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams} because water is essential for all living beings. Without water everything in our world would die away: animals, people, plants and earth itself. By recycling we can save our trees that produce our oxygen and our earth that we live on at the same time.

Earth and animals go hand-in-hand. Can you really imagine life on earth with out the animals that have helped shape our culture and enviroment. By saving our animals from being hunted and skinned or keeping them from extinction will help make a world of difference. We will be able to survive for many more years to come.

Mollusks

 The phylum Mollusca is the largest and most diverse phylum of animals next to arthropods. Mollusks can be found in nearly every ecosystem on earth, from high, barren mountains to grassy plains, lakes, rivers and in all seas and oceans. There are nearly 100,000 species of mollusks identified today, with new species being encountered and named every year as new discoveries are made in ocean depths and tropical rainforests.The body of a mollusk is generally composed of the shell and the fleshy, living part. The fleshy parts of a mollusk can be further divided into the foot and the visceral mass. The foot is a distinctive molluscan feature, adapted in a variety of ways for locomotion. The visceral mass includes the organs for digestion, circulation, reproduction, and respiration. The visceral mass also includes two external flaps of tissue called the mantle, which secretes the calcareous shell and encloses a mantle cavity. The fluid in the mantle cavity, which in aquatic mollusks is continually replaced with water from the outside, carries away excess water, ions and wastes, and helps circulate nutrients and oxygen. Another structure unique to mollusks, found in most groups except bivalves and a few others is the radula. In most forms the radula is a rasping organ near the mouth variously modified for special feeding techniques.

Arthropoda

By nearly any measure, the most successful animal on the planet are the arthropods. They have conquered land, sea and air, and make up over three-fourths of all currently known living and fossil organisms, or over one million species in all. Since many arthropod species remain undocumented or undiscovered, especially in tropical rain forests, the true number of living arthropod species is probably in the tens of millions. One recent conservative estimate puts the number of arthropod species in tropical forests at 6 to 9 million species (Thomas, 1990). Arthropods range in distribution from the deep sea to mountain peaks, in size from the king crab with its 12-foot armspan to microscopic insects and crustateans, and in taste from chocolate covered ants to crawfish jambalaya and lobster Newburg. Despite this unbelievable diversity, the basic body plan of arthropods is fairly constant. Arthropods have a stiff cuticle made largely of chitin and proteins, forming an exoskeleton that may or may not be further stiffened with calcium carbonate. They have segmented bodies and show various patterns of segment fusion (tagmosis) to form integrated units (heads, abdomens, and so on). The phylum takes its name from its distinctive jointed appendages, which may be modified in a number of ways to form antennae, mouthparts, and reproductive organs.

Echinoderms  he phylum Echinodermata, which contains about 6000 species, gets its name from the Greek, literally meaning “spiny skin.” This phylum exists exclusively in the sea and includes sea stars, urchins, brittle stars, and sea cucumbers. They are simple animals, lacking a brain and complex sensing organs. Echinoderms are characterized by their radial symmetry, water vascular system and internal skeleton.The most striking feature of all echinoderms is their pentamerous radial symmetry. That is, the body can be divided into five parts (or appendages) which point outward from the center of the body. Interestingly, although most mature echinoderms are radially symmetrical, the larvae usually have bilateral symmetry. During the process of maturing, the echinoderm will change its body shape and settle down on the sea floor.

Aves  he vertebrate class Aves includes the birds, an extremely distinctive and successful clade, with an estimated 9000 species worldwide, including the snowy owl pictured here. Although descended from the [|dinosaurs], birds have evolved remarkable specializations for flight: a unique "one-way" breathing system, light yet strong hollow bones, a skeleton in which many bones are fused or lost, powerful flight muscles, and -- most importantly -- feathers.