Animals are living, thinking and feeling beings.
An animal is a living being that can move under its own power. Generally, the name includes members of the kingdom known as Animalia .
There are various characteristics shared by most animals, even with their differences. Animals ingest their food , develop sexual reproduction and absorb oxygen through respiration. These are just some basic characteristics but, of course, animals can be very different from each other.
The animal according to its diet
Although animals ingest their food (and do not absorb it, unlike other living beings), they can be differentiated according to the type of diet. There are carnivorous animals (that eat the meat of other animals), herbivores (that eat plant species) and omnivores (they eat meat and plants).
On the other hand, although the members of the kingdom Animalia breathe and consume oxygen, some do so on the earth's surface and others under water. With these details, we can see how the group of animals is very broad and includes the most diverse species, from elephants to sharks, including rats, owls and mosquitoes.
The case of human beings
The human being ( Homo sapiens ) is included within the kingdom Animalia . To establish a more precise definition, the name animals is usually used to refer to the rest of the species, which many consider irrational.
When a person is described as an animal, it is generally meant to express that the individual in question is uncivilized, uncultured and has bestial behavior , which demonstrates the contempt that human beings tend to feel for the rest of the species. . For example: “Rafael is an animal, he always wants to solve his problems with blows.”
Animal, as an adjective , can also be used to name someone with extraordinary characteristics : “Lionel Messi once again showed that he is an animal and scored, again, four goals in the match.”
False myths about animals
Lemmings commit suicide
This myth gained a lot of strength thanks to the popularity of the video game titled "Lemmings", in which the player's mission was to do everything possible to avoid death, towards which they marched without apparent concern. It is believed that the origin of this false statement lies in a Walt Disney documentary called "White Wilderness", published in 1958, although half a century earlier the supposed suicidal behavior of lemmings was mentioned in a children's encyclopedia in the United Kingdom.
The mouse is an animal.
Mice love cheese
Although cartoons and many animated films, or even those with real actors, tirelessly repeat that mice are addicted to cheese , in reality they prefer foods such as fruit or grain, which have a certain concentration. of sugar. As if this were not enough, given their keen sense of smell, the intense smell of cheese is usually repellent to them.
Fish don't have good memories
It is common to hear that fish can only maintain a memory for less than 5 seconds, although this is not true: according to some studies, their memory can last several months.
Animals do not think or feel
Anyone who has lived with an animal, such as a dog or a cat, and who has given it space to develop healthily, without subjecting it to training techniques, knows that there is nothing further from the truth than the statement that places us as the only rational beings capable of feeling affection. Other animals have their own will, they make decisions, they learn from their experience , they cross all imaginable barriers to understand us and make themselves understood, and they express more love to us than we generally know how to return.