100-544: Philosophia Botanica ("Botanical Philosophy", ed. 1, Stockholm & Amsterdam, 1751.) was published by the Swedish naturalist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) who greatly influenced the development of botanical taxonomy and systematics in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is "the first textbook of descriptive systematic botany and botanical Latin". It also contains Linnaeus's first published description of his binomial nomenclature . Philosophia Botanica represents
200-399: A gastrula with a digestive chamber and two separate germ layers , an external ectoderm and an internal endoderm . In most cases, a third germ layer, the mesoderm , also develops between them. These germ layers then differentiate to form tissues and organs. Repeated instances of mating with a close relative during sexual reproduction generally leads to inbreeding depression within
300-565: A "grammar and a syntax" for the study of botany. Chapters VII to X comprised principles 210 to 324 to do with the nomenclature of genera, species and varieties and how to treat synonyms. The Critica Botanica was an extension of these nomenclatural chapters of the Fundamenta . Critica Botanica which was published a year later in July 1737, the principles of the Fundamenta are repeated essentially unchanged but with extensive additions in smaller print. It
400-770: A clade Xenambulacraria for the Xenacoelamorpha + Ambulacraria; this is either within Deuterostomia, as sister to Chordata, or the Deuterostomia are recovered as paraphyletic, and Xenambulacraria is sister to the proposed clade Centroneuralia , consisting of Chordata + Protostomia. Several animal phyla lack bilateral symmetry. These are the Porifera (sea sponges), Placozoa , Cnidaria (which includes jellyfish , sea anemones , and corals), and Ctenophora (comb jellies). Sponges are physically very distinct from other animals, and were long thought to have diverged first, representing
500-441: A classification proposed which permitted rapid and efficient storage and retrieval of taxonomic information. No wonder that much of what Linnaeus proposed stood the test of time. The designation of species by binary names which have the character of code designations is only one element out of many which show the profound practicality underlying Linnaeus's activities and publications. Linnaeus's philosophical approach to classification
600-594: A definition ( essentialism ) or b) put together with plants having similar characteristics generally, regardless of the definition ( empiricism ). Linnaeus was inclined to take the first approach using the Method of Logical Division based on definition, what he called in Philosophia Botanica §152 the dispositio theoretica – but in practice he employed both methods. Botanical historian Alan Morton, though praising Linnaeus's contribution to classification and nomenclature,
700-468: A head end (anterior) and a tail end (posterior), a back (dorsal) surface and a belly (ventral) surface, and a left and a right side. Having a front end means that this part of the body encounters stimuli, such as food, favouring cephalisation , the development of a head with sense organs and a mouth. Many bilaterians have a combination of circular muscles that constrict the body, making it longer, and an opposing set of longitudinal muscles, that shorten
800-628: A lasting peace and better times till Botanists come to an agreement among themselves about the fixed laws in accordance with which judgment can be pronounced on names. From 1735 to 1738 Linnaeus worked in the Netherlands where he was personal physician to George Clifford (1685–1760) a wealthy Anglo-Dutch merchant–banker with the Dutch East India Company who had an impressive garden containing four large glasshouses that were filled with tropical and sub-tropical plants collected overseas. Linnaeus
900-481: A maturing of Linnaeus's thinking on botany and its theoretical foundations, being an elaboration of ideas first published in his Fundamenta Botanica (1736) and Critica Botanica (1737), and set out in a similar way as a series of stark and uncompromising principles (aphorismen). The book also establishes a basic botanical terminology. The following principle §79 demonstrates the style of presentation and Linnaeus's method of introducing his ideas. § 79 The parts of
1000-476: A naturalist, studies the world by observing plants and animals directly. Because organisms are functionally inseparable from the environment in which they live and because their structure and function cannot be adequately interpreted without knowing some of their evolutionary history, the study of natural history embraces the study of fossils as well as physiographic and other aspects of the physical environment". A common thread in many definitions of natural history
1100-544: A part of science proper. In Victorian Scotland, the study of natural history was believed to contribute to good mental health. Particularly in Britain and the United States, this grew into specialist hobbies such as the study of birds , butterflies, seashells ( malacology / conchology ), beetles, and wildflowers; meanwhile, scientists tried to define a unified discipline of biology (though with only partial success, at least until
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#17330849373491200-1105: A population due to the increased prevalence of harmful recessive traits. Animals have evolved numerous mechanisms for avoiding close inbreeding . Some animals are capable of asexual reproduction , which often results in a genetic clone of the parent. This may take place through fragmentation ; budding , such as in Hydra and other cnidarians ; or parthenogenesis , where fertile eggs are produced without mating , such as in aphids . Animals are categorised into ecological groups depending on their trophic levels and how they consume organic material . Such groupings include carnivores (further divided into subcategories such as piscivores , insectivores , ovivores , etc.), herbivores (subcategorised into folivores , graminivores , frugivores , granivores , nectarivores , algivores , etc.), omnivores , fungivores , scavengers / detritivores , and parasites . Interactions between animals of each biome form complex food webs within that ecosystem . In carnivorous or omnivorous species, predation
