We have all seen animals, touched them, maybe even lived with them. But ever wonder about the animals you don't see everyday? What about where they live? How do they live where they do? Why were some made pets, while others simply left wild? There are many more questions that can go along with animals, too. In this four-part series, I will answer several questions about the animals of the world.
Many people may think of animals as cute, cuddly pets. Some may think of them as majestic creatures. Others may think of them as mysterious beings. Few, though, until actually put in danger of it, may think of what dangerous things animals can be. Animals of the wild and even captivity are always dangerous. I know you probably all have heard this all through your life, you can never realize just how dangerous they can truly be. But keep in mind that they are only following their instincts and cannot be blamed.
Now that the annoying part is said, animals of all kinds have been around for thousands, maybe millions of years. Scientists cannot say exactly how long, since we humans have not been around as long as many species of other animals have. Many species of animals, like the rhinoceros, have been around, nearly unchanged, for tens, even hundreds, of thousands of years. Other species, such as humans, haven't been around nearly as long. Now-a-days, though, hundreds of species are extinct or endangered, instead of haven't evolved or been "created" yet. Although, in thousands or millions of years, new animals will exist.
There are many types of animals. Mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, fish, and arthropods are the different classes of animals.
Mammals have live young and their offspring are fed milk. They are warm-blooded. There are exceptions, to this, like the platypus. The platypus lays eggs and has a bill, like a duck, but is considered a mammal because it is a marsupial. Some examples of mammals are: Humans, dogs, cats, cows, pigs, whales, dolphins, and bats.
Reptiles are cold-blooded. They cannot create their own body heat. Reptiles have scales on their skin. Some reptiles are crocodiles, geckos (like on the Geico commercials), turtles, and snakes.
Amphibians are born in eggs in the water. While living in the water, they have gills and fins. They will eventually lose their gills and fins and have lungs and feet. The most common example is probably the frog. When it is born, it is a tadpole with gills and fins. Then it turns into a full-grown frog with lungs and legs.
Birds, also called Aves, are animals that lay hard eggs and have feathers. Most birds can fly, but a few cannot. Some of the flightless birds are ostrich and the penguin. Some birds that can fly, though, are sparrows, cardinals, wrens, eagles, hawks, and almost any other kind of bird.
Fish have gills, scales, fins. They use those things to live in water. Unlike amphibians, they remain in water all of their lives. Some fish include goldfish, piranha, sharks, and stingrays. Whales, dolphins, manatees, and other animals like them are not fish.
Arthropods have more than four legs that are jointed. Arthropods include insects, crustaceans (crabs), and spiders. For many people, this may be one of the more disliked or "gross" classes.
Animals all have adaptations to live where and how they do. Without their adaptations, they would not have lived have long as they have. Adaptations allowed the animals to have new ways to get food, build homes, be stronger, be the top species or individual animal, and reproduce.
Some were made pets because they could be useful to humans and be trained. Dogs, for instance, could be trained to serve and protect their human companions. Cows, pigs, and sheep were domesticated for easy food. Horses were so that they could be used as transportation and heavy labor. Other types of animals either weren't as useful to humans or they may have been too dangerous and hard to domesticate.
Please read my next article, Animals of the Water.
Anyonka, signing off to write my next article!
*click*
Author's Note: A couple times in the article it got down to beliefs and religion. I wasn't trying to say one thing or the other. I tried to make it fair to both, whether you believed in evolution or creationism. Also, I hope most of my information is accurate, since some of it I got from television shows such as Prehistoric Planet and several other discovery shows.
