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Animalia

A Kingdom of Life

Description

The animalia kingdom is full of Eukaryotic, multicellular heterotrophic organisms. The kingdom consists of animals that are vertebrates (animals with a backbone) or invertebrates (animals with no backbone). For example these animals may be fish, mammals, and birds. A few characteristics they may have are spinal cords, jointed legs, and soft bodies. Most animals repoduce sexually though some do reproduce asexually.

3 Main Phyla

  • Mollusca-
  • These phylum have muscular and large feet. They have developed heads and nervous system allowing the to have a great sensory awareness. In fact all of their body systems are well developed. Most swim, but not all.
  • Porifera-
  • This phylum is mainly made of sponges which means they are marine animals. Their bodies are considered symmetrical, but oddly enough because sponges have no real tissue they aren't symmetric. Porifera is made of many cells that carry oxygen. They also use a digestive system and maintain their structure.
  • Cnidaria-
  • This mainly consists of hydras, jellyfish, and corals. Their bodies have tentacles and are in the shapes of either a cylinder, umbrella, have a saclike cavity body. Each is a carnivore.

Example Animal

    Megachasmidae- Megamouth Sharks The genus of this animal is:Megachasma and the specie name is:pelagios. This shark is mainly found in deep waters and was only found about 30 years ago. It has been found near the Hawaiian Islands, Australia, California, and Japan. They usually stay in warm temperatured water. The sharks are descibed as "filter eaters". By opening their large mouths they intake a lot of water, but then "filter" out eating small plankton. Some interesting facts about this shark is that just recently the population has been booming. Only being found 30 years ago they are starting to be seen world wide. All day long these sharks follow their prey which usually leads them to the surface of the ocean at night time. Mainly the only animal the shark is known to be prey of is of the spermwhale. So far there have only been a few sightings of the actuall shark and only 1 sighting has been of a female. Most males tend to grow to be 4 meters in length and have small eyes and small hook shaped teeth.

    Animalia Links
    Animalia Background
    Classifying Animals
    Megamouth Sharks

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