The scientific study of living creatures seems to have begun with Aristotle, although early man probably experimented with breeding dogs for speed or size 16,000 years ago. In the 17th century, biology came to include the then known life sciences of zoology (the study of animals), botany (the study of plants) and taxonomy (the classification of living things).
In the 19th century, biology bean to fragment into other studies such as microbiology - biology through a microscope; genetics, the study of the inheritance of traits; biochemistry, the study of molecules in living things, et cetera. at the same time, different ways of studying living organisms were developed. Sciences like anthropology, the study of human beings; ecology, the study of the interaction between living things and their environment and ethology, the study of animal behaviour.
Biologists classify all living organisms according to a system first devised by Carolus Linnaeus in 1735. Linnaeus and other scientists divided all life forms into two kingdoms: plants and animals. Since then four other kingdoms have been added. These are Monera, Archaea, Protists, Fungi. Then, each kingdom is divided into two or more phyla (phylum, singular). Members of the same phylum are more closely related than to members of other phyla. Each phylum is then further sub-divided into more closely defined parts as follows: Class; Order; Family; Genus; Species. Many biologists further add to this list by classifying groups of species with sub- or super- as n sub-phylum or superfamily.
So, according to these conventions you and I are classified as follows:
KINGDOM: ANIMALS: organisms that use other organisms for food and that sometimes move rapidly
PHYLUM: CHORDATES: animals that are partially supported by a rod of cartilage or bone vertebrae and an internal skeleton
SUBPHYLUM: VERTEBRATES: chordates that have vertebrae, such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals
CLASS: MAMMALS: vertebrates that have hair and suckle their young
ORDER: PRIMATES: mammals that use sight more than scent; have nails instead of claws on grasping hands and feet; are mostly active in daylight and have relatively large brains.
SUPERFAMILY: HOMINOIDS: primates that are tailless; generally large in size; can climb trees and have relatively flat faces; specifically the great apes, australopithecines and human beings
FAMILY: HOMINIDS: hominids that walk upright; have small canines and large brains; specifically the australopithecines and human beings
GENUS: HOMO: hominids with especially large brains, that speak and show other signs of culture; specifically: Homo habilis, Homo erectus and related species and Homo sapiens
SPECIES: Homo sapiens - modern human beings.
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