\[ **BT: [[eukaryotes]]** ] --- # animals Like [[plants]] and [[fungi]], members of the **Animalia** **domain** are [[eukaryotes|eukaryotic]], multicellular, and oxygen-breathing.[^1] Unlike [[plants]], however, animals cannot produce their own food.[^2] Animals reproduce sexually.[^3] They grow ‘from a hollow sphere of cells, the blastula, during embryonic development’.[^4] > ‘Animals form a clade, meaning that they arose from a single common ancestor.’[^5] --- ## etymology of ‘animal’ The word *animal*, in [[English language|English]], comes from the [[society#Latin language|Latin]] noun *animal* (of the same meaning). The Latin noun, meanwhile, is derived from *animalis* (lit. ‘having breath or [[religion#existence of the soul|soul]]’).[^6] --- ## classification of animals | Phlyum | Colloquial | | ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Annelida | annelids (segmented worms) | | [[arthropods\|Arthropoda (Phylum)]] | arthropods | | Bryozoa | moss animals | | [[chordates\|Chordata (Phylum)]] | chordates | | Cnidaria | cnidarians (jellyfish, hydroids, sea anemones, corals, (some) marine parasites) | | Echinodermata | echinoderms (starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, sea cucumbers) | | [[molluscs\|Mollusca (Phlyum)]] | molluscs | | Nematoda | nematodes (roundworms) | | Nemertea | ribbon worms | | Platyhelminthes | flatworms | | Porifera | sea sponges | | Rotifera | wheel animals (wheel animalcules) | | Tardigradia | tardigrades (water bears/moss piglets) | [^7] - **NT:** - [[arthropods]] - [[chordates]] - [[molluscs]] --- ## animal behaviour (ethnology) ### sexual behaviour in animals #### same-sex sexual behaviour in animals ##### examples of same-sex sexual behaviour in animals [[Male crickets frequently court each other; this includes the courtship song, courtship posturing, and mounting one another.]][^8] - see: [[arthropods#*Teleogryllus oceanicus* (Australian field cricket)|Australian field cricket]] [[Smaller, more mobile slipper limpet (Crepidula fornicata) males join aggregations of larger animals to permanently associate and mate with. When given a choice, a substantial minority of males choose to associate with other males.]][^6] - see: [[molluscs#Crepidula fornicata (common slipper limpet)|common slipper limpet]] --- ## animal–human relationships - see also: - [[Pleistocene#wolf domestication|wolf domestication]] [^1]: ‘Animal’, Wikipedia, last edited 1 January 2026, 20:13 (UTC), <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal>. [^2]: ‘Animal’, Wikipedia, last edited 1 January 2026, 20:13 (UTC). [^3]: ‘Animal’, Wikipedia, last edited 1 January 2026, 20:13 (UTC). [^4]: ‘Animal’, Wikipedia, last edited 1 January 2026, 20:13 (UTC). [^5]: ‘Animal’, Wikipedia, last edited 1 January 2026, 20:13 (UTC. [^6]: ‘Animal’, Wikipedia, last edited 1 January 2026, 20:13 (UTC). [^7]: ‘Animal’, Wikipedia, last edited 1 January 2026, 20:13 (UTC). [^8]: Julia D. Monk et al., ‘[[Monk et al, ‘An Alternative Hypothesis for the Evolution of Same-Sex Sexual Behaviour in Animals’, 2019|An Alternative Hypothesis for the Evolution of Same-Sex Sexual Behaviour in Animals]]’, *Nature Ecology & Evolution*, vol. 3, no. 2 (2019), p. 1625, <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-1019-7>.’