Learn how animals are classified into different groups. Classification breaks very large groups down into smaller groups. This makes them easier to be studied. Scientists classify animals, plants and insects based on things they have in common.
Taxonomy means to classify living things. Scientists and biologists use a taxonomy chart to classify all the organisms on Earth. This chart includes the following groups: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. Throughout the video we will learn about the different taxonomies, how animals are classified and spend a little more time on vertebrates and invertebrates.
Animals are classified into different groups based on their characteristics. Invertebrates are animals that do not have a spine, or backbone. Vertebrates are animals that do! Vertebrates are further classified into fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
Lyrics:
Do you have a backbone? That’s weird
Ninety-five percent of earth life does not
You’re called a vertebrate because of the spine you’ve got
There are five vertebrate classes
Some have warm blood and some have cold
Some on land, in the air or sea
What are they called? Repeat after me:
Mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, and fish
Mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, and fish
Hedgehog:
Most mammals don’t come in eggs like all the others
The babies drink milk from their mothers
And we all have fur or hair on our soft skin
We have cats, deer, platypus, kangaroos, and you
Fun fact: whales and bats are mammals, too
Turtle:
Reptiles are covered in scales or bony plates
Yeah, we know you can’t relate
We lay eggs with a leathery shell
We have snakes, lizards, crocodiles, and turtles, as well
Toucan:
Birds are born from hard-shelled eggs
We have beaks and feathers, but scales on our legs
Not all of us take to the sky
But most of us have hollow bones and most of us fly
Frog:
Amphibians lead a double-life in cold blood
Our metamorphosis takes us from the water to the mud
We start with gills, then we graduate to lungs
Some of us catch food with our specialized tongues
Some of us look like worms, and some of us are long
And some of us are toads, but most of us are frogs
Shark:
Fish, fish, fish are the largest groups of vertebrates
And we’ve been around much longer
We have scales and fins, we’re ectothermic
And we lay our eggs in the water
And guess what: a jellyfish is not a fish cause it doesn’t have a backbone…
Same with starfish, shellfish, cuttlefish, and crayfish. These are fake fish
Ok, I’m done… But they’re fake
There are so many ways to divide up the data
But we all have spines in subphylum Vertebrata (subphylum Vertebrata! subphylum Vertebrata!)
Mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, and fish (Shark: but only the real ones!)
Mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, and fish
Bird, Amphibians, and fish
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