Portal:Animals

The Animals Portal

Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms comprising the biological kingdom Animalia (/ˌænɪˈmeɪliə/). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a hollow sphere of cells, the blastula, during embryonic development. Animals form a clade, meaning that they arose from a single common ancestor. Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described, of which around 1.05 million are insects, over 85,000 are molluscs, and around 65,000 are vertebrates. It has been estimated there are as many as 7.77 million animal species on Earth. Animal body lengths range from 8.5 μm (0.00033 in) to 33.6 m (110 ft). They have complex ecologies and interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs. The scientific study of animals is known as zoology, and the study of animal behaviour is known as ethology.

The animal kingdom is divided into five major clades, namely Porifera, Ctenophora, Placozoa, Cnidaria and Bilateria. Most living animal species belong to the clade Bilateria, a highly proliferative clade whose members have a bilaterally symmetric and significantly cephalised body plan, and the vast majority of bilaterians belong to two large clades: the protostomes, which includes organisms such as arthropods, molluscs, flatworms, annelids and nematodes; and the deuterostomes, which include echinoderms, hemichordates and chordates, the latter of which contains the vertebrates. The much smaller basal phylum Xenacoelomorpha have an uncertain position within Bilateria.

Animals first appeared in the fossil record in the late Cryogenian period and diversified in the subsequent Ediacaran period in what is known as the Avalon explosion. Earlier evidence of animals is still controversial; the sponge-like organism Otavia has been dated back to the Tonian period at the start of the Neoproterozoic, but its identity as an animal is heavily contested. Nearly all modern animal phyla first appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, which began around 539 million years ago (Mya), and most classes during the Ordovician radiation 485.4 Mya. Common to all living animals, 6,331 groups of genes have been identified that may have arisen from a single common ancestor that lived about 650 Mya during the Cryogenian period. (Full article...)

Zoology (UK: /zuˈɒlədʒi/ zoo-OL-ə-jee, US: /zoʊˈɒlədʒi/ zoh-OL-ə-jee) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one of the primary branches of biology. The term is derived from Ancient Greek ζῷον, zōion ('animal'), and λόγος, logos ('knowledge', 'study'). (Full article...)

Selected animal -

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

The eastern green mamba (Dendroaspis angusticeps) is a highly venomous snake species of the mamba genus Dendroaspis native to the coastal regions of southern East Africa. Described by Scottish surgeon and zoologist Andrew Smith in 1849, it has a slender build with a bright green back and green-yellow ventral scales. Adult females average around 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) in length, and males are slightly smaller.

In spite of common urban legends and misconceptions labeling the eastern green mamba an aggressive, fast-moving “people-chaser”, it is in fact a shy and elusive species that remains hidden in the trees, and is rarely seen. This seclusion is usually attributed to its arboreal habitat and green colouration, which acts as effective camouflage in its natural environment. Even with its deadly venom, the green mamba has to protect itself from predators, including birds of prey and other snakes, such as cobras. It has been observed engaging in ambush predation, a trait seen among many Viperidae species, contrary to the active hunting style typical of other Elapidae snakes. It preys on arboreal and winged animals, such as birds and their chicks and eggs, bats, and arboreal rodents such as mice, rats, and gerbils. (Full article...)

