Animals and Lifecycles - Types of Animals
Scientists have grouped Earth's animals into 6 types:
- Mammals
- Birds
- Fish
- Reptiles
- Amphibians
- Arthropods
Mammals
A mammal is a warm-blooded animal that drinks milk from its mother when it is a baby. It has hair or fur covering its body.
There are many different mammals, such as cats, dogs, sheep, cows, pigs, horses, goats, mice, alpacas, rabbits, humans and many, many more! Mammals give birth to their young.
Warm-blooded means an animal can keep its body warm even when the air around it is very cold. And the animal’s body temperature, or level of heat, stays about the same most of the time.
Birds
A bird is a warm-blooded animal with wings. Birds lay eggs and are covered in feathers.
Birds come in many different shapes and sizes.
Most birds can fly, but some are flightless which means they can’t fly.
Examples of flightless birds are flamingoes, chickens, emus, ostriches, penguins and kiwis.
Fish
Fish live in the water. They breathe through gills and are covered in scales. Fish lay eggs.
Fish can be found in most bodies of water. They live in ponds, lakes, streams, rivers and oceans.
Did you know there are over 32,000 breeds of fish?!