Topics

It’s hard to imagine a topic that’s more interesting, fun and wholesome than animals. Almost everyone likes some kind of animal, whether it’s a lumbering elephant, a sleek falcon or a pet cat. Even if you aren’t interested in animals, you may eat them. And if you’re a vegetarian, you may still wear leather shoes.

Most of the major Geobop websites feature a series of ten introductory articles. But animals are a huge, complex topic, so brace yourself - there are thirteen articles in this series.

So where do we begin? We could start by defining animals, but let’s ask an even bigger question first...

What is life?

The biggest (and generally unanswered) question many people will ask during their lives is "What is the meaning of life?" Defining life is a little easier but still complex.

Merriam-Webster offers twenty definitions for the word life. Reading between the lines, we might recognize three kinds of life: physical, mental and spiritual. Amoebas and humans alike exhibit physical life, but amoebas are presumably incapable of mental or spiritual processes. Then again, there’s no solid proof that humans even have spiritual lives that continue after our bodies die - or even while we live. Of course, the word spiritual itself means different things to different people.

Confused? Sorry; I got way ahead of myself. We’ll learn more about animal behavior and spirituality later in this series. In the meantime, check out this definition from Wikipedia’s article, Life:

Slower please!

Is it necessary to memorize that definition?

Not at all. For all practical purposes, we all know what life is intuitively. Animals and plants are living things (though we occasionally see animals and plants that are no longer living), and just about every thing else we see around us is not living.

Of course, most of us are aware of smaller living things that are neither plants nor animals, including the bacteria that live insides our bodies. These are examples of life, too.

But when we start studying microscopic creatures through microscopes, the boundary between life and non-life begins to blur. For example, scientists are puzzled by viruses, which have been described as "organisms at the edge of life." And if we want to get philosophical, we might even ask if computer viruses could be considered a form of life.

Fortunately, we can largely ignore viruses and other strange things because GeoZoo focuses on animals. Of course, animals are affected by viruses, but this website is more concerned with animals than bacteria and viruses.

Life Requirements

Living things have to do certain things in order to continue living, and particular kinds of living things have to do certain things to avoid exctinction.

Individual Needs

Nutrition and respiration are essential for the survival of most, if not all, living things. Nutrition involves acquiring nutrients (vitamins, etc.), usually from soil or other living things. Most animals acquire these nutrients by eating. Respiration is the process by which living things acquire gaseous elements they need for survival.

Breathing is another word for respiration. Of course, animals breathe in order to acquire oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. Plants are just the opposite: They require carbon dioxide and expel oxygen.

Species Needs

If living things did nothing but eat and breathe, there would soon be no life because all living things eventually die. Fortunately, living things reproduce. Most plants reproduce via spores or seeds, while animals lay eggs or give live birth.

But reproducing isn’t enough to ensure a species’ survival. After all, the world is constantly changing. When conditions become too hot, cold, dry or wet, various species may become extinct.

Fortunately, living things are able to evolve or change over a period of time.

We’ll learn more about nutrition, respiration, reproduction and evolution later in this series.

Vocabulary

Before we narrow our focus to animals (on the next page), let’s add a few more words to our vocabulary.

Combining the Greek words bio (life) and logos (knowledge) gives us biology, the study of life. Biology is closely related to ecology, the study of how living things interact with each other and with the abiotic environment.

So what does abiotic mean? It contains that Greek word bio, but it’s preceded with a, which changes the meaning to non-living.

Since GeoZoo focuses on animals, it’s more concerned with abiotic’s antonym (opposite), biota - a word that pertains to all the living things in a region. For example, Lewis and Clark studied North American biota - particularly the biota of the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest - during their historic trek across the continent.

Since then, many scientists have studied the biota of East Africa. We could say that Jane Goodall studied East Africa’s biota, but she’s best known for her studies of a particular species, the chimpanzee. Nevertheless, Goodall is one of many scientists who have collectively studied the region’s biota.

Merriam-Webster defines biotic as "of, relating to, or caused by living organisms." So when someone talks about Yellowstone’s biotic environment, they’re referring to the forests, grasslands, animals and soils that occur in the region. Yellowstone’s abiotic environment consists of rocks, rivers and lakes, mountains and glaciers, etc.

So what’s the difference between biota and biotic? It’s largely a matter of usage: Biota is a noun, biotic an adjective.

In biology, the words organic and inorganic have a similar meaning to biotic and abiotic. Anything made from living (or dead) organisms is organic. Soil - which is composed of countless tiny organisms, along with dead and decaying organisms - is organic. All the fruits and vegetables you eat are organic, as are hamburgers, chicken and eggs.

Rocks, cars, and plastic bags are inorganic.

However, there are other definitions of organic and inorganic...

In grocery stores, foods are labeled organic if they were grown without artificial fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, etc. To a scientist, a cow fattened with growth hormones and food supplements is still organic, not inorganic. But to someone who cares about their health, it’s neither inorganic nor "organic;" it’s tainted.

The genetically modified food that Monsanto and Bill Gates are promoting is not organic according to our second definition.

We might even create a third definition to cover non-food products that are advertised as "natural" or "organic," such as organic beauty and skin care products. And what about clothing made of leather or cotton - can they be considered organic?

So we now have a list of several simple words to add to our vocabulary. But what’s the difference between biotic and organic? The definitions aren’t precise, and the differences can be subtle.

However, if you’re a scientist interested in all the plant and animal species that live in a particular area, you’d probably use the word biotic (or the noun form, biota). However, you might note that a certain bird species likes to nest in areas of deep accumulations of organic matter (piles of leaves or rotting vegetation, for example).

As noted above, the word organic is also a popular marketing term, especially for food items.

Five Basic Principles

Wikipedia’s article about Biology lists "five unifying principles that can be said to be the fundamental axioms of modern biology." They offer a nice review of what we’ve already learned, along with some additional ideas...

Moving on...

Wow, that was a lot of information about life, and we scarcely even mentioned philosophy. For example, some people regard Earth as a living planet that grows people and other life forms the way an apple tree grows apples.

Is there life on other planets? Are there living things somewhere in the universe more intelligent than people? And do we have souls or spirits that never die?

I agree that Earth is a living planet, and I think there probably is life outside our solar system. I can’t answer the last question. But once you understand ecology and evolution - or Eastern religions - you may never ask it again.

If you want to read this series of ten introductory articles (highly recommended), continue with Classification.
Or you can skip the Life series and go straight to Animals or Plants.