A class of their own All about classification why we do it and how it works Introduction Classification is all about sorting things into categories. Usually this involves looking at similarities and differences in objects and deciding which group to put them into. Generally, this is what biologists do when they look at living things. For example, animals that share certain similarities are put together in the same groups. We will look at a few of these groups later on. The system that we use to classify living things today was developed by a man called Carl Von Linné, or Linneaus. He was a Swedish zoologist, botanist and physician who lived in the 18 th Century. Linneaus Have you got a spine? As we re in a Zoo we will be mainly looking at animals. One of the simplest ways to group them is to divide them into those which have a spine (vertebrates) and those that don t (invertebrates). Lar Gibbon Morpho Butterfly Leaf Cutter Ants While you re in the Zoo, find these animals. Tick the ones that are vertebrates. Jaguar Humboldt Penguin Lake Zacapu Salamander Corals
The tree of life. Ever since Linneaus developed his system of classification, scientists have been hard at work trying to catalogue the living things on this planet. So far, Scientists have discovered over 1.9 million living things! This is the tree of life. It shows how all the living things discovered so far relate to each other. Draw a circle around the animal kingdom. Notice that animals make up only a small fraction of the different types of living things found on this planet. About 1,250,000 animal species have been found so far, but many of the other groups are still poorly studied. Some scientists estimate that there could be as many as 30 million species yet to be discovered! There are over 950,000 insect species worldwide - over 22,000 just in the UK! Find out how many animal species are here in Chester Zoo. Answer:
Vertebrate animals We re going to be looking at vertebrate animals in a bit more detail now. There are five groups of vertebrates and each group has its own unique features. Name the 5 groups of vertebrates represented by the Zoo animals in the circles on this page. As you walk around the Zoo fill in this table. You ll need to find 3 animal examples for each set of characteristics in this table. Characteristics Examples of Zoo animals Has hair, breathes using lungs and looks after its young scales, breathes using lungs and lays soft, leathery eggs Has moist skin, can live in and out of water during its life and lays soft, jelly-like eggs overlapping scales, lays eggs and breathes using gills feathers, lays hard eggs and looks after its young
Here is a table of animals. Decide which type of vertebrate they are. For each one give 3 characteristics that it shares with other animals in the same group the first one has been done as an example. Animal Location Type of vertebrate Asian Elephant Near Entrance Mammal Coati African Lungfish Lake Zacapu Salamander By Spectacled Bears Giraffe House Aquarium Characteristics (give 3 for each animal) Has hair Gives birth to live young Looks after young Humboldt s Penguin Tawny Frogmouth Tapir Near Flamingos Between Ark Restaurant and toilets Near Fruit Bat Forest Note: Zoo animals may be taken off display at short notice. It is possible that some of the animals in the table above will not be on show. The Okapi Classification can also reveal how animals are related to each other. The Okapi is a type of mammal, you can see them near the giraffe house here at Chester Zoo. Using the space in this box, name the animal they are most closely related to and describe why. Okapi found here (Congo rainforest)
Aquarium Jaguars & ants Penguins Okapi Tawny Frogmouth Butterfly Journey Chester Zoo map KS3/4 Classification Trail Tapir Coati Zoo Entrance