First, the concept of animals.
Animals are a large group of multicellular eukaryotes, known as the animal kingdom. Generally, inorganic substances cannot synthesize organic substances, and only organic substances (plants, animals or microorganisms) can be used as food, so it has different morphological structure and physiological functions from plants to carry out life activities such as feeding, digestion, absorption, breathing, circulation, excretion, feeling, exercise and reproduction. Zoology classifies animals with the same or similar characteristics into the same category according to their shapes, internal body structures, characteristics of embryonic development, physiological habits and geographical environment, and becomes chordates and invertebrates.
Animals can be divided into aquatic animals and terrestrial animals according to whether they are aquatic or terrestrial; According to whether there are feathers, they can be divided into feathered animals and featherless animals. In addition to the above two features, we can also use other features to classify.
Animals also have a variety of classification methods. By dissecting different animals, we can find that some animals have thorns, while others have no thorns. We can divide all animals into vertebrates and invertebrates according to whether they have backbones or not.
Note: people also belong to animals, and they are advanced animals.
The history of the animal kingdom is a long process of animal origin, differentiation and evolution. It is a process from single cell to multi-cell, from invertebrate to vertebrate, from low level to high level, from simple to complex. The earliest single-celled protozoa evolved into multicellular invertebrates, and gradually appeared in the phylum Sponge, Coelenterata, Platforms, Newtonian, Linear, Annelida, Mollusca, Arthropod and Echinoderm. Vertebrates evolved from echinoderms without spines. The earliest vertebrate was cirrhosis, and the upper and lower jaws appeared in the evolution process, from aquatic to terrestrial. Amphibians were the first vertebrates to land. Although amphibians have been able to go ashore, they still have not completely got rid of the shackles of the water environment. They must lay eggs and breed in the water to spend their childhood. From primitive amphibians to reptiles. Reptiles can lay eggs and hatch on land, completely get rid of dependence on water and become real terrestrial animals. Reptiles and their predecessors belong to warm-blooded animals, and their bodies will become cold and stiff. At this time, they have to stop their activities and enter a dormant state. Then reptiles evolved into birds, into warm-blooded animals, and finally evolved into viviparous mammals, without entering a dormant state, and humans are the most advanced animals among mammals.
Two. Animal counting
Squirrel monkey, you don't know, do you? Its tail is long, its mouth is black, it runs faster than a rabbit, and its body is small and lovely. We want to eat it as soon as we see it. It likes bananas best. Do you know why it is called squirrel monkey? Because it can jump up and down on a house or a tree like a squirrel. Its tail is longer than that of a squirrel. Have you ever seen an animal called Xiang pig? Besides Xiang pig, it is also called "mini pig". Its nose and four feet are white, and its body is black. Do you know why it is called Xiang pig? Because of its tender meat and no fishy smell, it is called Xiang pig. Its body is short and small, short and lovely.
There are many interesting animals in our life, such as the Yorkshire Terrier, the smallest dog in the world, which is not as big as your palm. Small as it is, it is pleasing to the eye. Dolphins are the smartest animals in the world and can learn many difficult movements. They are good friends of mankind. Squirrels, as the name implies, are mice that love to eat pine nuts. Panda, a national first-class protected animal. So slow, so cute.
Reptiles are the most diverse animals except insects on the earth at present. Among them are turtles, crocodiles, lizards, geckos, chameleons, snakes and so on. And the habits of these animals are quite different. Some even belong to a class of animals, and their habits are quite different. For example, turtles can live without water at all, and green turtles will die without water if they live on land for a long time. For example, some lizards live in a humid and rainy climate in the tropical rain forest, while others can adapt to the high temperature and drought in the desert.
