Thursday, October 25, 2007

Animals

Animals are a main set of organisms, classified as the empire Metazoa. In general they are multi­cellular, receptive to their surroundings, and provide for by consuming other organisms or parts of them. Their body plan becomes fixed when they develop, generally early on in their growth as embryos, though some feel a process of metamorphosis later on.

The word "animal" comes from the Latin word animal, of which Metazoa is the plural, and is resulting from anima, sense vital breath or soul. In each day colloquial usage, the word regularly refers to non-human animals. The biological meaning of the word refers to all members of the empire Animalia. Therefore, as the word "animal" is used in a biological circumstance, humans are included.

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