Selected pictures

  • Photograph: Toby Hudson
    Corals are marine invertebrates that typically live in compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Each polyp is a sac-like animal typically only a few millimeters in diameter and a few centimeters in length. Corals are major contributors to the physical structure of the coral reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef, where this photograph was taken. Coral reefs are under threat globally from ocean acidification and climate change.
  • Credit: Twilight Zone Expedition Team 2007, NOAA-OE
    Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (/pəˈrɪfərəˌ pɔː-/; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and are one of the most ancient members of macrobenthos, with many historical species being important reef-building organisms. (Full article...) Included are the yellow tube sponge, Aplysina fistularis, the purple vase sponge, Niphates digitalis, the red encrusting sponge, Spirastrella coccinea, and the gray rope sponge, Callyspongia sp.
  • Artist: H. Morin; Restoration: Citron
    An illustration of various Pulmonata (and one predator arthropod in the lower right), an informal group of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. Pulmonata was previously a formal taxon but lost its status as one in 2010. The group includes many land and freshwater families, and several marine families. Most species have a shell, but no operculum, although the group does also include several shell-less slugs. Pulmonates are hermaphroditic, and some groups possess love darts.
  • Credit: Hans Hillewaert
    Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (from Latin ophiurus 'brittle star'; from Ancient Greek ὄφις (óphis) 'serpent' and οὐρά (ourá) 'tail'; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomotion. The ophiuroids generally have five long, slender, whip-like arms which may reach up to 60 cm (24 in) in length on the largest specimens. (Full article...)
  • Credit: Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur (1904)
    Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about 0.5 millimetres (1⁄64 in) long, they have a special feeding structure called a lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles used for filter feeding. Most marine bryozoans live in tropical waters, but a few are found in oceanic trenches and polar waters. The bryozoans are classified as the marine bryozoans (Stenolaemata), freshwater bryozoans (Phylactolaemata), and mostly-marine bryozoans (Gymnolaemata), a few members of which prefer brackish water. 5,869 living species are known. Originally all of the crown group Bryozoa were colonial, but as an adaptation to a mesopsammal (interstitial spaces in marine sand) life or to deep-sea habitats, secondarily solitary forms have since evolved. Solitary species have been described in four genera; (Aethozooides, Aethozoon, Franzenella and Monobryozoon). The latter having a statocyst-like organ with a supposed excretory function. (Full article...)
  • Illustration: Comingio Merculiano
    Loligo forbesii is a commercially important species of squid in the family Loliginidae. It can be found in the seas around Europe, its range extending through the Red Sea toward the East African coast. The squid lives at depths of 10 to 500 m (30 to 1,600 ft), feeding on fish, polychaetes, crustaceans, and other cephalopods.
  • Photo: Wolfgang Wander
    A female Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope), the smallest bird found in Canada and the United States, feeding insects to chicks. Found mostly in western North America (although vagrants have been found in New York and Connecticut), it is migratory and winters in southwestern Mexico.
  • Photograph: Kateshortforbob
    Two poplar hawk-moths in the process of mating, the pairing of opposite-sex or hermaphroditic organisms, generally for the purposes of sexual reproduction. Mating may involve copulation if the species' fertilization is internal, but not if it is external. Different species use different strategies to select a mate, including random mating, disassortative mating, assortative mating, and a mating pool.
  • Photograph credit: Frank Schulenburg
    The brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) is a bird of the pelican family, Pelecanidae, one of three species found in the Americas and one of two that feed by diving into water. This photograph shows a juvenile brown pelican gliding over the Pacific Ocean at Bodega Head, California.

