Organism Classification

Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are unicellular microorganism. Typically a few micrometre in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from sphere to rods to spirals. Bacteria are ubiquitous in every habitat on Earth, growing in soil, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, seawater, and deep in the Earth's crust. There are typically 40 million bacterial cells in a gram of soil and a million bacterial cells in a millilitre of fresh water; in all, there are approximately five nonillion...

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organism of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile - they can move spontaneously and independently. Animals are heterotroph - they are dependent on other organisms (e.g. plant) for sustenance. Most known animal phyla appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, about 542...

A fungus is a eukaryotic organism that is a member of the kingdom Fungi . The fungi are heterotrophic organisms possessing a chitin cell wall. The majority of species grow as multicellular filaments called hyphae forming a mycelium; some fungal species also grow as single cell. Sexual and asexual reproduction of the fungi is commonly via spore, often produced on specialized structures or in fruiting bodies. Some species have lost the ability to form specialized reproductive structures, and...

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animal that includes the vertebrate, together with several closely related invertebrate. They are united by having, at some time in their life cycle, a notochord, a hollow dorsal nerve cord, pharyngeal slit, an endostyle, and a post-anal tail. Some scientists argue that the true qualifier should be pharyngeal pouch rather than slits. The phylum Chordata is broken down into three subphyla: Urochordata, Cephalochordata, and Vertebrata. Urochordate...

Mammals (class Mammalia) are a class of vertebrate animals characterized by the presence of sweat glands, including sweat glands modified for milk production, hair, three middle ear bone used in hearing, and a neocortex region in the brain. All mammals other than the monotremes give birth to live young instead of laying eggs. Most mammals also possess specialized teeth, and the largest group of mammals, the placentals, use a placenta during gestation. The mammalian brain regulates endothermic...

Equidae is the family of horse-like animals, which belong to the order Perissodactyla. It is sometimes known as the horse family. Apart from the horse, other extant equids include assorted subspecies of donkey or ass, and the zebra. All of these are in the genus Equus. Equids are medium to large mammal, with long heads, and necks with a mane. Their legs are slender and end in a single, unguligrade toe, protected by a horny hoof. They have long, slender, tails, either ending in a tuft, or...

The horse (Equus caballus) is a large odd-toed ungulate mammal, one of ten living species of the family Equidae. For centuries horses have been one of the most economically important domesticated animals, especially relied upon for farmwork and for transportation. Their importance declined following the introduction of mechanization. The history of the horse is prominent in religion, mythology, art, transportation, agriculture, and warfare. Most horses perform work such as carrying humans or...

The Tarpan, Equus ferus ferus, was the Eurasian wild horse. The last specimen of this species died in captivity in Ukraine in 1918 or 1919. Polish farmers often crossed the tarpan with their domestic horses. The result was a small horse breed, the Konik. Such animals, as the Konik, and also the Sorraia Horse preserved in Portugal, are now being used to breed back the Tarpan, and to fill in the niche that was left vacant by their extinction in the wild. The Hucul pony living in the Carpathian...

A primate is any member of the biological order Primates, the group that contains all the species commonly related to the lemur, monkey, and ape, with the last category including human. Primates are found all over the world. Non-human primates occur mostly in Central and South America, Africa, and South Asia. A few species exist as far north in the Americas as southern Mexico, and as far north in Asia as northern Japan. The order Primates was established by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, in the tenth...

Homo is the genus that includes modern human and their close relatives. The genus is estimated to be about 2.5 million years old, evolving from Australopithecine ancestors with the appearance of Homo habilis. Appearance of Homo coincides with the first evidence of stone tool (the Oldowan industry), and thus by definition with the beginning of the Lower Paleolithic. All species except Homo sapiens (modern humans) are extinct. Homo neanderthalensis, traditionally considered the last surviving...

Homo sapiens is a biological species in the genus homowith notable subspecies homo sapiens sapiens (human).

Ungulates (meaning roughly "being hoof" or "hoofed animal") are several groups of mammal most of which use the tips of their toes, usually hoofed, to sustain their whole bodyweight while moving. They make up several orders of mammals, of which six to eight survive. There is some dispute as to whether Ungulata are a cladistic (evolution-based) group, or merely a phenetic group (similar, but not necessarily related), because not all ungulates appear as closely related as once believed. Ungulata...

The Canidae (, ′kanə′dē) family is a part of the order Carnivora within the mammal (Class Mammalia). Members of the family are called canids and include dog, wolves, fox, coyote, dingo, jackal, and lycaon. The Canidae family is divided into the "true dogs" (or canines) of the tribe Canini and the "foxes" of the tribe Vulpini. The two species of the basal Caninae are more primitive and don't fit into either tribe. Any member of this family can be referred to generally as a canid. Note that the...

Canis is a genus containing 7 to 10 extant species, including dog, wolves, coyotes, and jackals. The Gray Wolf may be the ancestor of the Domestic Dog and the Dingo (C. l. dingo). The name Canis is Latin for dog. The genus also includes many extinct species.

The dog (Canis lupus familiaris) is a domesticated subspecies of the wolf, a mammal of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term encompasses both feral and pet varieties and is also sometimes used to describe wild canid of other subspecies or species. The domestic dog has been one of the most widely kept working and companion animal in human history, as well as being a food source in some cultures. There are estimated to be 400 million dogs in the world. The dog has developed into...