Reptiles are the earliest vertebrates that really got rid of the dependence on water and conquered the land, and can adapt to various land living environments. Reptiles have also ruled the land for the longest time. The Mesozoic, when they ruled the earth, was also the most striking era in the whole biological history of the earth. At that time, reptiles not only ruled the land, but also ruled the ocean and sky. No other creature on earth has such a glorious history. Although it is no longer the era of reptiles, most reptiles have been extinct, and only a few have survived, but in terms of species, reptiles are still a very prosperous group, second only to birds and terrestrial vertebrates. It's hard to say how many kinds of reptiles there are now. There may be thousands of different statistics, and new species are still being identified. Generally speaking, there should be nearly 8,000 kinds of reptiles now. Because of getting rid of the dependence on water, the distribution of reptiles is greatly affected by temperature and less affected by humidity. Most of the existing reptiles are distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, with few in temperate and cold regions. Only a few species can reach the Arctic Circle or distribute in the mountains, while in the tropics, whether in wet or dry areas, species are very rich. According to the number and position of temporal foramen on the skull, reptiles are traditionally divided into four categories. This classification may not correctly reflect the genetic relationship between them, but it is convenient to use. Therefore, although there are many new classification schemes, this traditional classification is still often used. Skulls without temporal foramen are divided into imperforate subclasses, representing the primitive types of reptiles; There is a subtemporal foramen on each side of the skull, which is divided into inferior foramen, a reptile that evolved into a mammal; There is a supratemporal foramen on each side of the skull, which is divided into foramen regulation subclass and is a marine reptile; There are two temporal foramen on each side of the skull, which are divided into two foramen subclasses. They are the main reptiles and evolved into birds. Diptera is further divided into primitive ichthyosaurs and progressive ichthyosaurs (or suborders). All the existing reptiles belong to the suborder Lepidoptera, except the tortoise, which belongs to the imperforate subclass, and the crocodile belongs to the suborder Lepidoptera. Among the existing reptiles, tortoises are divided into tortoises, crocodiles are divided into crocodiles, and there are two opinions on the suborder Scale. One opinion is that it is divided into beaked heads and scales, which are further divided into three suborders: lizards, earthworms and snakes, while lizards and snakes are divided into several suborders or superfamilies respectively. Another opinion is to upgrade lizards, earthworms and snakes to independent orders, and then upgrade three suborders. There are also different opinions on the classification of existing reptiles. Some families are divided into several different families by other experts, and it is controversial which suborder some families belong to. Even the Latin names of these orders and families are written differently. This paper mainly introduces the classification of existing reptiles, and only mentions prehistoric reptiles.
Some people mistakenly think that frogs, sheep, cows and horses are reptiles, which is wrong. Frogs are amphibians, while sheep, cows and horses are mammals. Don't be confused!
Interesting animals and more are just waiting for us to discover!
Fourth, the relationship between animals and us.
.. understanding biodiversity is to better protect and make rational use of biodiversity. Protecting biodiversity is an important content of sustainable development. Animals and we are interdependent, but due to human factors such as deforestation, deforestation, hunting and harsh natural environment, many wild animals are about to lose their homes. Their number is decreasing day by day and they are listed as rare animals and countries.
List of protected animals, introducing a national first-class protected animal.
Golden monkey: vertebrates, mammals, primates, colobus monkeys. The body length is about 70 cm and the tail length is about equal to or longer than the body length. Big nose, upturned. Thick lips, no cheek pouch. The hair on the back is long and shiny, and the color is cyan. The top of the head, neck, shoulders, upper arms, back and tail are gray-black, and the head, neck, ventral trunk and inner limbs are brown. Soft hair is a special product of our country, and it is a precious animal that lives in high mountains and dense forests. Feed on wild fruits, buds, bamboo shoots and bryophytes. * * * There are 3 species, all of which have been listed as national first-class protected animals. The main differences are as follows: the golden monkey's face is sky blue, its sides, chest and hind legs are golden yellow, distributed in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi, and its sides are white, distributed in Yunnan, Sichuan and eastern Tibet; There are 1 oval white hair areas between the shoulders of Guizhou golden monkey, which are distributed between Guizhou and Sichuan.
Giant panda: It is an ancient animal, which is called "living fossil" by zoologists. Its contemporaries, such as the saber-toothed tiger, have long been extinct and become fossils. The giant panda is distributed in northern Sichuan, Shaanxi and southern Gansu, and it is a protected animal in China. Giant pandas, also known as pandas, are mammals. They are fat, like bears, but slightly smaller and have short tails. Eyes, ears, front and rear limbs and shoulders are black, and the rest are white. Thick and shiny, cold-resistant. I like to eat bamboo leaves and bamboo shoots. Bamboo in the living area of giant pandas once blossomed and died in a large area, threatening the survival of giant pandas. The whole world is very concerned about the rescue and transfer of the rare animal giant panda.
Red-crowned crane: Also known as crane, it is a precious bird in the world. Crane is a famous rare bird in China, belonging to amphibian, crane order and crane family. There are 15 kinds of cranes in the world. There are 9 kinds of * * * in China, accounting for more than half. Among many kinds of cranes, the red-crowned crane with beautiful figure, loud singing, light dance steps, white feathers and bright red top is the most precious. Red-crowned cranes have two hometowns in China. Every year from the northeast of China to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in late June, 65438+ 10, and in late March of the following year, they fly back to their hometown in groups to breed offspring. Red-crowned cranes inhabit swamps of reeds and other weeds and feed on buds and seeds of aquatic plants, aquatic insects, mollusks and fish. The number of red-crowned cranes is scarce, about 1200 in the world and more than 670 in China. At present, in order to protect red-crowned cranes, nature reserves have been established in Zhalong, Heilongjiang, Xianghai, Jilin and Yancheng, Jiangsu.
