How Are Animals

Classified According

to Body Parts?

Animals can be classified according to how they use

their body parts for moving and for getting food. Their

body parts for movement are adapted to their habitat

or the place where they live. Their habitat includes

land, water, and trees.

• Animals that use their legs

and feet and other body parts

for walking, running, or

crawling on land are called

terrestrial animals or

animals that live on land.

An aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or

invertebrate, which lives in the water for most or

all of its lifetime. Many insects such as mosquitoes,

mayflies, dragonflies and caddis flies have aquatic

larvae, with winged adults.

• Animals that move

by swimming in the

water are called

aquatic animals.

Arboreal animals are creatures who spend the majority of their

lives in trees. They eat, sleep and play in the tree canopy. There

are thousands of species that live in trees, including

monkeys, koalas, possums, sloths, various rodents, parrots,

chameleons, geckos, tree snakes and a variety of insects.

• Some animals move by

flying and climbing on

trees. They also crawl

on trunk and leaves of

trees. They are called

arboreal animals.

Classification of

Animals According to

Body Parts for Food

getting and the Food

They Eat

Animals can be similar or different in the body parts for food getting.

The structure of their body parts is adapted to the food they eat.

herbivores

• Animals like carabao,

goat , and rabbit use their

mouth with flat teeth for

eating. They feed on

plants. Animals that eat

plants are called

herbivores.

carnivores • Some animals like lion,

tiger, and crocodile use

their mouth with sharp

teeth for tearing meat as

their food. Animals that

eat only meat for food

are called carnivores.

omnivores

• Some animals like

chicken and cat eat

foods that come from

both plants and

animals. They are

called omnivores.

Some animals have special parts

for food getting like the beak or

bill of the parrot, tongue of the

frog, fang of the snakes,

tentacles of the octopus, trunk

of the elephant, and proboscis of

the butterfly.