Classification of Living
things
Year 6
Classification is grouping different living things
together by their features.
The branch of science that classifies living
things is called taxonomy.
The classification system was first developed
by the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus. He
gave each organism a two part Latin
scientific name.
His system is now used all across the world.
Humans are Homo sapiens; a house cat
would be Felis catus.
Sharks vs. Whales
Similarities Differences
• Aquatic animals • Whales have lungs, while
• They have fins sharks have gills.
• Snout • Whales are warm blooded
• They have streamlined • Whales give birth to their
bodies young ones, sharks don’t
do that
When scientists classify animals in groups, there are
some similarities and differences that are more
important than others. In the case of the whale and
the shark, whales are classed as mammals, as they
breathe with lungs, and sharks are classed as fish, as
they breathe through gills.
Question to ponder
• Why do scientists classify living things?
A species is any group of organisms that are
capable of breeding with each other to produce
offspring. For example, there are many different
breeds of domestic dog, but these can interbreed
to produce another dog, and so are all part of the
same species. Foxes are in the same family of
animals as dogs, but they are a different species
altogether, and so cannot breed with dogs.
Activity !
Imagine that an alien has landed on Earth. It’s
your job to explain to the alien why all the animals
on the whiteboard are considered dogs. You can
include your own examples as extra information.
You can draw annotated diagrams that help the
alien to understand that although these organisms
look very different, they also share many common
features.
Does it have fur (Video)
Variation & Classification
• To identify the things that are the same and
different when comparing living things, we can
use a classification key which is a set of
questions about the characteristics of living
things.
Example of
Classificati
on Keys
Classification keys can
ask questions about a
variety
of characteristics of
living things such as:
•What it looks like
•The climate that it lives
in-The type of habitat
you might find it in
•What it eats or how it
breathes.
Vertebrates • Animals are divided into two main groups,
invertebrates and invertebrates. Animals like this
and golden eagle that have a backbone (spine) are
called vertebrates.
Invertebrates
A fox can be classified as both a
vertebrate and a mammal
The second group as we know is
Invertebrates – without backbones
•Invertebrates can
have soft bodies like
jellyfish, worms and
molluscs. A snail is a
kind of mollusc.
Invertebrates can
also have hard bodies
such as insects,
crustaceans and
arachnids. A spider is
a type of arachnid.
Classification Quiz
Classification Quiz
Classification Quiz
Classification Quiz
Classification Quiz