    After hatching, the pelican chicks are fed on regurgitated predigested fish and take about two months to fledge. When they leave the nest, they are at first unable to fly and take wing several weeks later. When the parents cease to feed them, some six months later, each will have consumed around 70 kg (150 lb) of fish. The juvenile brown pelican does not acquire adult plumage until three years of age, when the feathers on the neck become paler, the upperparts striped, the wing feathers grayer, and the belly acquires dark spots.
  • Photo: Charles H. Smith, USFWS
    The golden toad (Bufo periglenes) is an extinct species of true toad that was once abundant in a small region of high-altitude cloud-covered tropical forests, about 30 km2 (12 sq mi) in area, above the city of Monteverde, Costa Rica. The last reported sighting of a golden toad was on 15 May 1989. Its sudden extinction may have been caused by chytrid fungus and extensive habitat loss.
  • Photograph: Charles J. Sharp
    The rock hyrax (Procavia capensis), also known as the dassie, is one of four living species of the order Hyracoidea, and the only living species in its genus. Like all hyraxes, it is a medium-sized terrestrial mammal between 4 kilograms (9 lb) and 5 kilograms (11 lb) in mass, with short ears and tail. The rock hyrax is found across Africa and the Middle East, at elevations up to 4,200 metres (13,800 ft). It resides in habitats with rock crevices which it uses to escape from predators. Along with the other hyrax species and the manatee, these are the animals most closely related to the elephant.
  • Photograph credit: H. Zell
    Haliotis laevigata is a species of marine mollusc in the family Haliotidae, endemic to Tasmania and the southern and western coasts of Australia. This picture shows five views of a green H. laevigata shell, 7.5 centimetres (3.0 in) in length. The holes in the shell, characteristic of abalones, are respiratory apertures for venting water from the gills and for releasing sperm and eggs into the water column.
  • Photograph: Gabriel Barathieu
    The sperm whale is the largest toothed animal on Earth. The species was hunted extensively by humans throughout history, until protected by a worldwide moratorium on whaling starting in 1985–86.
  • Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
    The bird-cherry ermine (Yponomeuta evonymella) is a species of moth in the family Yponomeutidae, native to Europe and parts of Asia. The caterpillars are gregarious and feed on the leaves of the bird cherry tree, forming silken webbing for their own protection. They create further webbing on the trunk and near the base of the tree, which hides them as they pupate. This photograph shows one of many bird-cherry ermine caterpillar nests on a tree in Lahemaa National Park, Estonia. In some years, they are so numerous that they can completely strip a tree of its foliage.
  • Credit: Frank Fox
    The rotifers (/ˈroʊtɪfərz/, from Latin rota 'wheel' and -fer 'bearing'), sometimes called wheel animals or wheel animalcules, make up a phylum (Rotifera /roʊˈtɪfərə/) of microscopic and near-microscopic pseudocoelomate animals. (Full article...)
  • Photo credit: Matthew Field
    The leopard shark (Triakis semifasciata) is a species of hound shark found along the Pacific coast of North America from the U.S. state of Oregon to Mazatlán in Mexico. Typically measuring 1.2–1.5 m (3.9–4.9 ft) long, this slender-bodied shark is characterized by black saddle-like markings and large spots over its back.
  • Credit: Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur (1904)
    Platyhelminthes (from the Greek πλατύ, platy, meaning "flat" and ἕλμινς (root: ἑλμινθ-), helminth-, meaning "worm") is a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegmented, soft-bodied invertebrates commonly called flatworms or flat worms. Being acoelomates (having no body cavity), and having no specialised circulatory and respiratory organs, they are restricted to having flattened shapes that allow oxygen and nutrients to pass through their bodies by diffusion. The digestive cavity has only one opening for both ingestion (intake of nutrients) and egestion (removal of undigested wastes); as a result, the food can not be processed continuously. (Full article...)
  • Photo: Matthew Hoelscher, Papa Lima Whiskey
    The Atlantic spadefish is a species of marine fish endemic to the shallow waters off the coast of the southeastern United States and in the Caribbean Sea. They are similar in appearance to fresh water angelfish, but much larger, reaching up to three feet (0.9 m) in length. Due to their reputation as strong fighters, they are popular game fish, especially during the summer months when they are most active.
  • Illustration: Ewald Rübsamen
    Velodona togata is the only species in the octopus genus Velodona; the genus and species names come from the large membranes that connect its arms. It was first described by Carl Chun in his book Die Cephalopoden (from which this illustration is taken) in 1915. A second subspecies was described by Guy Coburn Robson in 1924.
  • Photograph: Didier Descouens
    A black-lip oyster (Pinctada margaritifera) specimen. This species of clam in the genus Pinctada is a marine bivalve mollusc that is harvested for its pearls in the Persian Gulf and southwestern part of the Indian Ocean, Fiji, Tahiti, Myanmar, Baja California, and the Gulf of Mexico.

Selected article -

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

One hundred sixteen species of mammals are known to inhabit, or have recently inhabited, the American state of Florida and its surrounding waters. This includes a few species, such as the black-tailed jackrabbit and red deer, that were introduced after the arrival of Europeans. It also includes the extinct Caribbean monk seal and Florida black wolf. Rodents account for roughly one quarter of all species, followed closely by mammals from the families Cetacea and Carnivora.

