Animalia




Description
With over two million different kinds of animals, Kingdom Animalia is the largest of all the kingdoms. Animals are "multicellular." This means they are made of many cells, unlike bacteria, which are made of only one cell. All animals must get their food by eating other organisms, such as plants, fungi, and other animals, and all animals need oxygen to survive.


Divergent Event
Animals most likely evolved from a flagellated eukaryotic organism, which became differentiated from organisms similar to it due to the position of its flagellum, and became more complex over millions of years, eventually forming the first sponges, which are a primitive type of animal organism.




Body Plan
Animals are multicelled heterotrophs capable of movement at some stage during their life history. They have eukaryotic cells (the genetic material is contained within a distinct nucleus) which are bounded by a thin cell membrane rather than the thick cell wall of plants.

Metabolism
All animals are heterotrophic, they obtain their own energy.

Digestion
Extracellular digestion takes place in animals such as humans, who use enzymes to digest materials and then absorb them directly into the body's cells. Some animals possess intracellular digestion, such as jellyfish, hydra and corals. Animals with an incomplete digestive system are those in which the digestive tube has only one opening (cnidarians, platyhelminthes). Animals with a complete digestive system are those in which the digestive tube has two openings, mouth and anus (all other animal phyla, with the exception of poriferans, that do not have any digestive tube).




Nervous
The movement and behaviour of animals is controlled by the nervous system. Impulses pass from centres of control – often grouped to form a brain – to the various muscles and glands. As animals become more advanced, their brains become more complex, and their nervous control more complete. Behaviour varies from the simplest reflex action to the highly complex learned and intelligent behaviour of the higher primates.


Circulatory


Some animals have an open and closed circulatory system. The open system they exchange wastes over the cell membrane. With closed circulatory systems such as humans it goes through a number of areas to cleanse the blood. The two organs that "bad blood" goes through is the kidneys and the liver, and they detoxify the blood by filtering the impurities and sending it into the appropriate system to be excreted or defecated. Some of the animals have a 2 chambered heart, and some have a four chambered heart. One example of a double chambered heart is a bird, and then the one that has four chambers is a human. An animal's circulatory system carries waste products away from the cells. These are separated from the blood (in the kidneys of higher animals), and are excreted together with undigested food. The excretory systems of aquatic animals are also responsible for maintaining a correct fluid balance within the animals. This is particularly important in freshwater creatures, which tend to absorb water by osmosis.




Respiratory
This is known as the "gaseous exchange" system. For instance with humans you take in oxygen, and then it filters through the respiratory system into the alveoli, and the alveoli, filters the wastes from the blood (carbon dioxide) back up the respiratory system through the mouth or nose and back into the air. With fish or marine life it is a bit different with the fact that they have gills so it is an open respiratory system, and they exchange their gases through the gills and through their system, and back out.

Reproduction
There are some invertebrates that do asexual reproduction through means of budding or fission, and then there are many animals that do the sexual reproduction. There are two types of reproduction in the main animal kingdom. One type of fertilization is external this type is like birds and fish where they lay eggs, and then the male fertilizes them. With internal fertilization, that is what many of the chordates such as marsupials, humans etc. have this type.




Examples


Giraffes, zebras, peacocks, and so many more. Go to the zoo and you'll see plenty :)







9 Phyla

Porifera
  • Description- Porifera consist of jelly-like mesohyl sandwiched between two thin layers of cells. While all animals have unspecialized cells that can transform into specialized cells, sponges are unique in having some specialized cells that can transform into other types, often migrating between the main cell layers and the mesohyl in the process. Sponges do not have nervous, digestive or circulatory systems. Instead, most rely on maintaining a constant water flow through their bodies to obtain food and oxygen and to remove wastes, and the shapes of their bodies are adapted to maximize the efficiency of the water flow. All are sessile aquatic animals and, although there are freshwater species, the great majority are marine (salt water) species, ranging from tidal zones to depths exceeding 8,800 metres.
Sponge