1300-439: A single opening, which serves as both mouth and anus. Animals in both phyla have distinct tissues, but these are not organised into discrete organs . They are diploblastic , having only two main germ layers, ectoderm and endoderm. The tiny placozoans have no permanent digestive chamber and no symmetry; they superficially resemble amoebae. Their phylogeny is poorly defined, and under active research. The remaining animals,
1400-464: Is a consumer–resource interaction where the predator feeds on another organism, its prey , who often evolves anti-predator adaptations to avoid being fed upon. Selective pressures imposed on one another lead to an evolutionary arms race between predator and prey, resulting in various antagonistic/ competitive coevolutions . Almost all multicellular predators are animals. Some consumers use multiple methods; for example, in parasitoid wasps ,
1500-482: Is a domain of inquiry involving organisms , including animals , fungi , and plants , in their natural environment , leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is called a naturalist or natural historian . Natural history encompasses scientific research but is not limited to it. It involves the systematic study of any category of natural objects or organisms, so while it dates from studies in
1600-433: Is a stage in embryonic development that is unique to animals, allowing cells to be differentiated into specialised tissues and organs. All animals are composed of cells, surrounded by a characteristic extracellular matrix composed of collagen and elastic glycoproteins . During development, the animal extracellular matrix forms a relatively flexible framework upon which cells can move about and be reorganised, making
1700-460: Is also echoed by H.W. Greene and J.B. Losos: "Natural history focuses on where organisms are and what they do in their environment, including interactions with other organisms. It encompasses changes in internal states insofar as they pertain to what organisms do". Some definitions go further, focusing on direct observation of organisms in their environments, both past and present, such as this one by G.A. Bartholomew: "A student of natural history, or
1800-483: Is also noted by botanist David Frodin who observed that applying the methodus naturalis to books and people as well as plants, animals and minerals, was a mark of Linnaeus's 'scholastic' view of the world: Most subsequent [to Linnaeus's Bibliotheca Botanica ] classifications of botanical literature, including geographical entities, would be more or less empirically based highlighting a recurrent conflict between essentialism, empiricism, nominalism and other doctrines in
1900-458: Is disputed, as they might be water-escape or other structures. Animals are monophyletic , meaning they are derived from a common ancestor. Animals are the sister group to the choanoflagellates , with which they form the Choanozoa . The dates on the phylogenetic tree indicate approximately how many millions of years ago ( mya ) the lineages split. Ros-Rocher and colleagues (2021) trace
2000-414: Is known as zoology , and the study of animal behaviour is known as ethology . The animal kingdom is divided into five infrakingdoms / superphyla , namely Porifera , Ctenophora , Placozoa , Cnidaria and Bilateria . Most living animal species belong to the infrakingdom Bilateria, a highly proliferative clade whose members have a bilaterally symmetric and significantly cephalised body plan , and
2100-445: Is less complimentary about the theoretical ideas expressed in the publications discussed above: Linnaeus was the master of the botany of his time, and his influence on the development of botanical science powerful and lasting ... his work demonstrated the success of his improved methods of description, diagnosis and nomenclature, and made detailed systematic observation the guide and criterion in taxonomy. ... In his theoretical ideas, on
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#17330849373492200-400: Is most often defined as a type of observation and a subject of study, it can also be defined as a body of knowledge, and as a craft or a practice, in which the emphasis is placed more on the observer than on the observed. Definitions from biologists often focus on the scientific study of individual organisms in their environment, as seen in this definition by Marston Bates: "Natural history is
2300-822: Is often used to refer only to nonhuman animals. The term metazoa is derived from Ancient Greek μετα meta 'after' (in biology, the prefix meta- stands for 'later') and ζῷᾰ zōia 'animals', plural of ζῷον zōion 'animal'. Animals have several characteristics that set them apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and multicellular . Unlike plants and algae , which produce their own nutrients , animals are heterotrophic , feeding on organic material and digesting it internally. With very few exceptions, animals respire aerobically . All animals are motile (able to spontaneously move their bodies) during at least part of their life cycle , but some animals, such as sponges , corals , mussels , and barnacles , later become sessile . The blastula
2400-422: Is only produced by sponges and pelagophyte algae. Its likely origin is from sponges based on molecular clock estimates for the origin of 24-ipc production in both groups. Analyses of pelagophyte algae consistently recover a Phanerozoic origin, while analyses of sponges recover a Neoproterozoic origin, consistent with the appearance of 24-ipc in the fossil record. The first body fossils of animals appear in
2500-399: Is the inclusion of a descriptive component, as seen in a recent definition by H.W. Greene: "Descriptive ecology and ethology". Several authors have argued for a more expansive view of natural history, including S. Herman, who defines the field as "the scientific study of plants and animals in their natural environments. It is concerned with levels of organization from the individual organism to
