Kingdom Animalia
This is the kingdom of the multicellular organisms known as animals. The animal world is thought to hold about 1,260,000 species.
Every animal is a heterotroph
Having no ability to produce food, animals are heterotrophic. Which means every animal depends, directly or otherwise, on a plant.
Is there a backbone?
The animals of Kingdom Animalia are classified into two main groups on the basis of whether or not they bear a backbone.
Animals with no backbone.
Animals that bear a backbone.
The five main invertebrate phyla
- Cnidaria / Coelenterata
- Annelida
- Mollusca
- Arthropoda
- Echinodermata
Most of life is in the first group
Animals with a backbone are a minority. About 75% of animal species belong to the phylum Arthropoda alone — the insects, spiders and crabs.
The next five pages take each phylum in turn.