Red-crowned crane has high academic value and ornamental value. The graceful red-crowned crane was also used as the design of the 2003 Zhejiang Museum of Natural History students' annual visit card. It looks elegant and unique, with a pair of round bean-like eyes, intense and eye-catching. The idiom "stand out from the crowd" means that they have another unique beauty. Crane occupies an important position in China culture. As early as in the Book of Songs, there was a wonderful description of "When Jiu Hao heard his voice, it was heard in the wild". Since the life span of the red-crowned crane can reach 5060 years, people have painted it with pine trees since ancient times, which is called "Songhe Map" as a symbol of longevity.
Asian elephant: Asian elephant belongs to the elephant family and is the largest land animal in the world. It lives in the tropics, often wandering in valleys, rivers, bamboo forests and broad-leaved mixed forests below the altitude of 1000 meters, and lives in groups, each group has several or dozens of elephants. An adult male elephant is the leader of the group, has no fixed residence, has a wide range of activities and is a staple food. Elephants are very clever, easy to domesticate and have a good memory. In the wild, elephants have self-defense and revenge against provocations that destroy the living environment, hurt their companions and offend their dignity. Elephants give birth to 1 offspring, and their life span is 50-60 years. Elephants usually move in the morning and at night. If the bright moon is in the sky at night, they will also come out to feed. Elephants tend to move unstoppable, with poor eyesight, but good sense of smell and hearing. At present, there are few wild Asian elephants, and there are many domestic elephants and service elephants domesticated in some Southeast Asian countries. Wild elephants in China are only distributed in the border areas of Yunnan Province adjacent to Myanmar and Laos, and the number is very rare. They have been hunted repeatedly, and the harm is very serious.
Snow Leopard: It is a typical carnivore, commonly known as Ai Yebao. It looks like a leopard, and it is slightly smaller. Body length 11.3m, weight about 50kg, tail length1m! The back of the body is light gray with black spots; The chest and abdomen are almost white without markings; His face was spotless, and the black spots on his head were small and dense. The limbs are short and strong, and the front foot is more developed than the back foot. Snow leopards live in pairs and have relatively fixed nests. At night, they concentrate on their nests and prey on animals. Snow leopard is one of the cats with the highest altitude, and it is named because it lives near the snow line all the year round. In Yunnan, it is mainly distributed in Diqing Prefecture. After long-term natural selection, snow leopard has thick fur. They are afraid of wet, dry, hot and cold. It would be too much to let it go down the mountain! Because leopard bones and skins are expensive, and the activity route of snow leopard is relatively fixed and easy to catch, it has been overfished, and its number has dropped sharply, and now it is on the verge of extinction.
Six, multiple-choice questions about animals
(1) In the evening of summer, annoying mosquitoes fly out to suck blood, so do all mosquitoes suck blood? (2)
All mosquitoes suck blood.
B, female mosquitoes only suck blood
Male mosquitoes suck blood (b)
(2) Do you know what animals are called "four unlike"? (1)
First, elk
B. Yak
C. antelope
(3) How much nectar can a bee collect every day? (3)
One, 0.5 kg
b， 10g
C, 0.5g
(4) Who has the longest life among animals? (2)
First, elephants
B, tortoise
C, rhinoceros
(Supplement: Elephant is 70 years old, rhinoceros is over 40 years old, chimpanzee is 40 years old, lion is 30 years old and tortoise is over 700 years old)
Stories about animals: White-eared monkeys escaped from prison, geese redeemed their wives, foxes miscalculated, and ants besieged pythons.
