1. Scientists have a special system to organize plants and animals. They don't want to confuse a dog with a wolf, or a honey bee with a killer bee.

2. Over 2000 years ago ( in the ¨BC¨times) Aristotle developed a system to classify living things. He thought that all things could be placed in either the plant kingdom or animal kingdom. He grouped things based on where they live, how they reproduced, and other characteristics. Eventually, scientists wanted to improve the system because there were many exceptions, like frogs that live on land and in water. Sometimes animals would have a different name depending on what country it was in. They had to make scientific names, similar to how we use SI units for measurement.

3. Kingdom – all living things fall into 6 kingdoms Archaebacteria – prokaryotic, single-celled organisms. Some live in very extreme environments like the deep, deep ocean Eubacteria – prokaryotic, single-celled organisms. Some make their own food, others get it from other organisms Protista – eukaryotic, single and many celled organisms. Some make their own food, others get it from other organisms. Fungi – eukaryotic, single and many celled organisms. All members get their food from other organisms. Plantae – eukaryotic, many celled, all members make their own food. Animalia – eukaryotic, many celled, all members eat plants, animals, or other organisms.

4. Phylum – grouping each kingdom into smaller groups based on similar physical characteristics. There are about 50 different Phylum groups in the Animalia kingdom Class – grouping each phylum into smaller groups. Each animal phylum has anywhere from 1-7 different categories of class in it. Order – classes are separated into orders. Family – orders are separated into families. This DOES NOT mean everyone with the same last name. Genus – a group within a family Species – a genus can have one or more species in it.

5. Before this system was in place, a scientific name could consist of several words. Example : Mentha floribus spicatis, foliis oblongis serratis. This name means, more or less, “a member of the mint genus that has its flowers in a spike arrangement and oblong serrated leaves.” Genus and species might be the most important groupings because this is how all living things get their name. Binomial nomenclature is the scientific term for the two- word name given to every organism. Genus goes first, then species. The names are in Latin and Greek. A domesticated dog is Canis familiaris. A grey wolf is Canis lupus.