FAMOUS Edition 2

Science competition Answer these questions to enter the science competition to win a prize. When the questions have been answered cut along the lines and take to A43 / Mr Downing’s room to enter—1st 2 correct answers win. Good Luck!

Which subatomic particles are found in the nucleus of an atom? ……………………………………. What is the longest bone in the human body? ……………………………………. What galaxy is the Earth located in? …………………………………… What is the closest planet to the Sun? …………………………………….

Fallibroome Academy Magazine Of Unbelievable Science

Classification We’ll talk you through how the animal kingdom is organised

Scientist of the month Year 7 —Anna Wilson-Manuhutu Year 8 —Caera Hannah Year 9 —Kirsty Wallis Year 10 —Sam Wood Year 11—Jack Newby Year 12—Ben Gold Year 13—Alice Nelson

Come and collect your prize from

Mr Downing

WRITTEN BY

EDITED BY

MILLY COLLINS

LEWIS CHEADLE

and

——

SASKIA STEIGER

JAMES WRIGHT and FINN CHAPMAN

Classification—by Milly Collins So, one of the first things that we’re taught in Fallibroome, are the “categories” of vertebrates - fish, mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. Pretty simple, every vertebrate is categorised into those five. Yeah, of course there’s invertebrates as well, but they’re a bit complicated, aren't they? Yep, definitely. Categorising living things is possibly the most complicated aspect of biology, and it even has its own name - taxonomy. Stay with me, this could be a long article. [Note - I will be using the Linnean Classification system, but other systems exist] So, let’s imagine we’re classifying a domestic cat. We’ll start with the Kingdom. There are six kingdoms - Plants, Animals, Protists (living thingsof microscopic and single celled organisms like Malaria or Algae), Fungi (mushrooms), Archaebacteria (more single-celled organisms like Halophiles, Methanogens and Thermophiles) and Eubacteria (considered to be “true bacteria). Domestic cats are in the Animalia kingdom, which as the name suggests contains animals. Next, you have the Phyla. There are 35 phyla in the animal kingdom, and they are basically what we’re taught in Year 7 biology - Phylum Chordata, for example, contains all animals that have a backbone at some point in their life. Phylum Arthropoda, or arthropods, are the largest Phylum, containing an estimated 3.7 million species, basically consisting of “minibeasts” spiders, centipedes, millipedes and butterflies. Our domestic cat is in the Phylum Chordata, which you could say contains all the most “familiar” species of animals. Then, we put the animal into a Class - there are 12 Classes in Phylum Chordata - more than the familiar fish, mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, there’s actually Mammalia, Aves (birds), Reptilia, Amphibia, Chondrichtyes (Cartilaginious fish), Osteichthyes (bony fish), Myxini (hagfishes). I could go on, but all this spelling in Latin is confusing me, so I’ll leave it at that. Domestic cats are in Class Mammalia. The Mammalia Class contains 28 Orders - Orders are mostly separated by the physical features of an animal, or by what it eats. Class Mammalia contains the Order Carnivora, Perissodactyla (plant eating mammals that have an odd number of toes), Primates, Monotremata (egg laying mammals) and many more. We’re going into the Order Carnivora, full of mammals that have teeth adapted for flesh eating, excluding vampires, of course.

The next stage of taxonomy is the Family - Order Carnivora contains 18 Families, the most familiar being Canidae (dogs), Felidae (cats), Mustelidae (weasels, otters, badgers, ferrets and other mustelids), and Hyaenidae (hyenas). The Order Carnivora probably contains the most familiar families of any Order, and if you think “mammals”, the Families in Carnivora probably come to mind. The domestic cat is in the Family Felidae.

Penultimately, you get the Genus - this is actually the first aspect of any living thing’s Latin name - Urtica Dioica (stinging nettle), Panthera Tigris (tiger), Canis Lupus (dog), or Plasmodium Falciparum (malaria). There are only a few Geni in Felidae, and the domestic cat is in Genus Felis containing 27 species of other small cats. The second aspect of a living thing’s Latin name is the Species (finally!) Urtica Dioica, Panthera Tigris, Canis Lupus, Plasmodium Falciparum. The domestic cat is of the Sylvestris species, so its Latin name is Felis Sylvestris. Finally, after dredging through every living thing, we have classified the little blighter. Or so you would think. Yes, that’s not all. The domestic cat is actually part of a Subspecies. I did say taxonomy was one of the most complicated parts of biology. The Latin name Felis Sylvestris actually describes the wildcat, from which the domestic cat is a direct descendant. The domestic cat subspecies is Catus, making it’s full Latin name Felis Sylvestris Catus. Eventually, that’s it. To fully classify any living thing you must trace it through its Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species and occasionally Subspecies. Its Latin name is its Genus + Species [+ Subspecies]. Some species from the same Genus can interbreed, but their offspring will mostly be sterile, whereas living things of the same Species or Subspecies can interbreed, and will always have fertile offspring. I’ll leave you with a few more examples. Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Perissodactyla Family: Rhinocerotidae Genus: Rhinoceros Species: Unicornis Common Name: Indian Rhino Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Primates Family: Lemuridae Genus: Lemur Species: Catta