Grouping living things

In a nutshell

All living things can put into one of three main groups: animals, plants and microorganisms. They are put into groups according to their similarities and differences. This is known as classification and classification helps scientists identify living things.

Animals

A key feature of animals is that they cannot produce their own food. Animals can then be grouped as either invertebrates and vertebrates. Invertebrates do not have a backbone whereas vertebrates do.

Example

Foxes are vertebrates. Spiders are invertebrates.

Plants

A key feature of plants is that they can produce their own food. Plants can then be grouped as either flowering or non-flowering. Flowering plants have flowers whereas non-flowering plants do not.

Example

Grasses are flowering plants. Algae are non-flowering.

Microorganisms

Microorganisms are very small living things, they can only be seen with a microscope.

Example

Bacteria are microorganisms.