Cnidaria
  • Description- Cnidaria is a phylum containing over 9,000 species of animals found exclusively in aquatic and mostly marine environments. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that they use mainly for capturing prey. Their bodies consist of mesoglea, a non-living jelly-like substance, sandwiched between two layers of epithelium that are mostly one cell thick. They have two basic body forms: swimming medusae and sessile polyps, both of which are radially symmetrical with mouths surrounded by tentacles that bear cnidocytes. Both forms have a single orifice and body cavity that are used for digestion and respiration. Many cnidarian species produce colonies that are single organisms composed of medusa-like or polyp-like zooids, or both. Cnidarians' activities are coordinated by a decentralized nerve net and simple receptors. Several free-swimming Cubozoa and Scyphozoa possess balance-sensing statocysts, and some have simple eyes. Not all cnidarians reproduce sexually. Many have complex lifecycles with asexual polyp stages and sexual medusae, but some omit either the polyp or the medusa stage.
Jellyfish



Platyhelminthes
  • Description- The flatworms, known in scientific literature as Platyhelminthes or Plathelminthes are a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegmented, soft-bodied invertebrate animals. Unlike other bilaterians, they have no body cavity, and no specialized circulatory and respiratory organs, which restricts them to flattened shapes that allow oxygen and nutrients to pass through their bodies by diffusion.
 Pseudobiceros bedfordi



Nematoda
  • Description- The nematodes or roundworms (phylum Nematoda) are the most diverse phylum of pseudocoelomates, and one of the most diverse of all animals. Nematode species are very difficult to distinguish; over 28,000 have been described, of which over 16,000 are parasitic. It has been estimated that the total number of nematode species might be approximately 1,000,000. Unlike cnidarians or flatworms, roundworms have a digestive system that is like a tube with openings at both ends.
Gastrotricha



Annelida
  • Description- The annelids, formally called Annelida, are a large phylum of segmented worms, with over 17,000 modern species including ragworms, earthworms and leeches. They are found in marine environments from tidal zones to hydrothermal vents, in freshwater, and in moist terrestrial environments. Although most textbooks still use the traditional division into polychaetes (almost all marine), oligochaetes (which include earthworms) and leech-like species, research since 1997 has radically changed this scheme, viewing leeches as a sub-group of oligochaetes and oligochaetes as a sub-group of polychaetes. In addition, the Pogonophora, Echiura and Sipuncula, previously regarded as separate phyla, are now regarded as sub-groups of polychaetes. Annelids are considered members of the Lophotrochozoa, a "super-phylum" of protostomes that also includes molluscs, brachiopods, flatworms and nemerteans.
Glycera sp.



Mollusca
  • Description- The Mollusca, common name molluscs or mollusks, is a large phylum of invertebrate animals. There are around 85,000 recognized extant species of molluscs. This is the largest marine phylum, comprising about 23% of all the named marine organisms. Numerous molluscs also live in freshwater and terrestrial habitats. Molluscs are highly diverse, not only in size and in anatomical structure, but also in behaviour and in habitat.
    The phylum Mollusca is typically divided into nine or ten taxonomic classes, of which two are extinct. The gastropods (snails and slugs) include by far the most classified species, accounting for 80% of the total. Cephalopod molluscs such as squid, cuttlefish and octopus are among the most neurologically advanced invertebrates. Either the giant squid or the colossal squid is the largest known species of animal without a backbone.

    Tonicella lineata



Arthropoda
  • Description- An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton (external skeleton), a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others. Arthropods are characterized by their jointed limbs and cuticles, which are mainly made of α-chitin; the cuticles of crustaceans are also biomineralized with calcium carbonate. The rigid cuticle inhibits growth, so arthropods replace it periodically by molting. The arthropod body plan consists of repeated segments, each with a pair of appendages. It is so versatile that they have been compared to Swiss Army knives, and it has enabled them to become the most species-rich members of all ecological guilds in most environments. They have over a million described species, making up more than 80% of all described living animal species, and are one of only two animal groups that are very successful in dry environments – the other being the amniotes. They range in size from microscopic plankton up to forms a few meters long.
Blue Crab