2600-538: The American Society of Naturalists and Polish Copernicus Society of Naturalists . Professional societies have recognized the importance of natural history and have initiated new sections in their journals specifically for natural history observations to support the discipline. These include "Natural History Field Notes" of Biotropica , "The Scientific Naturalist" of Ecology , "From the Field" of Waterbirds , and
2700-614: The Ediacaran , represented by forms such as Charnia and Spriggina . It had long been doubted whether these fossils truly represented animals, but the discovery of the animal lipid cholesterol in fossils of Dickinsonia establishes their nature. Animals are thought to have originated under low-oxygen conditions, suggesting that they were capable of living entirely by anaerobic respiration , but as they became specialised for aerobic metabolism they became fully dependent on oxygen in their environments. Many animal phyla first appear in
2800-476: The Natural History Society of Northumbria founded in 1829, London Natural History Society (1858), Birmingham Natural History Society (1859), British Entomological and Natural History Society founded in 1872, Glasgow Natural History Society, Manchester Microscopical and Natural History Society established in 1880, Whitby Naturalists' Club founded in 1913, Scarborough Field Naturalists' Society and
2900-525: The Renaissance , making it one of the longest-lasting of all natural history books. From the ancient Greeks until the work of Carl Linnaeus and other 18th-century naturalists, a major concept of natural history was the scala naturae or Great Chain of Being , an arrangement of minerals, vegetables, more primitive forms of animals, and more complex life forms on a linear scale of supposedly increasing perfection, culminating in our species. Natural history
3000-539: The ancient Greco-Roman world and the mediaeval Arabic world , through to European Renaissance naturalists working in near isolation, today's natural history is a cross-discipline umbrella of many specialty sciences; e.g., geobiology has a strong multidisciplinary nature. The meaning of the English term "natural history" (a calque of the Latin historia naturalis ) has narrowed progressively with time, while, by contrast,
3100-567: The biological and geological sciences. The two were strongly associated. During the heyday of the gentleman scientists , many people contributed to both fields, and early papers in both were commonly read at professional science society meetings such as the Royal Society and the French Academy of Sciences —both founded during the 17th century. Natural history had been encouraged by practical motives, such as Linnaeus' aspiration to improve
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3200-893: The biological kingdom Animalia ( / ˌ æ n ɪ ˈ m eɪ 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 . Animals form a clade , meaning that they arose from a single common ancestor . Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described , of which around 1.05 million are insects , over 85,000 are molluscs , and around 65,000 are vertebrates . It has been estimated there are as many as 7.77 million animal species on Earth. Animal body lengths range from 8.5 μm (0.00033 in) to 33.6 m (110 ft). They have complex ecologies and interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs . The scientific study of animals
3300-665: The evolutionary relationships between taxa . Humans make use of many other animal species for food (including meat , eggs , and dairy products ), for materials (such as leather , fur , and wool ), as pets and as working animals for transportation , and services . Dogs , the first domesticated animal, have been used in hunting , in security and in warfare , as have horses , pigeons and birds of prey ; while other terrestrial and aquatic animals are hunted for sports, trophies or profits. Non-human animals are also an important cultural element of human evolution , having appeared in cave arts and totems since
3400-518: The fossil record during the Cambrian explosion , starting about 539 million years ago, in beds such as the Burgess shale . Extant phyla in these rocks include molluscs , brachiopods , onychophorans , tardigrades , arthropods , echinoderms and hemichordates , along with numerous now-extinct forms such as the predatory Anomalocaris . The apparent suddenness of the event may however be an artefact of
3500-497: The humanities (primarily what is now known as classics ) and divinity , with science studied largely through texts rather than observation or experiment. The study of nature revived in the Renaissance , and quickly became a third branch of academic knowledge, itself divided into descriptive natural history and natural philosophy , the analytical study of nature. In modern terms, natural philosophy roughly corresponded to modern physics and chemistry , while natural history included
3600-497: The lobe-finned fish Tiktaalik started to move on to land in the late Devonian , about 375 million years ago. Animals occupy virtually all of earth's habitats and microhabitats, with faunas adapted to salt water, hydrothermal vents, fresh water, hot springs, swamps, forests, pastures, deserts, air, and the interiors of other organisms. Animals are however not particularly heat tolerant ; very few of them can survive at constant temperatures above 50 °C (122 °F) or in
3700-638: The modern evolutionary synthesis ). Still, the traditions of natural history continue to play a part in the study of biology, especially ecology (the study of natural systems involving living organisms and the inorganic components of the Earth's biosphere that support them), ethology (the scientific study of animal behavior), and evolutionary biology (the study of the relationships between life forms over very long periods of time), and re-emerges today as integrative organismal biology. Amateur collectors and natural history entrepreneurs played an important role in building