Eight riddles about animals
1, whose name is Niu, can't pull a plow, saying that he has little strength and carries a house. (snail)
2, face like a cat, take off like a bird, work night shift every day, and have high mouse catching skills. (owl)
3, a hero, set tight encirclement, ambush all day, specializing in catching flies. (Spider)
4, saying that birds are not birds, hiding in trees and making phone calls, claiming to know everything, in fact, I don't know at all. (cicada)
5, a girl, it's ridiculous, building a house, leaving no doors and windows. (silkworm)
6, small airship, big eyes, two wings are big and bright, flying east and west, busy, with the ability to eliminate pests. (dragonfly)
7, wearing a black satin robe, the tail is like scissors, the weather is cool to the south, and the weather is warm to spring. (swallowing)
8. Fish is not a fish. It has lived in the sea all its life. It looks like a fountain from a distance and an island from a distance. (whale)
9, although the body is not big, but steel needles are all over the body, even if the enemy shrinks, the tiger will not do it. (hedgehog)
1 0, eight feet, face drum, two scissors to inspire. Born wild and overbearing, he often spits bubbles in his mouth. (crab)
Nine, animal communication behavior
No creature in nature exists in isolation. They always form a small living group. Although some people like to be alone, at least they need contact with the opposite sex during mating. In the process of contact, whether in predation activities or in the process of fighting for spouses, their chirping, touching each other and even the release of some chemicals make them communicate quietly and act in unison. These are inseparable from the communication behavior between animals. The so-called communication means that the individual releases one or more stimulus signals, which causes the accepted individual to have a behavioral response. The signal itself is meaningless, but it can be recognized quickly. More importantly, it represents a series of complex biological attributes, such as gender, age, body shape, hostility or friendliness.
1. Visual communication
In the zoo, tourists are often seen clapping their hands at the male peacocks in the peacock garden. When peacocks hear applause, they will proudly perform for tourists. But peacocks erect beautiful feathers to people, which may be to show love to female peacocks, to demonstrate to similar male peacocks, or to warn people. Its colorful feathers are actually its weapon to show itself and scare the enemy. Peacock is spreading some kind of visual information by showing its tail feathers, but unfortunately, the tourists present mistakenly accepted and passed on another kind of information. There are many forms of visual communication, such as the huge horns on the head of male reindeer on the grassland and the beautiful long mane on the neck of male lion. The appearance characteristics of these animals are all visual signals transmitted to their female counterparts. Frogs are green in the grass, but the detached and detached protective colors often confuse natural enemies or prey by spreading false visual information. The form of visual communication also includes animal body language. Mimicry turned deciduous butterflies into dead leaves and deceived the birds' eyes. When the hounds face their opponents, they put their heads forward, their front legs forward, squat down, push their hind legs to the ground, show their teeth and erect their ears to show the threat to their opponents. In front of the owner, the hound will bow its head and wag its tail to show obedience. When the male bee source woos the female bee butterfly, it will show a rather complicated ceremony: revealing the most beautiful body color, poking water in the direction of the female bee sister's eating with his tail, and the water with the male peak burns a special smell. The moth snail is stimulated by sight, smell and touch at the same time. Visual communication is also the simplest and most direct way of communication for human beings. Whether it's Yang Guifei's smiling back, or Zhang Yide's blowing beard and glaring, lovers' affectionate eyes, hostile glare ... all these reflect the role of visual communication. Visual communication is a very common way of communication in the animal kingdom, which has the advantages of simplicity, accuracy and rapidity. However, this way of communication also has many limitations. In nature, few animals only use visual communication as the main way of communication. They often use visual communication and other communication methods to send or obtain accurate information.
2. Auditory communication
In order to attract the opposite sex and repel the same sex, birds' songs to declare territorial possession and screams to warn predators are all auditory communication. Fade, a resident scientist, recorded the crow's cry. "They took the music player for a ride in the village. By playing the cry of one of the crows, they finally solved the crow problem that puzzled the villagers for a long time. In which the principle of auditory communication is skillfully used. Because of the different pronunciation mechanisms of animals, the wonderful sounds they make are also very different. Mammals rely on their throats, birds rely on sound pipes, insects often rely on the vibration of their wings, and frogs rely on sound sacs to make sounds. Because sound waves can propagate around obstacles, the diverse combination of sound frequencies lays the foundation for the transmission of various information. The same vocal organ can emit a series of sounds with a little adjustment, which is very flexible, so the spread of sound is not limited by day and night. However, the spread of sound is instantaneous and fleeting.
Of course, in the animal world, some animals rely on ultrasound to communicate and hunt, such as mullet and dolphin, which we are familiar with, and they use ultrasound to communicate.
