Cheetah DEFINITION: 1 any living organism, excluding plants and bacteria: most animals can move about independently and have specialized sense organs that enable them to react quickly to stimuli: animals do not have cell walls, nor do they make food by photosynthesis 2 any such organism other than a human being, esp. a mammal or, [...]

Homes Many animals build temporary or permanent homes for themselves and their young. Birds occupy their nests only while they are incubating eggs and feeding the helpless nestling’s A few fish make temporary nests for their young. No animal dwelling has excited more wonder and interest than the lodge built by the beaver. Almost as [...]

Intelligence Most animal activities that appear to indicate intelligence are simply instinctive. The most intelligent animals are the apes and monkeys. Dogs and elephants have been trained to serve humans in many ways. Horses, seals, porpoises, lions, and tigers are often taught to perform in circuses and aquariums. Talking birds, such as parrots, parakeets, and [...]

The Largest Group of Animals The phylum Arthropoda (“jointed foot”) has the largest number of species. In fact, about 90 percent of the million or more species living on the Earth today are arthropods. The insects total more than 800,000 species. Other arthropods include the centipedes and millipedes; the arachnids (spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites); and [...]