3800-599: The "Natural History Miscellany section" of the American Naturalist . Natural history observations have contributed to scientific questioning and theory formation. In recent times such observations contribute to how conservation priorities are determined. Mental health benefits can ensue, as well, from regular and active observation of chosen components of nature, and these reach beyond the benefits derived from passively walking through natural areas. Animal Animals are multicellular , eukaryotic organisms in
3900-416: The 10,000 species he estimated made up the world's flora. Here too, for the first time, the species, rather than the genus, becomes the fundamental taxonomic unit. Linnaeus defined species as "... all structures in nature that do not owe their shape to the conditions of the growth place and other occasional features." There was also the innovation of the now familiar nomen triviale (pl. nomina trivialia ) of
4000-698: The Cambrian explosion, possibly as early as 1 billion years ago. Early fossils that might represent animals appear for example in the 665-million-year-old rocks of the Trezona Formation of South Australia . These fossils are interpreted as most probably being early sponges . Trace fossils such as tracks and burrows found in the Tonian period (from 1 gya) may indicate the presence of triploblastic worm-like animals, roughly as large (about 5 mm wide) and complex as earthworms. However, similar tracks are produced by
4100-712: The Cnidaria) never grow larger than 20 μm , and one of the smallest species ( Myxobolus shekel ) is no more than 8.5 μm when fully grown. The following table lists estimated numbers of described extant species for the major animal phyla, along with their principal habitats (terrestrial, fresh water, and marine), and free-living or parasitic ways of life. Species estimates shown here are based on numbers described scientifically; much larger estimates have been calculated based on various means of prediction, and these can vary wildly. For instance, around 25,000–27,000 species of nematodes have been described, while published estimates of
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4200-659: The Natural History Institute (Prescott, Arizona): Natural history – a practice of intentional focused attentiveness and receptivity to the more-than-human world, guided by honesty and accuracy – is the oldest continuous human endeavor. In the evolutionary past of our species, the practice of natural history was essential for our survival, imparting critical information on habits and chronologies of plants and animals that we could eat or that could eat us. Natural history continues to be critical to human survival and thriving. It contributes to our fundamental understanding of how
4300-539: The Sorby Natural History Society, Sheffield , founded in 1918. The growth of natural history societies was also spurred due to the growth of British colonies in tropical regions with numerous new species to be discovered. Many civil servants took an interest in their new surroundings, sending specimens back to museums in the Britain . (See also: Indian natural history ) Societies in other countries include
4400-672: The binary name although Linnaeus still regarded the real names as the differentiae specificae or "phrase names" which were linked with the nomen triviale and embodied the diagnosis for the species – although he was eventually to regard the trivial name (specific epithet) as one of his great inventions. Sketches of the book are known from 1733 and the final effort resulted in his temporary collapse. The Fundamenta Botanica ("The Foundations of Botany") of 1736 consisted of 365 aphorisms (principles) with principles 210–324 devoted to nomenclature. He followed this form of presentation in his other work on nomenclature. Linnaeus apparently regarded these as
4500-444: The binomial system but he was the person who provided the theoretical framework that lead to its universal acceptance. The second word of the binomial, the nomen triviale as Linnaeus called it, is now known as the specific epithet and the two words, the generic name and specific epithet together make up the species name . The binomial expresses both resemblance and difference at the same time – resemblance and relationship through
4600-552: The calyx, corolla, stamens, pistil, pericarp and receptacle. A detailed analysis of the work is given in Frans Stafleu's Linnaeus and the Linnaeans , pp. 25–78. To understand the objectives of the Philosophia Botanica it is first necessary to appreciate the state of botanical nomenclature at the time of Linnaeus. In accordance with the provisions of the present-day International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants
4700-426: The concepts of other botanists as expressed in their literature – all set within a structural framework of carefully drafted rules. In this he was an exemplary proponent of the general encyclopaedic and systematizing effort of the 18th century. Systema Naturæ was Linnaeus's early attempt to organise nature. The first edition was published in 1735 and in it he outlines his ideas for the hierarchical classification of
4800-573: The contrary, Linnaeus was a man of the past who never escaped from the restricting circle of idealist-essentialist thought in which his early high school training had confined him. This was the background to the contradictory statements in the Philosophia , to his narrow view of botany, his blindness to the advances in plant physiology and anatomy, [and] his unquestioning acceptance of special creation. Linnaean historian, chronicler, and analyst Frans Stafleu points out that Linnaeus's training and background
4900-456: The dark sea floor consume organic matter produced through chemosynthesis (via oxidising inorganic compounds such as hydrogen sulfide ) by archaea and bacteria . Animals evolved in the sea. Lineages of arthropods colonised land around the same time as land plants , probably between 510 and 471 million years ago during the Late Cambrian or Early Ordovician . Vertebrates such as
5000-451: The diversity of the natural world. Natural history was understood by Pliny the Elder to cover anything that could be found in the world, including living things, geology, astronomy, technology, art, and humanity. De Materia Medica was written between 50 and 70 AD by Pedanius Dioscorides , a Roman physician of Greek origin. It was widely read for more than 1,500 years until supplanted in
