1. What is an
Animal?

2. What is an Animal?
When you think of
“animals”, what
pops in your
mind?
Lions and
tigers and
bears, oh my!

3. • But would you think of a sponge???
• The natural sponges that people
use for washing are the remains
of an animal
• Animals come in many
shapes and sizes
• Some are too small to be seen without a
microscope and others are bigger than a
school bus
• They are all part of the animal kingdom

4. Animal Diversity
• Look at this picture. How many animals do
you see?

5. • You may be surprised to learn that feather
stars and corals are animals
• Spiders, fish, and birds are also animals
• And slugs, kangaroos, and monkeys are
animals, too
• Scientists have identified more than 1
million species of animals
• Scientists believe that more than 3 million
species of animals live on Earth, and most
have not yet been named

6. Vertebrates
• Vertebrate: an animal
that has a backbone
• Includes fish,
amphibians, reptiles,
birds, and mammals
• Humans are one of
about 5,000 species of
mammals

7. Invertebrates
• You are probably more familiar with
vertebrates than invertebrates, but
vertebrates are definitely the minority
among living things
• Less than 5% of known animal species
are vertebrates
• Most animal species are insects, snails,
jellyfish, worms, and other invertebrates

8. • In fact, beetles make up more
than 30% of all animal species!

9. Animal Characteristics
All animals share characteristics that set them
apart from all other living things:
1. Multicellular Makeup:
– All animals are multicellular, which means made
up of many cells
– Eukaryotic, which means they have a nucleus
– Animal cells do NOT have a cell wall
– Surrounded only by cell membranes

10. 2. Reproduction and Development
– Almost all animals reproduce sexually
– These animals make sex cells: sperm
and egg
– When egg and sperm join, they form the
first cell of a new organism, which then
divides into many cells to form an
embryo
– Embryo: an organism at an early stage
of development
– Asexual reproduction- hydra
reproduce by budding

12. 3. Many Specialized Parts
– Animal’s body has distinct parts that do
different things
– When a fertilized egg cell divides into many
cells to form an embryo, the cells become
different from each other
– Some cells may become skin cells, muscle
cells, nerve cells, or bone cells
– These different kinds of cells form tissues,
which are collections of similar cells
– Tissues then form organs

13. – Organ: group of tissues that carry out a
special function of the body
– Your heart, lungs, and kidneys are all
organs

14. 4. Movement
– Most animals can move from place to place
– They may fly, run, swim, or jump
– Nearly all animals use movement to search
for food, shelter, or mates at some stage in
life
– Can be less active during certain stages
sea anemones swim through ocean while
young, then cling to rocks as adults

15. 5. Consuming
• Animals cannot make their own food
• All animals survive by eating other
organisms or parts and products of
other organisms
• Animals are consumers an
organism that eats other organisms
• This trait sets animals apart from plants
(there are only a few exceptions of
plants that eat other organisms)

16. – Animals eat a great variety of foods
– Examples: pandas eat bamboo

17. – Spiders eat other
animals
– Butterflies drink
nectar from
flowers

18. – All animals
have to eat to
survive