Animal

The world animal means “living being.” There are more than one million kinds of animals. New kinds are always being found. The smallest animal is so tiny that it can only be seen if you look at it though a microscope. The largest animal is a blue whale that grows to be 100 feet (30.48 m) and weighs 300,000 pounds (136,080 kg).
There are six main groups of animals: mammals, birds, fish, insects, reptiles, and amphibians.

Mammals have hair or fur on their bodies. They give birth to babies that feed on mother’s milk. People, dogs, cats, and most larger animals are mammals.
Birds have feathers. Their babies hatch out of hard eggshells.

Most fish have scales all over their bodies. Gills allow them to breathe in the water. Fins help them to swim. Most fish hatch from eggs. Insect have three pairs of legs, and a body divided into three parts. Most insect have wings. They lay eggs.

Reptiles live on both land and in the water. Their bodies have scales. They lay egg on land. Turtles, snakes and lizards are reptiles. Amphibians also live on land and in water.

They lay eggs in the water. Frogs, toads, and salamanders are amphibians.
The animal kingdom is divided into two groups. One group is vertebrates. These are animals with backbones. The second group is invertebrates. These are animals without backbones. Mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have backbones. Insects, worms, starfish, snail and one-celled animals have no backbones.