3. Chemical communication
As the saying goes, "the mouse is short-sighted." This is because the visual ability of mice is very low, and they can only reach the distance of 12 cm. The hearing of mice is only about 70 kilohertz, and a newspaper is enough to hinder the reception of auditory signals. The mouse's activity environment is very complicated, which easily hinders its poor eyesight. What does the mouse communicate through? This is another way of communication: chemical communication. Chemical communication means that animals influence or control the behavior of other animals by releasing some chemicals. Chemical communication sometimes affects the activities of the whole animal population, and even regulates the whole population. These chemicals are called pheromones. It has been reported that pheromone may be the most primitive communication signal and the only communication method between prokaryotes such as cyanobacteria and bacteria. The release of chemicals by animals will not only affect the behavior of other individuals, but also affect physiology. For example, the queen bee secretes a compound called "royal jelly", which can inhibit the development of worker bees' ovaries. In addition, chemical communication is an important means to maintain group order. In the ant colony, the queen can't feed herself, but it can secrete a pheromone to lure the worker ants and make them actively feed the queen. Ants' eggs and larvae can also secrete a substance. The life of ant larvae needs certain conditions. When the humidity drops, they stop secreting pheromones, and the worker ants will quickly move them to a humid place, so that the larvae can secrete chemicals that are "delicious food" for the worker ants again. Speaking of chemical communication, it seems to defend the uncivilized behavior of dogs defecating everywhere. In fact, this is not an uncivilized performance of dogs, but a way to exercise their own chemical communication. Dogs often don't excrete everywhere because their bladders are full. In fact, they just announced to other similar people that this is my place. This is a way to seize territory by relying on chemicals. When the dog touches the ground with three legs and raises one hind leg to pee on the fire hydrant on the road, it means that it has taken the fire hydrant as its own with the smell of urine. The real urination posture of a dog is to lie flat on all fours and squat on the ground.
4. Tactile communication
Tactile communication is also a quite common way of communication. For animals with limited visual ability or living in an environment where visual communication cannot be used, tactile communication is often an important way to transmit information. Some fish living in deep-sea areas have poor eyesight due to poor light, but they often have very developed fins and tentacles covered with sensitive nerves. When swimming in the water, they can sense the change of water flow, find and catch prey and receive signals. Tactile communication can also spread information through other objects in the form of vibration or fluctuation. Male spiders have to go online to find a mate in order to mate. Before surfing the internet, male spiders will make a similar "plucking the strings" action, plucking the wires and making a certain vibration. Female spiders can judge whether they are prey or courtship objects.
Not only lower animals rely on tactile communication, but also tactile communication is quite common and important in higher animals. In the social group of monkeys, monkeys often comb each other's hair. Among them, there are female monkeys out of pity for the young monkeys, flattering the monkey king, and of course, there are also arrogant teasing of the monkey king. What deserves our attention here is that if the newborn monkey is taken away from its mother and raised by a special robot, even if it is healthy, its reaction ability and intelligence are lower than normal monkeys. If people often touch or hug it, the situation will be greatly improved. It is not difficult to see from here that touching and cuddling the little monkey often can improve its reaction and make it more lively when it is young. For human beings, it is more beneficial for children's growth and development for parents to give them more caresses when they are young than to deal with strollers and teddy bears all day.
5. Telecommunications
After discovering America, many adventurers went there to look for their dream gold. A Spanish expedition led by local Indians entered a low-lying area in the upper reaches of the Amazon River, where there were large and small ponds everywhere. The Indians stopped, and the white people didn't understand that there could be no piranhas here, and of course there could be no crocodiles and pythons. A white man stepped forward to set an example for the Indians, but he didn't go far. He let out a cry and fell on his back. Several companions went to save him and fell into the pond. It was a long time before other companions rescued them. After several hours, these people recovered from their stiff state.
What exactly attacked them? It turns out that in a muddy pond in the tropics, there is a special kind of fish-electric eel, which relies on surface discharge to communicate and prey on each other. The explorers were knocked down by the current released by the electric eel in the pond. The voltage they cast can often reach 600 volts. In nature, not only electric eels and circuits use the strong current generated by the body's power generation organs to hunt for food, but catfish and crocodiles in deep water can also rely on body surface sensors for information exchange between individuals.
The communication behavior of animals evolved through natural selection, and each communication behavior often has a special function and evolution process. This process has experienced many hardships, and in different environments, it has formed a way of communication that adapts to itself.
It can be said that the mode of transmission, environment and some organs are an interconnected network that influences and promotes each other. Under the interaction, they make each other reach a state of coordination. Often, the taller animals are, the more ways they communicate, so that when the environment changes dramatically, they can still exchange information with their companions and tide over the difficulties together. And those creatures who rely on a single communication behavior will completely lose contact with the outside world at this time, and only death will wait for them.
Communication behavior is not only between individuals or groups, but also between cells. Chemical communication and tactile communication are probably the most important two. In the process of cell division, when they touch each other, normal cells will stop dividing, which is called contact inhibition, and it seems to complete some kind of information transmission. Cancer cells do not seem to be affected by this communication and are still growing wildly. Its control and communication behavior need further study. Of course, the communication behavior between cells belongs to the category of cell sociology and is a research hotspot in the field of cell biology at present.