KINGDOMS OF LIFE

Biologists classify all living things into overall groups, called kingdoms. The members of each kingdom are alike in fundamental ways, such as in the nature of their cells or in the way they obtain energy. In the most widely used system of classification there are five kingdoms, of which the animal kingdom is the largest. In recent years, a new classification has been proposed. In this, there three “superkingdoms’: Archaebacteria, the Eubacteria, and Eukaryota. The first and second reflect chemical and physical differences within bacteria. The third contains the living things that unlike bacteria, have complex cells: protests, fungi, plants, and animals.