Animals
are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few
exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce
sexually, and grow from a hollow sphere of cells, the blastula, during embryonic development.
Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described—of which around 1 million
are insects—but it has been estimated there are over 7 million animal species in total. Animals
range in length from 8.5 micrometres (0.00033 in) to 33.6 metres (110 ft). They have complex
interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs. The scientific
study of animals is known as zoology.
Most living animal species are in Bilateria, a clade whose members have a bilaterally
symmetric body plan. The Bilateria include the protostomes, containing animals such
as nematodes, arthropods, flatworms, annelids and molluscs, and the deuterostomes, containing
the echinoderms and the chordates, the latter including the vertebrates. Life forms interpreted as
early animals were present in the Ediacaran biota of the late Precambrian. Many modern
animal phyla became clearly established in the fossil record as marine species during
the Cambrian explosion, which began around 539 million years ago. 6,331 groups
of genes common to all living animals have been identified; these may have arisen from a
single common ancestor that lived 650 million years ago.
Historically, Aristotle divided animals into those with blood and those without. Carl
Linnaeus created the first hierarchical biological classification for animals in 1758 with
his Systema Naturae, which Jean-Baptiste Lamarck expanded into 14 phyla by 1809. In
1874, Ernst Haeckel divided the animal kingdom into the
multicellular Metazoa (now synonymous for Animalia) and the Protozoa, single-celled organisms
no longer considered animals. In modern times, the biological classification of animals relies on
advanced techniques, such as molecular phylogenetics, which are effective at demonstrating
the evolutionary relationships between taxa.
Humans make use of many animal species, such as for food (including meat, milk, and eggs), for
materials (such as leather and wool), as pets, and as working animals including for
transport. Dogs have been used in hunting, as have birds of prey, while many terrestrial
and aquatic animals were hunted for sports. Nonhuman animals have appeared in art from the
earliest times and are featured in mythology and religion.
Etymology
The word "animal" comes from the Latin animalis, meaning 'having breath', 'having soul' or 'living
being'.[8] The biological definition includes all members of the kingdom Animalia.[9] In colloquial
usage, the term animal is often used to refer only to nonhuman animals.[10][11][12][13] The term
"metazoa" is derived from the Ancient Greek μετα (meta, meaning "later") and ζῷᾰ (zōia, plural
of ζῷον zōion, meaning animal).[14][15]
Characteristics
Animals are unique in having the ball of cells of the early embryo (1) develop into a hollow ball
or blastula (2).
Animals have several characteristics that set them apart from other living things. Animals
are eukaryotic and multicellular.[16][17] Unlike plants and algae, which produce their own nutrients,
[18]
animals are heterotrophic,[17][19] feeding on organic material and digesting it internally.[20] With
very few exceptions, animals respire aerobically.[a][22] All animals are motile[23] (able to
spontaneously move their bodies) during at least part of their life cycle, but some animals, such
as sponges, corals, mussels, and barnacles, later become sessile. The blastula is a stage
in embryonic development that is unique to animals, allowing cells to be differentiated into
specialised tissues and organs.[24]
Structure
All animals are composed of cells, surrounded by a characteristic extracellular matrix composed
of collagen and elastic glycoproteins.[25] During development, the animal extracellular matrix forms
a relatively flexible framework upon which cells can move about and be reorganised, making the
formation of complex structures possible. This may be calcified, forming structures such
as shells, bones, and spicules.[26] In contrast, the cells of other multicellular organisms (primarily
algae, plants, and fungi) are held in place by cell walls, and so develop by progressive growth.
[27]
Animal cells uniquely possess the cell junctions called tight junctions, gap junctions,
and desmosomes.[28]
With few exceptions—in particular, the sponges and placozoans—animal bodies are
differentiated into tissues.[29] These include muscles, which enable locomotion, and nerve tissues,
which transmit signals and coordinate the body. Typically, there is also an
internal digestive chamber with either one opening (in Ctenophora, Cnidaria, and flatworms) or
two openings (in most bilaterians).[30]
Reproduction and development
See also: Sexual reproduction § Animals, and Asexual reproduction § Examples in animals
Sexual reproduction is nearly universal in animals, such as these dragonflies.
Nearly all animals make use of some form of sexual reproduction.[31] They
produce haploid gametes by meiosis; the smaller, motile gametes are spermatozoa and the
larger, non-motile gametes are ova.[32] These fuse to form zygotes,[33] which develop
via mitosis into a hollow sphere, called a blastula. In sponges, blastula larvae swim to a new
location, attach to the seabed, and develop into a new sponge.[34] In most other groups, the
blastula undergoes more complicated rearrangement.[35] It first invaginates to form a gastrula with
a digestive chamber and two separate germ layers, an external ectoderm and an
internal endoderm.[36] In most cases, a third germ layer, the mesoderm, also develops between
them.[37] These germ layers then differentiate to form tissues and organs.[38]
Repeated instances of mating with a close relative during sexual reproduction generally leads
to inbreeding depression within a population due to the increased prevalence of
harmful recessive traits.[39][40] Animals have evolved numerous mechanisms for avoiding close
inbreeding.[41]
Some animals are capable of asexual reproduction, which often results in a genetic clone of the
parent. This may take place through fragmentation; budding, such as in Hydra and
other cnidarians; or parthenogenesis, where fertile eggs are produced without mating, such as
in aphids.[42][43]