5100-450: The earliest times, and are frequently featured in mythology , religion , arts , literature , heraldry , politics , and sports . The word animal comes from the Latin noun animal of the same meaning, which is itself derived from Latin animalis 'having breath or soul'. The biological definition includes all members of the kingdom Animalia. In colloquial usage, the term animal
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#17330849373495200-489: The economic condition of Sweden. Similarly, the Industrial Revolution prompted the development of geology to help find useful mineral deposits. Modern definitions of natural history come from a variety of fields and sources, and many of the modern definitions emphasize a particular aspect of the field, creating a plurality of definitions with a number of common themes among them. For example, while natural history
5300-410: The ecosystem, and stresses identification, life history, distribution, abundance, and inter-relationships. It often and appropriately includes an esthetic component", and T. Fleischner, who defines the field even more broadly, as "A practice of intentional, focused attentiveness and receptivity to the more-than-human world, guided by honesty and accuracy". These definitions explicitly include the arts in
5400-710: The emergence of professional biological disciplines and research programs. Particularly in the 19th century, scientists began to use their natural history collections as teaching tools for advanced students and the basis for their own morphological research. The term "natural history" alone, or sometimes together with archaeology, forms the name of many national, regional, and local natural history societies that maintain records for animals (including birds (ornithology), insects ( entomology ) and mammals (mammalogy)), fungi ( mycology ), plants (botany), and other organisms. They may also have geological and microscopical sections. Examples of these societies in Britain include
5500-411: The field of botany, be it as authors, collectors, or illustrators. In modern Europe, professional disciplines such as botany, geology, mycology , palaeontology , physiology , and zoology were formed. Natural history , formerly the main subject taught by college science professors, was increasingly scorned by scientists of a more specialized manner and relegated to an "amateur" activity, rather than
5600-634: The field of natural history, and are aligned with the broad definition outlined by B. Lopez, who defines the field as the "Patient interrogation of a landscape" while referring to the natural history knowledge of the Eskimo ( Inuit ). A slightly different framework for natural history, covering a similar range of themes, is also implied in the scope of work encompassed by many leading natural history museums , which often include elements of anthropology, geology, paleontology, and astronomy along with botany and zoology, or include both cultural and natural components of
5700-565: The first hierarchical biological classification for animals in 1758 with his Systema Naturae , which Jean-Baptiste Lamarck expanded into 14 phyla by 1809. In 1874, Ernst Haeckel divided the animal kingdom into the multicellular Metazoa (now synonymous with Animalia) and the Protozoa , single-celled organisms no longer considered animals. In modern times, the biological classification of animals relies on advanced techniques, such as molecular phylogenetics , which are effective at demonstrating
5800-448: The formation of complex structures possible. This may be calcified, forming structures such as shells , bones , and spicules . In contrast, the cells of other multicellular organisms (primarily algae, plants, and fungi ) are held in place by cell walls, and so develop by progressive growth. Animal cells uniquely possess the cell junctions called tight junctions , gap junctions , and desmosomes . With few exceptions—in particular,
5900-600: The fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion , which began around 539 million years ago (Mya), and most classes during the Ordovician radiation 485.4 Mya. 6,331 groups of genes common to all living animals have been identified; these may have arisen from a single common ancestor that lived about 650 Mya during the Cryogenian period. Historically, Aristotle divided animals into those with blood and those without . Carl Linnaeus created
6000-535: The fossil record in the late Cryogenian period and diversified in the subsequent Ediacaran period in what is known as the Avalon explosion . Earlier evidence of animals is still controversial; the sponge -like organism Otavia has been dated back to the Tonian period at the start of the Neoproterozoic , but its identity as an animal is heavily contested. Nearly all modern animal phyla became clearly established in
6100-520: The fossil record, rather than showing that all these animals appeared simultaneously. That view is supported by the discovery of Auroralumina attenboroughii , the earliest known Ediacaran crown-group cnidarian (557–562 mya, some 20 million years before the Cambrian explosion) from Charnwood Forest , England. It is thought to be one of the earliest predators , catching small prey with its nematocysts as modern cnidarians do. Some palaeontologists have suggested that animals appeared much earlier than
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#17330849373496200-505: The generic name: difference and distinctness through the specific epithet. Until 1753 polynomials served two functions, to provide: a) a simple designation (label) b) a means of distinguishing that entity from others (diagnosis). Linnaeus's major achievement was not binomial nomenclature itself, but the separation of the designatory and diagnostic functions of names, the advantage of this being noted in Philosophia Botanica principle §257. He did this by linking species names to descriptions and