Echinodermata
  • Description- Echinoderms (Phylum Echinodermata) are a phylum of marine animals. Echinoderms are found at every ocean depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone. Aside from the problematic Arkarua, the first definitive members of the phylum appeared near the start of the Cambrian period.
Star fish



Chordata
  • Description- Chordates (phylum Chordata) are animals which are either vertebrates or one of several closely related invertebrates. They are united by having, for at least some period of their life cycle, a notochord, a hollow dorsal nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, an endostyle, and a post-anal tail. The phylum Chordata consists of three subphyla: Urochordata, represented by tunicates; Cephalochordata, represented by lancelets; and Craniata, which includes Vertebrata. The Hemichordata have been presented as a fourth chordate subphylum, but they are now usually treated as a separate phylum. Urochordate larvae have both a notochord and a nerve cord which are lost in adulthood. Cephalochordates have a notochord and a nerve cord (but no brain or specialist sensory organs) and a very simple circulatory system. Craniates are the only sub-phylum whose members have skulls. In all craniates except for hagfish, the dorsal hollow nerve cord is surrounded with cartilaginous or bony vertebrae and the notochord is generally reduced; hence, hagfish are not regarded as vertebrates. The chordates and three sister phyla, the Hemichordata, the Echinodermata and the Xenoturbellida, make up the deuterostomes, one of the two superphyla that encompass all fairly complex animals.
Pristella maxillaris




8 Classes


Myxini
  • Description- The adjective which best describes the Myxini is "Lovecraftian". Hagfish are long, slender and pinkish, and are best known for the large quantities of sticky slime which they produce. Hagfish have three accessory hearts, no cerebrum or cerebellum, no jaws or stomach, and will "sneeze" when their nostrils clog with their own slime. They are found in cold ocean waters of both hemispheres, scavenging dead and dying fish but also preying on small invertebrates.
Hagfish



Cephalaspidomorphi
  • Description- Cephalaspidomorphs are a group of jawless fishes named for the cephalaspids, a group of osteostracans. Most biologists regard this taxon as extinct, but the name is sometimes used in the classification of lampreys because lampreys were once thought to be related to cephalaspids. If lampreys are included, they would extend the known range of the group from the Silurian and Devonian periods to the present day.
Cephalaspis lyellii



Chondrichthyes
  • Description- Chondrichthyes or cartilaginous fishesare jawed fish with paired fins, paired nares, scales, two-chambered hearts, and skeletons made of cartilage rather thanbone. The class is divided into two subclasses: Elasmobranchii (sharks, rays and skates) and Holocephali (chimaeras, sometimes called ghost sharks, which are sometimes separated into their own class).
    Within the infraphylum Gnathostomata, cartilaginous fishes are distinct from all other jawed vertebrates, the extant members of which all fall into Teleostomi.

    Great white shark



Osteichthyes
  • Description- Osteichthyes, also called bony fish, are a taxonomic group of fish that have bony, as opposed to cartilaginous, skeletons. The vast majority of fish are osteichthyes, which is an extremely diverse and abundant group consisting of over 29,000 species. It is the largest class of vertebrates in existence today. Osteichthyes is divided into the ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii) and lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii).
Atlantic herring



Amphibia
  • Description- Amphibians (class Amphibia, from Amphi- meaning "on both sides" and -bios meaning "life"), such as frogs, salamanders, and caecilians, are ectothermic (or cold-blooded) animals that metamorphose from a juvenile water-breathing form, either to an adult air-breathing form, or to a paedomorph that retains some juvenile characteristics. Mudpuppies, for example, retain juvenile gills in adulthood. The three modern orders of amphibians are Anura (frogs and toads), Caudata (salamanders andnewts), and Gymnophiona (caecilians, limbless amphibians that resemble snakes), and in total they number approximately 6,500 species. Many amphibians lay their eggs in water. Amphibians are superficially similar to reptiles, but reptiles areamniotes, along with mammals and birds. The study of amphibians is called batrachology.
Strawberry poison-dart frog



Repitilia


Aves
Peacock



Mammalia
Giraffe





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