The species included in this list are drawn from the work of the American Society of Mammalogists (ASM), which compiled information from five different publications. Information on the international conservation status of species has been drawn from the IUCN Red List. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Did you know -


  • ...that six new species of marine slugs in the genus Phyllodesmium (Sp. kabiranum pictured) have been described in the last two years?
  • ...that Maui's dolphin is the most endangered species of dolphin in the world, with only about 110 left?
  • ...that the land snail Euglandina rosea is a significant threat to Hawaiian freshwater snail known as Newcomb's snail (Erinna newcombi), because the predatory Euglandina is able to hunt Erinna under water?
  • ...that the body of the "X-ray fish" (Pristella maxillaris ) is so transparent that it is possible to see its backbone?
  • ...that even though the lancelets are classified as chordates, they lack a true backbone and well-defined head?


General pictures

The following are images from various animal-related articles on Wikipedia.

Topics

The following table lists estimated numbers of described extant species for the animal groups with the largest numbers of species,[1] along with their principal habitats (terrestrial, fresh water,[2] and marine),[3] and free-living or parasitic ways of life.[4] Species estimates shown here are based on numbers described scientifically; much larger estimates have been calculated based on various means of prediction, and these can vary wildly. For instance, around 25,000–27,000 species of nematodes have been described, while published estimates of the total number of nematode species include 10,000–20,000; 500,000; 10 million; and 100 million.[5] Using patterns within the taxonomic hierarchy, the total number of animal species—including those not yet described—was calculated to be about 7.77 million in 2011.[6][7][a]

Phylum Example No. of
Species 		Land Sea Fresh
water 		Free-
living 		Parasitic
Annelids 17,000[1] Yes (soil)[3] Yes[3] 1,750[2] Yes 400[4]
Arthropods 1,257,000[1] 1,000,000
(insects)[9] 		>40,000
(Malac-
ostraca)[10] 		94,000[2] Yes[3] >45,000[b][4]
Bryozoa 6,000[1] Yes[3] 60–80[2] Yes
Chordates 65,000[1]
45,000[11]
23,000[11]
13,000[11] 		18,000[2]
9,000[11] 		Yes 40
(catfish)[12][4]
Cnidaria 16,000[1] Yes[3] Yes (few)[3] Yes[3] >1,350
(Myxozoa)[4]
Echinoderms 7,500[1] 7,500[1] Yes[3]
Molluscs 85,000[1]
107,000[13]
35,000[13]
60,000[13] 		5,000[2]
12,000[13] 		Yes[3] >5,600[4]
Nematodes 25,000[1] Yes (soil)[3] 4,000[5] 2,000[2] 11,000[5] 14,000[5]
Platyhelminthes 29,500[1] Yes[14] Yes[3] 1,300[2] Yes[3]

3,000–6,500[15]

>40,000[4]

4,000–25,000[15]

Rotifers 2,000[1] >400[16] 2,000[2] Yes
Sponges 10,800[1] Yes[3] 200-300[2] Yes Yes[17]
Total number of described extant species as of 2013: 1,525,728[1]

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  • WikiProject Science
    • WikiProject Biology
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  • (By taxa)
  • WikiProject Arthropods
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  • Ant task force
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  • WikiProject Phasmatodea
  • WikiProject Spiders
  • Molluscs:
  • WikiProject Bivalves
  • WikiProject Cephalopods
  • WikiProject Gastropods
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  • WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles
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  • (Other)
  • WikiProject Animal anatomy
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References

