Wildlife
Animals
The animal kingdom is estimated to contain about 10 million species. The defining characteristics of an animal include the fact that it is a multicellular organism, that its cell walls are not rigid and that it gets its food by eating other living things, rather than by processes such as photosynthesis. Animals can range from being tiny creatures which are only a collection of a few cells, to giants like the blue whale.
Watch video clips from past programmes (16 clips)
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Mammal success
The Life of Mammals
The secret to mammalian dominance lies in their warm-bloodedness.
The secret to mammalian dominance lies in their warm-bloodedness.
Fish types
Living Planet
Specialised SCUBA allows underwater demonstration of fish differences.
This sequence from the early 1980s shows one of the early instances of underwater presenting. It became possible as a result of the developments in full face plates which allowed Sir David not only to be able to deliver his commentary but to be recorded clearly during a dive.
Thermoregulation
Springwatch
Presenter Chris Packham explains the ways in which animals cope with the great British weather.
Presenter Chris Packham explains the ways in which animals cope with the great British weather.
Super-snails
Journey of Life
The rise of the gas-filled nautiloids gave way to the rolled up shells of ammonites.
The rise of the gas-filled nautiloids gave way to the rolled up shells of ammonites.
Deep surprises
The Blue Planet
The planet's extremes confound the nature of life on earth.
Pompeii worms have been found to thrive at temperatures of up to 80°C around hydrothermal vents, making them the most heat-tolerant complex animal known to science after the tardigrades (or water bears), which are able to survive temperatures over 150°C. In this sequence, a specialised deep sea submersible allowed the audience a privileged view of the inaccessible deep ocean. Stunning images from this relatively unexplored world told the story of the scientific findings made in recent years that have changed the fundamental rules about the nature of life on Earth. (Courtesy of WHOI.)
Distribution
The shading illustrates the diversity of this group - the darker the colour the greater the number of species. Data provided by WWF's Wildfinder.
Explore this group
Vertebrates
Cnidaria
Molluscs
Arthropods
Echinoderms
Segmented worms
Lamp shellsAnimal size range
A comparison of large animal sizes in relation to humans - from the 30m long blue whale to the 5m American crocodile.
Download a poster of the animal kingdom in .pdf format to print out and keep. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required.
About
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently. All animals are also heterotrophs, meaning they must ingest other organisms or their products for sustenance.
Most known animal phyla appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, about 542 million years ago.
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Classification
- Life
- Animals
Video collections
Take a trip through the natural world with our themed collections of video clips from the natural history archive.
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Attenborough's frozen planet
Frozen Planet is Sir David Attenborough's latest exploration into the remote and isolated polar environments.
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What on Earth...? 2009
Watch the year's highlights from the BBC's exploration of the planet's hidden corners and rarest creatures: from the turquoise seas of the South Pacific to the Lost Land of the Volcano.
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Nature's record breakers
Animal kingdom record breakers - how fast can a cheetah run, how heavy is an elephant and what's bigger than a dinosaur? Watch amazing video clips from the BBC archive and uncover the fascinating facts about our smallest primate, the longest stick insect and the most venomous snake.
Elsewhere on the web
- Animal Diversity Web (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu)
- Animalia in the Encyclopedia of Life (eol.org)
- Guide to the animal kingdom (perspective.com)
- Animal (wikipedia.org)
bbc.co.uk navigation
BBC links
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