animal

animal

Zoology any living organism characterized by voluntary movement, the possession of cells with noncellulose cell walls and specialized sense organs enabling rapid response to stimuli, and the ingestion of complex organic substances such as plants and other animals
www.biosis.org.uk/free_resources/classifn/classifn.html
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/index.html
www.a25.com/animals.html
www.itis.usda.gov

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Animal

Any living organism which possesses certain characteristics that distinguish it from plants. There is no single criterion that can be used to distinguish all animals from all plants. Animals usually lack chlorophyll and the ability to manufacture foods from raw materials available in the soil, water, and atmosphere. Animal cells are usually delimited by a flexible plasma or cell membrane rather than a cell wall. Animals generally are limited in their growth and most have the ability to move in their environment at some stage in their life history, whereas plants are usually not restricted in their growth and the majority are stationary.

The presence or lack of chlorophyll in an organism does not determine its affinity to the plant or animal kingdom. Among the protozoa, the class Phytamastigophora includes animals, such as the euglenids, which have chromatophores containing chlorophyll. These organisms are considered to be animals by zoologists and plants by phycologists. Higher parasitic plants and the large plant group Fungi also lack chlorophyll. Another borderline group is the slime molds: the Mycetozoa of zoologists and the Myxomycophyta of the botanists; these organisms exhibit both plant and animal characteristics during their life history. Movement is not a characteristic restricted to the animal kingdom; many of the thallophytes such as Oscillatoria, numerous bacteria, and colonial chlorophytes are motile.

Classifying organisms as plants or animals is difficult. Today biologists recognize up to five kingdoms. Most place the one-celled animals and plants, sometimes along with algae and certain other groups, into the Protista. Other kingdoms are the Monera for the bacteria and blue-green algae, and the Fungi for the slime molds and true fungi. These schemes for recognizing additional kingdoms have the practical advantage of eliminating the difficulties of delimiting and describing the kingdoms of multicellular animals and plants. See Animal kingdom, Plant, Plant kingdom

McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Bioscience. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

animal

[′an·ə·məl]

(zoology)

Any living organism distinguished from plants by the lack of chlorophyll, the requirement for complex organic nutrients, the lack of a cell wall, limited growth, mobility, and greater irritability.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Animals

(dreams)

Carl Jung said that all wild animals indicate latent affects (feelings and emotions that we do not readily deal with). They are also symbolic of dangers (hurtful and negative things) being “swallowed” by the unconscious. The interpretation of the animal in your dream depends on your relationship with it in daily life. Animals represent the qualities in our character or specific aspects of our personalities. They could symbolize our more intuitive and instinctive parts, or they could serve as messengers for the unconscious. Please look up each animal individually by name.

Bedside Dream Dictionary by Silvana Amar Copyright © 2007 by Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.