Category Science

Living things are classified in groups that have certain characteristics in common. The largest groups are called kingdoms. All living things can be classified as belonging to one of the five kingdoms: animals, plants, fungi, protists and monerans. Kingdoms can be divided into phyla (singular: phylum) or divisions and subphyla, which in turn can be separated into classes. Classes are divided into orders and suborders. These are separated into families and then into genera (singular: genus). Finally, each genus contains a number of species.

All living organisms are classified into groups based on very basic, shared characteristics. Organisms within each group are then further divided into smaller groups. These smaller groups are based on more detailed similarities within each larger group. This grouping system makes it easier for scientists to study certain groups of organisms. Characteristics such as appearance, reproduction, mobility, and functionality are just a few ways in which living organisms are grouped together. These specialized groups are collectively called the classification of living things. The classification of living things includes 7.

levels: Kingdom, phylum, classes, order, families, genus, and species.

Kingdoms

The most basic classification of living things is kingdoms. Currently there are Five kingdoms. Living things are placed into certain kingdoms based on how they obtain their food, the types of cells that make up their body, and the number of cells they contain.
Phylum

The phylum is the next level following kingdom in the classification of living things. It is an attempt to find some kind of physical similarities among organisms within a kingdom. These physical similarities suggest that there is a common ancestry among those organisms in a particular phylum.

Classes

Classes are way to further divide organisms of a phylum. As you could probably guess, organisms of a class have even more in common than those in an entire phylum. Humans belong to the Mammal Class because we drink milk as a baby.
Order

Organisms in each class are further broken down into orders. A taxonomy key is used to determine to which order an organism belongs. A taxonomy key is nothing more than a checklist of characteristics that determines how organisms are grouped together.
Families

Orders are divided into families. Organisms within a family have more in common than with organisms in any classification level above it. Because they share so much in common, organisms of a family are said to be related to each other. Humans are in the Hominidae Family.

Genus

Genus is a way to describe the generic name for an organism. The genus classification is very specific so there are fewer organisms within each one. For this reason there are a lot of different genera among both animals and plants. When using taxonomy to name an organism, the genus is used to determine the first part of its two-part name.

Species

Species are as specific as you can get. It is the lowest and most strict level of classification of living things. The main criterion for an organism to be placed in a particular species is the ability to breed with other organisms of that same species. The species of an organism determines the second part of its two-part name.

One theory is that climate changes gradually led to a drop in dinosaur numbers. Another is that a huge meteorite hit the Earth, throwing up a massive dust cloud. Mammals managed to survive the climate change, but dinosaurs did not.

It was at this time when something happened that caused dinosaurs to become extinct. While there are several ideas, one that many scientists believe is that a huge comet or asteroid 6 to 12 miles wide slammed into the region that is now part of the eastern coast of Mexico, but at that time was under water.

The impact of this object is believed to have caused darkness over the entire earth for many months, due to the huge amounts of dust that were thrown into the atmosphere. A global wildfire would have destroyed over half of all living things. Water would have been poisoned in most places, and the earth would have sunk into a deep freeze while the dust was in the air.

Even through all this, some plants and animals survived, including some insects, fishes, frogs, crocodiles, turtles, birds, and mammoths.

This may have just been part of a series of changes that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Before the asteroid/comet hit the earth, massive eruptions of volcanoes had caused earth’s climate to be changed. At about the same time, sea levels dropped dramatically, opening new land bridges, changing ocean currents, and affecting the climate. These changes in climate likely reduced the ability of the dinosaurs to adapt, and the impact from the asteroid/comet was the last straw. The creatures that were able to survive all these changes came to dominate the landscape. Mammals grew larger, and moved into new areas, taking over locations that had previously been the habitat of dinosaurs.

Changes in sea levels, ocean currents, and other events were also bringing in a new climatic cycle to the earth. Huge ice sheets would begin to cover large areas of the earth on a periodic basis. These swings in climate would have a major effect on animal habitats.

Over time, the remains of plants and animals decay. Fossilization is one way in which their forms have survived to give us information about prehistoric times. Since the time of the dinosaurs, however, the climate of parts of the Earth has cooled. In recent years, frozen remains of mammoths and even humans have been found, preserved in the ice of polar or mountainous regions.

Paleoanthropology to hear the preceding term pronounced is the study of early forms of humans and their primate ancestors.  It is similar to paleontology to hear the preceding term pronounced except its focus is documenting and understanding human biological and cultural evolution.  Paleoanthropologists do not look for dinosaurs and other early creatures.  However, like paleontology, the data for paleoanthropology is found mainly in the fossil record.  Before examining this evidence, it is necessary to first learn what fossils are and how they are formed.  In addition, it is important to know how paleoanthropologists date fossils and other evidence of the prehistoric past.