6300-721: The giant single-celled protist Gromia sphaerica , so the Tonian trace fossils may not indicate early animal evolution. Around the same time, the layered mats of microorganisms called stromatolites decreased in diversity, perhaps due to grazing by newly evolved animals. Objects such as sediment-filled tubes that resemble trace fossils of the burrows of wormlike animals have been found in 1.2 gya rocks in North America, in 1.5 gya rocks in Australia and North America, and in 1.7 gya rocks in Australia. Their interpretation as having an animal origin
6400-461: The great majority—comprising some 29 phyla and over a million species—form the Bilateria clade , which have a bilaterally symmetric body plan . The Bilateria are triploblastic , with three well-developed germ layers, and their tissues form distinct organs . The digestive chamber has two openings, a mouth and an anus, and there is an internal body cavity, a coelom or pseudocoelom. These animals have
6500-441: The larvae feed on the hosts' living tissues, killing them in the process, but the adults primarily consume nectar from flowers. Other animals may have very specific feeding behaviours , such as hawksbill sea turtles which mainly eat sponges . Most animals rely on biomass and bioenergy produced by plants and phytoplanktons (collectively called producers ) through photosynthesis . Herbivores, as primary consumers , eat
6600-519: The meaning of the related term "nature" has widened (see also History below). In antiquity , "natural history" covered essentially anything connected with nature , or used materials drawn from nature, such as Pliny the Elder 's encyclopedia of this title , published c. 77 to 79 AD , which covers astronomy , geography , humans and their technology , medicine , and superstition , as well as animals and plants. Medieval European academics considered knowledge to have two main divisions:
6700-747: The most extreme cold deserts of continental Antarctica . The blue whale ( Balaenoptera musculus ) is the largest animal that has ever lived, weighing up to 190 tonnes and measuring up to 33.6 metres (110 ft) long. The largest extant terrestrial animal is the African bush elephant ( Loxodonta africana ), weighing up to 12.25 tonnes and measuring up to 10.67 metres (35.0 ft) long. The largest terrestrial animals that ever lived were titanosaur sauropod dinosaurs such as Argentinosaurus , which may have weighed as much as 73 tonnes, and Supersaurus which may have reached 39 metres. Several animals are microscopic; some Myxozoa ( obligate parasites within
6800-414: The natural world (the "system of nature") by dividing it into the animal kingdom ( Regnum animale ), the plant kingdom ( Regnum vegetabile ) and the " mineral kingdom " ( Regnum lapideum ) each of which he further divided into classes, orders, genera and species, with [generic] characters, [specific] differences, synonyms, and places of occurrence. The tenth edition of this book in 1758 has been adopted as
6900-620: The oldest animal phylum and forming a sister clade to all other animals. Despite their morphological dissimilarity with all other animals, genetic evidence suggests sponges may be more closely related to other animals than the comb jellies are. Sponges lack the complex organisation found in most other animal phyla; their cells are differentiated, but in most cases not organised into distinct tissues, unlike all other animals. They typically feed by drawing in water through pores, filtering out small particles of food. The comb jellies and Cnidaria are radially symmetric and have digestive chambers with
7000-528: The origins of animals to unicellular ancestors, providing the external phylogeny shown in the cladogram. Uncertainty of relationships is indicated with dashed lines. Holomycota (inc. fungi) [REDACTED] Ichthyosporea [REDACTED] Pluriformea [REDACTED] Filasterea [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The most basal animals, the Porifera , Ctenophora , Cnidaria , and Placozoa , have body plans that lack bilateral symmetry . Their relationships have been disputed, as
7100-400: The plant are the root (radix), the leafy shoot (herba) and the organs of reproduction (fructificatio), that the leafy shoot consists of the stem (truncus), the leaves (folia), accessory parts (fulcra, according to § 84 stipules, bracts, spines, prickles, tendrils, glands and hairs) and hibernating organs (hibernacula, according to § 85 bulbs and buds), and that the organs of reproduction comprise
7200-518: The plant material directly to digest and absorb the nutrients, while carnivores and other animals on higher trophic levels indirectly acquire the nutrients by eating the herbivores or other animals that have eaten the herbivores. Animals oxidise carbohydrates , lipids , proteins and other biomolecules, which allows the animal to grow and to sustain basal metabolism and fuel other biological processes such as locomotion . Some benthic animals living close to hydrothermal vents and cold seeps on
7300-492: The principles of Aristotelian logic by which arranging subjects into classes is classification; distinguishing divisions of classes is logical division. The group to be divided is the genus; the parts into which it is divided are the species. The terms genus and species acquired their specialized biological usage from Linnaeus's predecessors, in particular Ray and Tournefort . There was also the question of whether plants should a) be put together or separated because they conform to
7400-517: The replication of descriptions, and the importance of an agreed way of presenting, publishing and applying plant names. From about 1730 when Linnaeus was in his early twenties and still in Uppsala, Sweden, he planned a listing all the genera and species of plants known to western science in his day. Before this could be achieved he needed to establish the principles of classification and nomenclature on which these works were to be based. We can never hope for
7500-590: The same name; no universally agreed mechanisms. Genera Plantarum ran to five editions, the first in 1737 containing short descriptions of the 935 plant genera known at that time. Observing his own principle to keep generic names as short, euphonious, distinctive and memorable as possible he rejected many names that had gone before, including those of his fellow botanists which was not popular. In their place he used names that commemorated patrons, friends and fellow botanists as well as many names taken from Greek and Roman mythology. Linnaeus's system of classification follows
