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- DictionaryAn·i·mal/ˈanəm(ə)l/
noun
- 1. a living organism that feeds on organic matter, typically having specialized sense organs and nervous system and able to respond rapidly to stimuli: "wild animals adapt badly to a caged life"
adjective
- 1. relating to or characteristic of animals: "a wide range of animal species"
Learn the origin, synonyms, and usage of the word animal, which can be a noun or an adjective. An animal is any living thing that can move, breathe, and respond to stimulation, or a human being with a particular interest or aptitude.
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (/ ˌ æ n ɪ ˈ m ɑː l i ə /). 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.
- Overview
- The animal kingdom
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Animals are multicellular eukaryotes whose cells are bound together by collagen. Animals dominate human conceptions of life on Earth because of their size, diversity, abundance, and mobility. The presence of muscles and mobility is one of the primary characteristics of the animal kingdom.
What are the two major groups of animals?
The two major groups of animals are vertebrates and invertebrates. Vertebrates have backbones, and invertebrates do not.
When did animals first appear?
Animals first appeared in the Ediacaran Period, about 635 million to 541 million years ago, as soft-bodied forms that left traces of their bodies in shallow-water sediments.
What are the basic functional systems of animals?
Animals evolved from unicellular eukaryotes. The presence of a nuclear membrane in eukaryotes permits separation of the two phases of protein synthesis: transcription (copying) of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in the nucleus and translation (decoding) of the message into protein in the cytoplasm. Compared to the structure of the bacterial cell, this ...
Animal is a kingdom of multicellular eukaryotic organisms that evolved from unicellular eukaryotes. Animals have muscles and mobility, and differ from plants and fungi in morphology and physiology.
Animal definition: any member of the kingdom Animalia, comprising multicellular organisms that have a well-defined shape and usually limited growth, can move voluntarily, actively acquire food and digest it internally, and have sensory and nervous systems that allow them to respond rapidly to stimuli.
a living thing that can move and eat and react to the world through its senses, esp. of sight and hearing: Mammals, insects, reptiles, and birds are all animals. In ordinary use, animal means all living beings except humans: A lion is a wild animal, and a dog is a domestic animal.
An animal is a particular kind of living organism, one that can move voluntarily and can find and digest food. Your favorite animal might be the naked mole rat, but probably not.
Learn the various meanings and uses of the word animal in English, from a living thing that is not a human or plant to a person who behaves in a wild or unpleasant way. See examples, synonyms, and related terms for animal.
