Noun

Singular animal

Plural animals

animal (plural animals)

1. In scientific usage, a multicellular organism that is usually mobile, whose cells are not encased in a rigid cell wall (distinguishing it from plants and fungi) and which derives energy solely from the consumption of other organisms (distinguishing it from plants).

   A cat is an animal, not a plant.

   Humans are also animals, under the scientific definition, as we are not plants.

2. In non-scientific usage, any member of the kingdom Animalia other than a human being.
3. In non-scientific usage, any land-living vertebrate (i.e. not birds, fishes, insects etc)
4. (figuratively) A person who behaves wildly.

   My students are animals.

Synonyms

• (organism): beast, creature
• (non-human organism): beast
• (person who behaves wildly): brute, monster, savage

Related terms

• anima
• animus
• animate
• Animalia

Animals are a major group of mostly multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently. All animals are also heterotrophs, meaning they must ingest other organisms for sustenance.

Most known animal phyla appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, about 542 million years ago.

This page is for quotes about animals.

Contents

• 1 Sourced
• 2 Unsourced
• 3 Anonymous
  • 3.1 Spanish proverbs
• 4 See also

Sourced

Organized alphabetically by author.

• The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog one big one.
  • Archilochus, In Plutarch Moralia

• The Dodo never had a chance. He seems to have been invented for the sole purpose of becoming extinct and that was all he was good for.
  • Will Cuppy, How to Become Extinct, 1941.

• It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the human temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.
  • Albert Einstein, (Letter to Vegetarian Watch-Tower (27 December 1930)

• Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.
  • George Eliot, Scences of a Clerical Life (1858)

• A horse is dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle.
  • Ian Fleming, The Sunday Times (1966)

• Animals are always loyal and love you, whereas children you never know where you are.
  • Christina Foyle, The Times (1993)

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Mon Mar 8 02:37:52 2010