7600-1112: The sister group to all other animals could be the Porifera or the Ctenophora, both of which lack Hox genes , important for body plan development . Eumetazoa , a clade which contains Ctenophora and ParaHoxozoa , has been proposed as a sister group to Porifera . A competing hypothesis is the Benthozoa clade, which would consist of Porifera and ParaHoxozoa as a sister group of Ctenophora . In 2023, Darrin Schultz and colleagues studied ancient gene linkages to show that ctenophores are most likely sister to all other animals. Ctenophora [REDACTED] Porifera [REDACTED] Xenacoelomorpha [REDACTED] Ambulacraria [REDACTED] Chordata [REDACTED] Ecdysozoa [REDACTED] Spiralia [REDACTED] Placozoa [REDACTED] Cnidaria [REDACTED] A variant phylogeny, from Kapli and colleagues (2021), proposes
7700-407: The smaller, motile gametes are spermatozoa and the larger, non-motile gametes are ova . These fuse to form zygotes , which develop via mitosis into a hollow sphere, called a blastula. In sponges, blastula larvae swim to a new location, attach to the seabed, and develop into a new sponge. In most other groups, the blastula undergoes more complicated rearrangement. It first invaginates to form
7800-474: The sponges and placozoans —animal bodies are differentiated into tissues . These include muscles , which enable locomotion, and nerve tissues , which transmit signals and coordinate the body. Typically, there is also an internal digestive chamber with either one opening (in Ctenophora, Cnidaria, and flatworms) or two openings (in most bilaterians). Nearly all animals make use of some form of sexual reproduction. They produce haploid gametes by meiosis ;
7900-413: The starting point for zoological nomenclature . The first edition of 1735 was just eleven pages long, but this expanded with further editions until the final thirteenth edition of 1767 had reached over 3000 pages. In the early eighteenth century colonial expansion and exploration created a demand for the description of thousands of new organisms. This highlighted difficulties in communication about plants,
8000-453: The starting point for the scientific names of plants effectively dates back to the list of species enumerated in Linnaeus's Species Plantarum , ed. 1, published 1 May 1753. The Species Plantarum was, for European scientists, a comprehensive global Flora for its day. Linnaeus had learned plant names as short descriptive phrases (polynomials) known as nomina specifica . Each time a new species
8100-546: The study of animals and Plants—of organisms. ... I like to think, then, of natural history as the study of life at the level of the individual—of what plants and animals do, how they react to each other and their environment, how they are organized into larger groupings like populations and communities" and this more recent definition by D.S. Wilcove and T. Eisner: "The close observation of organisms—their origins, their evolution, their behavior, and their relationships with other species". This focus on organisms in their environment
8200-465: The system of the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus . The British historian of Chinese science Joseph Needham calls Li Shizhen "the 'uncrowned king' of Chinese naturalists", and his Bencao gangmu "undoubtedly the greatest scientific achievement of the Ming". His works translated to many languages direct or influence many scholars and researchers. A significant contribution to English natural history
8300-464: The theory and practice of any kind of classification. Finally, Linnaean scholar William T. Stearn has summarised Linnaeus's contribution to biology as follows: By the introduction of his binomial system of nomenclature Linnaeus gave plants and animals an essentially Latin nomenclature like vernacular nomenclature in style but linked to published, and hence relatively stable and verifiable, scientific concepts and thus suitable for international use. This
8400-467: The total number of nematode species include 10,000–20,000; 500,000; 10 million; and 100 million. Using patterns within the taxonomic hierarchy, the total number of animal species—including those not yet described—was calculated to be about 7.77 million in 2011. 3,000–6,500 4,000–25,000 Evidence of animals is found as long ago as the Cryogenian period. 24-Isopropylcholestane (24-ipc) has been found in rocks from roughly 650 million years ago; it
8500-493: The vast majority of bilaterians belong to two large superphyla : the protostomes , which includes organisms such as arthropods , molluscs , flatworms , annelids and nematodes ; and the deuterostomes , which include echinoderms , hemichordates and chordates , the latter of which contains the vertebrates . The much smaller basal phylum Xenacoelomorpha have an uncertain position within Bilateria. Animals first appear in
8600-475: The world works by providing the empirical foundation of natural sciences, and it contributes directly and indirectly to human emotional and physical health, thereby fostering healthier human communities. It also serves as the basis for all conservation efforts, with natural history both informing the science and inspiring the values that drive these. As a precursor to Western science , natural history began with Aristotle and other ancient philosophers who analyzed
8700-664: The world's large natural history collections, such as the Natural History Museum, London , and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Three of the greatest English naturalists of the 19th century, Henry Walter Bates , Charles Darwin , and Alfred Russel Wallace —who knew each other—each made natural history travels that took years, collected thousands of specimens, many of them new to science, and by their writings both advanced knowledge of "remote" parts of
8800-564: The world. The plurality of definitions for this field has been recognized as both a weakness and a strength, and a range of definitions has recently been offered by practitioners in a recent collection of views on natural history. Prior to the advent of Western science humans were engaged and highly competent in indigenous ways of understanding the more-than-human world that are now referred to as traditional ecological knowledge . 21st century definitions of natural history are inclusive of this understanding, such as this by Thomas Fleischner of
