Animal Facts

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The animal kingdom is really fascinating, where there are giants like the whales and elephants, and once giants like dinosaurs and mammoths ruled the earth. And then there are tiniest creatures like the ants, bats, some tortoises, etc. And facts about the diverse range of animals are even more fascinating.

Below are some of the interesting facts about the Animal Kingdom:

• Animals are multicellular. This means they have many cells in the body.
• They get their life supporting energy from eating other organisms.
• Animals can move, are locomotive, and also has the sense of an environment and chooses the place to thrive accordingly.
• The animal kingdom originated first at the sea, but later they evolved in diverse forms, as now dominates the air, land, sea water and fresh water.
• The species of insects are too diverse. It’s estimated that almost 30 million species of insects exist. 800,000 species have been formally recognized and named.
• Amongst the biggest species of insects, the most prominent are the wasps, beetles, butterflies, moths, flies and ants.
• The animal kingdom is categorized into vertebrates and invertebrates. The vertebrates are those which have a defined vertebral column or backbone. Although there are innumerable invertebrate species, the number of known vertebrates are approximately 50000.
• Some of the characteristics of vertebrates are, a circulatory system, a backbone, protective skull that contains the brain, a developed multifunctional brain, skeleton to offer dynamic movements flexibly, a developed sensory system, and a larger size than invertebrates.
• Vertebrates give birth to live offspring, with the only exceptions of the duck billed platypus and four species of spiny anteater which lays eggs. The live birth giving vertebrates are called therians, and both egg layer and therians are mammals, which means they feed their offsprings with their own produced milk after birth.
• There are three types of animals based on eating habits. They are herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. Herbivores feed only on fruits and plants. Carnivores feed only on other animals, which they hunt and kill, or snatch the hunt from others. Omnivores feed on anything they get and have a varied diet. Humans are omnivores.
• The heaviest and largest animal on earth that ever lived and is still living, is the blue whale. It can be as long as 30 meters, and weighs up to 150 tons.