Taphonomy to hear the preceding term pronounced is the study of the conditions under which plants, animals, and other organisms become altered after death and sometimes preserved as fossils.  Research into these matters has shown that fossilization is a rare phenomenon.  In order for a fossil to form, the body must not be eaten or destroyed by erosion and other natural forces.  Preservation would most likely occur if the organism were buried quickly and deeply.  In most environments, soft body parts, such as skin, muscle, fat, and internal organs, deteriorate rapidly and leave no trace.  Only very rarely do we find the casts of such tissues.  Similarly, the totally soft-bodied creatures, like jellyfish, are very uncommon fossils.  Hard body parts, such as dense bones, teeth, and shells, are what most often are preserved.  It is likely that the vast majority of fossils will never be found before they are destroyed by erosion.  That coupled with the fact that extremely few living things are preserved long enough after death to become fossils makes the large collections of fossils in the museums of the world quite remarkable.  It is a testament to the tenacious searching by fossil hunters over the last two centuries.

People often think of fossils as being mineralized bones or shells stored in museums.  However, they can be any remains or traces of ancient organisms.  They even can be footprints, burrows, or casts of bodies with nothing else surviving.  Some of the best preserved fossils were rapidly frozen in permafrost soil or ice, dehydrated in dry desert caves, or encased in tree resin that hardened into amber.  In any of these three environmental conditions, even soft body parts can be remarkably well preserved indefinitely. 

Several wooly mammoths that lived during the last ice age have been excavated from frozen tundra soil in Siberia.  Some were still in such good condition, that parts of their bodies were fed to the dogs of the Russian scientists who found them.  One small mammoth was even transported intact to Moscow where it is kept in a specially made large freezer that allows it to be displayed for the general public.  The oldest frozen human remains were discovered on the edge of a glacier in the Alps of northern Italy in 1991.  It was a well preserved body of a man, along with his clothes and tools, who died about 5,300 years ago.  Even tattoos on his skin were preserved by the extreme cold. 

Dinosaur fossils, even when they show the skin of the animal, cannot show us what colour it was. Dinosaurs may have been green and brown in colour, camouflaging them amongst the leaves and rocks. It is also possible that some of them were very brightly coloured, just as some tropical lizards are today.

While skin impressions have been found — suggesting a pebbly or scaly texture — no real dinosaur skin remains. That means paleontologists don’t know for certain what color any of the dinosaurs were. They do have several theories, though. For example, many believe that dinosaur skin was probably drab shades of gray or green, allowing them to blend into their surrounding environments. This dull coloration would help them escape the detection of predators, enabling some to survive longer. Because large modern-day warm-blooded animals, such as elephants and rhinoceroses, tend to be dully colored, many scientists think that dinosaurs were, too.

But other paleontologists say the opposite is true — that dinosaurs’ skin could have been shades of purple, orange, red, even yellow with pink and blue spots! Rich and varied colors, they argue, might have helped dinosaurs to recognize one another and attract mates. Because research has shown that dinosaurs’closest living relatives — birds — can see in color, it is theorized that dinosaurs could, too. Scientists in this camp believe that color may well have been as important to these ancient creatures as it is to us.

Jack Horner, Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, Denver, Colorado, explains, “Some male dinosaurs may have had brightly colored crests to help them attract mates, but females probably did not. This color differentiation is also found in many modern-day birds.”

During the 150 million years that they lived on Earth, dinosaurs certainly included the largest creatures to live on land and the fiercest hunters. But they were not the only animals to live successfully on Earth by any means. There were many species of insect and the earliest winged animals could be seen in the skies. The seas were teeming with fish and other sea-life. The first mammals were also thriving, ready to become the dominant creatures when the dinosaurs became extinct.

It is often said that dinosaurs ruled the earth. Movies such as Jurassic Park, the media, and educational books constantly promote the evolutionary claim that dinosaurs dominated planet earth for well over 100 million years. In the evolutionary paradigm, mankind had not yet evolved, and before the 65-million-year-old extinction mark, mammals were small rodents who steered clear of the ruling dinosaurs.

The prevailing evolutionary model argues that the coexistence of dinosaurs, large mammals, and humans is not supported for four reasons. First, dinosaur and human fossils have never been discovered together in the fossil record. Second, large mammals have never been discovered in ‘dinosaur’ rock. Third, dinosaurs could not have existed with larger mammals due to intense competition in similar environments. Fourth, dinosaurs would have overrun human civilization due to their monolithic size and belligerence. However, these arguments do not stand up to closer scrutiny and the weight of the evidence provides far greater support to biblical creation.

The historical narrative of Genesis plainly records that God created all land animals and human beings on the sixth day of creation about 6,000 years ago. According to the Bible, dinosaurs, mammals, and humans have coexisted from the beginning of creation. This is in direct contradiction to the evolutionary model of earth history. And although the idea of dinosaurs and human beings living at the same time is ridiculed as illogical and unscientific, a more open-minded approach reveals a different story. Circumstantial evidence in the fossil record, literary and artistic accounts in human civilization, and observational examples in present-day ecological habitats lend a high degree of credibility to the biblical account.