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organisms.
More than 1 million species of animals have been described so far, and
scientists predict that tens of millions more have yet to be discovered.
Animals are a remarkably diverse group of organisms. They range in size
from blue whales twice the length of a school bus to rotifers smaller than
the period at the end of this sentence. As shown in FIGURE 1.1, some look like
soft tubes, and others have muscular bodies inside hard shells, or soft
tissues over hard internal skeletons. Some animals have many specialized
tissues and organs, and others have no distinct tissues at all.
Animals are found nearly everywhere on Earth, including places where
plants and fungi do not live. They are the dominant herbivores, predators,
and detritivores in most ecosystems. Some walk, burrow, swim, fly, or slide
along on mucus trails in search of food. Others spend their whole adult lives
fixed to a single spot, endlessly straining water to collect microscopic
particles of food.
part of the jointed skeleton that many animals use to move their entire
bodies