A mountain goat belongs to the mammals, one of the basic groups of animals.
What are the basic groups of animals? The world is filled with so many different kinds of animals, from bugs to elephants and they all all into one of these main groups of animals.
The other day I wrote a post about what is an animal. I feel like I should know and most people probably know the different groups of animals. However, I don’t generally sit down and think about the basic groups of animals. You may or may not be able to name them all, but here is a quick reminder of those basic groups.
Knowing the 6 Basic Groups of Animals Will Help You
Animals belonging to the same group all share certain characteristics. For example, all mammals are warm-blooded animals and the mothers nurse their young. On the other hand all reptiles are cold-blooded.
An understanding of these basic groups of animals will help you understand basic characteristics of all animals. If you see an animal and can place it within one of those basic groups you will already know certain characteristics about it.
Classification System of Life
Scientists developed a system to organize and classify all forms of life. There are 6 main Kingdoms of life, of which the animal kingdom is one. Some of the other kingdoms include plants and fungus.
A painted turtle is an amphibian.
6 Basic Groups of Animals
All of the animals in the world belong to one of these basic groups. Here are the basic groups along with a couple of the characteristics that all animals in that group share.
- Mammals – warm blooded; mothers nurse their young; all have hair.
- Fish – have a backbone; live underwater; breather oxygen using their gills.
- Birds – lay eggs in nests; have feathers; have wings.
- Reptiles – cold-blooded; have scales.
- Amphibians – cold-blooded; skin is moist and smooth.
- Invertebrates (insects, spiders, and worms) – have no backbone; all bugs share certain characteristics that make a bug a bug.
Learn more about what it means for an animal to be warm or cold-blooded.