1. Introduction to Animals
Chapter 12 notes
Introduction to Animals

2. Animal Characteristics
-Is it an animal?
Animal characteristics: depend on other living things for food, digest their food, most animals move from place to place, and they are capable of reproducing.
- Any structure, process, or behavior that helps an organism survive in its environment is an adaptation.
Herbivores- eat only plants( they eat more often and in greater amounts because plants don’t supply as much energy as other types of food.
Carnivores- captures and kill other animals for food.
Omnivores- eat plant and animals.
Detritivores- feed on bits of decaying matter called detritus.
Scavengers- eat only the remains of other animals.

3. Physical and Behavioral Adaptations
Mimcry- adaptation where one animal closely resembles another animal in appearance or behavior.
Camoflage- any markings or coloring that helps an animal hide from other animals.
Some behavioral adaptations are chemical like a skunk spraying or a squid letting out a cloud of ink.
Other behavioral adaptations are physical like an animal running faster, or animals traveling in groups.

4. Animal Classification
Vertebrates- animals with backbones.
Invertebrates- animals without backbones
Symmetry is how the body parts of an animal are arranged.
Radial Symmetry- animals with body parts are arranged in a circle around a center. (Ex. Jellyfish)
Bilateral Symmetry- can be divided into right and left halves that are nearly mirror images of each other. (Ex. Humans).

5. The End of Section 1