We see many things around us, which can be grouped into two groups based on their characteristics- Living things and non-living things. For example men, dogs, goats, cats, ants, plants, trees, etc. are some of the living things. Car, plastic goods, stones, doors, etc. are some of the non-living things.
According to the theory of evolution, the oldest living things on Earth are believed to be the bacteria.
General characteristics of Living Things
All living things can move
In the case of plants, they cannot move but they have been classified as living things. Few plants like sundew plant open and close its sticky leaves to catch insects.
All living things need food
All living things, including animals, birds, humans, plants, etc. need their food for their growth and development. A few animals and birds feed on plant products and plants obtain their food from air and soil.
All living things grow
A small baby grows into an adult, a puppy grows into a dog and in plants, a seed gives rise to a seedling and then grows into a plant.
All Living things are sensitive
All living things including, humans, animals, and plants have their own sense organs. For example, all humans have the five types of sense organs, which include:
- A pair of eyes: for vision,
- A pair of ears: for hearing,
- A nose: for smelling,
- Tongue: for tasting and
- Skin: for touching.
Both animals and plants also have sensitivity to pain.
Just pick a needle on the frog limb, the frog will jump with a sense of pain. Few plants bend or move towards or follow the sunlight. For example- Sunflower plant.
All living things reproduce.
All living things reproduce offspring of their own kind and the mode of reproduction may vary in different organisms.
Other amazing facts about living creatures are:
- Ants are living creatures which will never sleep.
- Human teeth are the only part which cannot repair themselves.
- Honey is the only food that doesn’t get spoilt. To produce 1 kilogram of honey, bees travel a distance equal to four times around the earth.
- Energy is essential for several biological activities and is mainly obtained through the respiration.
- Human bones are about 5 times stronger than steel.
- Elephants have the largest brain, which is 1 percent of the total body mass.
- A human skull is composed of 29 different bones.
- A human little finger contributes over 50% of the total hands strength.
- Unlike fingerprints, the human tongue also has its own unique print.
- The total length of the human blood vessels is about 100,000 km and there are four main blood groups A, B, AB and O which are mainly determined by the presence and absence of antigens and antibodies on the surface of red blood cells.
These were some Amazing Facts about Living Creatures. For more information, students can subscribe to the BYJUS YouTube Channel and watch interactive video lessons on various science-related topics.