What are the difficulties that you would face in classification of animals, if common fundamental features are not taken into account?
Explanation The classification of animals is based on fundamental morphological and developmental features of organisms like the presence of tissues, body symmetry, embryological development, body cavity, mouth development, blastopore formation, exoskeleton, vertebral column or notochord formation, appendages, etc. Each of these features is connected with a unique function. If the features are not known, it would be difficult to understand how an organism functions. Examples: If the presence or absence of coelom is not known, it would be difficult to judge whether the organism would have intracellular or extracellular digestion. Embryological features help to identify the evolutionary significance of animals. Knowledge of notochords is important to segregate animals into chordates or non-chordates and to differentiate animals based on the function of the notochord. Final Answer Without a basic knowledge of these fundamental features, the idea of classifying animals will not be achieved successfully. Only by comparing the similarities and differences of animal features, animals are segregated, categorized and classified.
