This illustration of the three domains of life is like a family tree. The branches that are very far apart are not very similar. Branches that are near each other indicate closely related groups.
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Classification of Living Things
Scientists have found and described almost two million species on Earth. Plus,
new species are being discovered every day. That's a lot of species! How
do we make sense of it all?
Scientists put similar species into groups so that those millions of species
do not seem so overwhelming. If you know what the groups are like, you can figure
out what different species are like. For instance, let's say that a friend
of yours tells you that he saw an egret last weekend. You have never heard of
an egret before, but if he tells you that an egret is a type of bird, you should
have some idea of what it is like.
Living things are divided into three large groups:
These three groups are called domains. The drawing at the left shows the three
domains of life. The distance between groups indicates how closely related they
are. Groups that are close together, like plants and animals, are much more
closely related than groups that are far apart, like plants and bacteria!
The Eukaryota domain is divided into several groups called kingdoms.
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