Biologists group organisms based on shared characteristics and historical relationships. This practice, known as taxonomy, uses a series of increasingly specific groups to organize the elaborate tree of life. Unfortunately, the terms used in biological taxonomy can be a challenge to the novice because they are often based on Latin and Greek. In this month’s Big Word feature we will discuss some common terminology related to the classification of animals that live here at the museum.

The most common taxonomic groupings are (from most general to most specific): Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. When I was in school I remembered this list by using the sentence, “King Phillip came over for good spaghetti.” It is a silly sentence but I still remember it 20 years later!

Not surprisingly, all animals are in the Animal Kingdom. Most of the animals at the museum (except those in the butterfly house) are in the Phylum Chordata which includes the animals with internal skeletons and backbones. You probably already know the names of some chordate classes: the terms mammal, reptile, amphibian, and fish all reflect different taxonomic classes. Biologists use Orders and Families to make even more specific groupings. Finally, we often use the Genus and Species of an organism as its official “scientific name”.

For those of you readers who are still in school, you and your class can try to help name a new gecko species recently discovered on the island of New Caledonia. Follow this link for more details and how to enter the contest. Hurry the deadline is January 31st! You can learn more about taxonomy at the Tree of Life website.

Let’s finish by looking at the classifications of three museum residents.

	Donkey	Corn Snake	Screech Owl
Kingdom	Animalia	Animalia	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata	Chordata	Chordata
Class	Mammalia	Reptilia	Aves
Order	Perissodactyla	Squamata	Strigiformes
Family	Equidae	Colubridae	Strigidae
Genus	Equus	Elaphe	Megascops
Species	asinus	guttata	asio