Intro

What makes an animal an animal? It is a simple question but it may not easily be defined. Many people would view that anything that is living is an animal. However, a plant is a living thing, so does that make it an animal? I think that this is an interesting topic to discuss because many people would view different kinds of organisms. Many people may not know what the true definition of an animal is and therefore some people may view one organism as an animal and another person may view as not an animal. I asked the questions what characteristics of an organism make it an animal?

            Results

My probe describes three students at King’s looking a list of organisms which include a cow, a tree, a mushroom, a human, a worm, a tiger, a shark, a starfish, a spider, a snail, a flower, a monkey, a beetle, a whale, a frog, a chicken, mold, and a snake. Matt, a criminal justice major said that everything except a tree, a mushroom, a flower, and mold were all animals because they all had internal organs. Mike an accounting major, said that everything is an animal because everything listed was living. Julio, a political science major, that a cow, a human, a worm, a tiger, a spider, a snail, a monkey, a beetle, a frog, a chicken, and a snake were all animals because they were able to move independently and they were on land.

My Reactions

I was surprised to find out they three students here at King’s could come up with a consensus of what constitutes an animal. Matt’s response made the most sense to me, because he picked all the organisms that I would have picked, but he had a different reason. I was very surprised that Mike would consider all living things to be animals. Most people would not consider plants to be animals. I know I certainly would consider plants to be animals. Julio’s response surprised me because he did not think that anything that lived in sea was not an animal but a mammal. Animals are living things that can move independently and breathe. They are divided into different subgroups known as birds, mammals, reptiles, and insects. Julio did not know that mammals are subgroups of animals, so therefore they are indeed animals. Julio was right however to assume that animals can move independently.  Mike was wrong to think that every living thing was an animal because plants cannot move. An idea to improve our understanding what is an animal and what is not is to see which organism has instinct or some form of cognitive development. Another idea is to place organisms in front of people and ask them if the organism can feel pain.