8900-777: The world—the Amazon basin , the Galápagos Islands , and the Indonesian Archipelago , among others—and in so doing helped to transform biology from a descriptive to a theory-based science. The understanding of "Nature" as "an organism and not as a mechanism" can be traced to the writings of Alexander von Humboldt (Prussia, 1769–1859). Humboldt's copious writings and research were seminal influences for Charles Darwin, Simón Bolívar , Henry David Thoreau , Ernst Haeckel , and John Muir . Natural history museums , which evolved from cabinets of curiosities , played an important role in
9000-785: Was basically static through the Middle Ages in Europe—although in the Arabic and Oriental world, it proceeded at a much brisker pace. From the 13th century, the work of Aristotle was adapted rather rigidly into Christian philosophy , particularly by Thomas Aquinas , forming the basis for natural theology . During the Renaissance, scholars (herbalists and humanists, particularly) returned to direct observation of plants and animals for natural history, and many began to accumulate large collections of exotic specimens and unusual monsters . Leonhart Fuchs
9100-418: Was described the diagnostic phrase-names had to be adjusted, and lists of names, especially those including synonyms (alternative names for the same plant) became extremely unwieldy. Linnaeus's solution was to associate with the generic name an additional single word, what he termed the nomen triviale (which he first introduced in the Philosophia Botanica ), to designate a species. Linnaeus emphasized that this
9200-855: Was enthralled by these collections and prepared a detailed systematic catalogue of the plants in the garden, which he published in 1738 as Hortus Cliffortianus ("in honour of Clifford's garden". It was during this exceptionally productive period of his life that he published the works that were to lay the foundations for biological nomenclature. These were Fundamenta Botanica ("Foundations of botany", 1736), Bibliotheca Botanica ("Botanical bibliography", 1736), and Critica Botanica ("Critique of botany", 1737). He soon put his theoretical ideas into practice in his Genera Plantarum ("Genera of plants", 1737), Flora Lapponica ("Flora of Lapland", 1737), Classes Plantarum ("Plant classes", 1738), and Hortus Cliffortianus (1738). The ideas he explored in these works were revised until, in 1751, his developed thinking
9300-496: Was finally published as Philosophia Botanica ("Science of botany"), released simultaneously in Stockholm and Amsterdam. With the foundations of plant nomenclature and classification now in place Linnaeus then set about the monumental task of describing all the plants known in his day (about 5,900 species) and, with the publication of Species Plantarum in 1753, his ambitions of the 1730s were finally accomplished. Species Plantarum
9400-449: Was his most acclaimed work and a summary of all his botanical knowledge. Here was a global Flora that codified the usage of morphological terminology, presented a bibliography of all the pre-Linnaean botanical literature of scientific importance, and first applied binomials to the plant kingdom as a whole. It presented his new 'sexual system' of plant classification and became the starting point for scientific botanical nomenclature for 6000 of
9500-454: Was his most important contribution to biology. Full bibliographic details for Philosophia Botanica including exact dates of publication, pagination, editions, facsimiles, brief outline of contents, location of copies, secondary sources, translations, reprints, manuscripts, travelogues, and commentaries are given in Stafleu and Cowan's Taxonomic Literature . Naturalist Natural history
9600-402: Was made by parson-naturalists such as Gilbert White , William Kirby , John George Wood , and John Ray , who wrote about plants, animals, and other aspects of nature. Many of these men wrote about nature to make the natural theology argument for the existence or goodness of God. Since early modern times, however, a great number of women made contributions to natural history, particularly in
9700-405: Was one of the three founding fathers of botany, along with Otto Brunfels and Hieronymus Bock . Other important contributors to the field were Valerius Cordus , Konrad Gesner ( Historiae animalium ), Frederik Ruysch , and Gaspard Bauhin . The rapid increase in the number of known organisms prompted many attempts at classifying and organizing species into taxonomic groups , culminating in
9800-548: Was scholastic. He excelled in logic, "... which was almost certainly the Aristotelian and Thomistic logic generally taught in secondary schools all over Europe": Linnaeus's methods were based on philosophical principles and logical a priori assumptions which gradually lost their relevance to the natural sciences during the eighteenth century. Even so, the direct results of his work were salutary: descriptions were standardised, ranks fixed, names given according to precise rules and
9900-519: Was simply a matter of convenience, it was not to replace the diagnostic nomen specificum . But over time the nomen triviale became the "real" name and the nomen specificum became the Latin "diagnosis" that must, according to the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature , accompany the description of all new plant species: it was that part of the plant description distinguishing that particular species from all others. Linnaeus did not invent
10000-444: Was this work, with its dogmatic, often amusing and provocative statements, that was to spread his ideas and enthrall intellects of the stature of Goethe . He was, however, dismissive of botanical work other than taxonomy and presented his principles as dogma rather than reasoned argument. These works established ground rules in a field which, at this time, had only "gentlemen's agreements". Conventions such as: no two genera should have
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