  1. ^ The application of DNA barcoding to taxonomy further complicates this; a 2016 barcoding analysis estimated a total count of nearly 100,000 insect species for Canada alone, and extrapolated that the global insect fauna must be in excess of 10 million species, of which nearly 2 million are in a single fly family known as gall midges (Cecidomyiidae).[8]
  2. ^ Not including parasitoids.[4]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Zhang, Zhi-Qiang (2013-08-30). "Animal biodiversity: An update of classification and diversity in 2013. In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.) Animal Biodiversity: An Outline of Higher-level Classification and Survey of Taxonomic Richness (Addenda 2013)". Zootaxa. 3703 (1): 5. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3703.1.3. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Balian, E. V.; Lévêque, C.; Segers, H.; Martens, K. (2008). Freshwater Animal Diversity Assessment. Springer. p. 628. ISBN 978-1-4020-8259-7.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Hogenboom, Melissa. "There are only 35 kinds of animal and most are really weird". BBC Earth. Archived from the original on 10 August 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Poulin, Robert (2007). Evolutionary Ecology of Parasites. Princeton University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-691-12085-0.
  5. ^ a b c d Felder, Darryl L.; Camp, David K. (2009). Gulf of Mexico Origin, Waters, and Biota: Biodiversity. Texas A&M University Press. p. 1111. ISBN 978-1-60344-269-5.
  6. ^ "How many species on Earth? About 8.7 million, new estimate says". 24 August 2011. Archived from the original on 1 July 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  7. ^ Mora, Camilo; Tittensor, Derek P.; Adl, Sina; Simpson, Alastair G.B.; Worm, Boris (2011-08-23). Mace, Georgina M. (ed.). "How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean?". PLOS Biology. 9 (8): e1001127. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001127. PMC 3160336. PMID 21886479.
  8. ^ Hebert, Paul D.N.; Ratnasingham, Sujeevan; Zakharov, Evgeny V.; Telfer, Angela C.; Levesque-Beaudin, Valerie; Milton, Megan A.; Pedersen, Stephanie; Jannetta, Paul; deWaard, Jeremy R. (1 August 2016). "Counting animal species with DNA barcodes: Canadian insects". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 371 (1702): 20150333. doi:10.1098/rstb.2015.0333. PMC 4971185. PMID 27481785.
  9. ^ Stork, Nigel E. (January 2018). "How Many Species of Insects and Other Terrestrial Arthropods Are There on Earth?". Annual Review of Entomology. 63 (1): 31–45. doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-020117-043348. PMID 28938083. S2CID 23755007. Stork notes that 1m insects have been named, making much larger predicted estimates.
  10. ^ Poore, Hugh F. (2002). "Introduction". Crustacea: Malacostraca. Zoological catalogue of Australia. Vol. 19.2A. CSIRO Publishing. pp. 1–7. ISBN 978-0-643-06901-5.
  11. ^ a b c d Reaka-Kudla, Marjorie L.; Wilson, Don E.; Wilson, Edward O. (1996). Biodiversity II: Understanding and Protecting Our Biological Resources. Joseph Henry Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-309-52075-1.
  12. ^ Burton, Derek; Burton, Margaret (2017). Essential Fish Biology: Diversity, Structure and Function. Oxford University Press. pp. 281–282. ISBN 978-0-19-878555-2. Trichomycteridae ... includes obligate parasitic fish. Thus 17 genera from 2 subfamilies, Vandelliinae; 4 genera, 9spp. and Stegophilinae; 13 genera, 31 spp. are parasites on gills (Vandelliinae) or skin (stegophilines) of fish.
  13. ^ a b c d Nicol, David (June 1969). "The Number of Living Species of Molluscs". Systematic Zoology. 18 (2): 251–254. doi:10.2307/2412618. JSTOR 2412618.
  14. ^ Sluys, R. (1999). "Global diversity of land planarians (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Terricola): a new indicator-taxon in biodiversity and conservation studies". Biodiversity and Conservation. 8 (12): 1663–1681. doi:10.1023/A:1008994925673. S2CID 38784755.
  15. ^ a b Pandian, T. J. (2020). Reproduction and Development in Platyhelminthes. CRC Press. pp. 13–14. ISBN 9781000054903.
  16. ^ Fontaneto, Diego. "Marine Rotifers | An Unexplored World of Richness" (PDF). JMBA Global Marine Environment. pp. 4–5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 March 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  17. ^ Morand, Serge; Krasnov, Boris R.; Littlewood, D. Timothy J. (2015). Parasite Diversity and Diversification. Cambridge University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-107-03765-6. Archived from the original on 12 December 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
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