ANIMALS

The External Features of Animals
There are different kinds of animals living on Earth. Some of them look similar but some are different. We can identify them by their external features. The external features of an animal are the details of the animal that you can see.

For examples:

• A fish has fins and a tail. Its body is covered with scales. A fish has no legs.
• An elephant has four legs, a trunk, tusks, head and eyes. It also has big ears and body.

Grouping of Animals
We can group animals based on the external features that they share i.e. similarities in external features. Animals can be grouped in different ways, for examples:

• The lizard, snake and crocodile can be grouped together because they have scales.
• Fish, dolphin and shark can be grouped together because they have fins.
• Goat, cow, bull and deer can be grouped together because they have horns.
• Swan, parrot, bird, duck and chicken can be grouped together because they have feathers.
• Lion, baboon and highland cow can be grouped together because they have hair.
• We can also group animals according to the number of legs that they have. Animals with many legs i.e. centipede and millipede; animals with no legs i.e. snake, snail and fish; animals with two legs i.e. duck, goose and rooster; animals with four legs i.e. elephant, horse, tiger and kangaroo.
• Cat, squirrel, and koala bear can be grouped together because they have furs.
• We can also group animals according to the shape of beaks they have. Animals with long beak i.e. ibis and pelican; animals with short and hooked beak i.e. parrot and eagle; animal with flat beak i.e. ostrich.
• Crab and parrot can be grouped together because they have claws.
• Tortoise, turtle and snail can be grouped together because they have shells.
• Butterfly, bee and dragonfly can be grouped together because they have wings.

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EXERCISE

Complete the table.

BEAK

HORNS

WINGS

FUR

SCALES

	External Features	Animals with the same features
1		Sheep, Tiger, Bear, Rabbit
2		Goat, Cow, Deer, Bull
3		Snake, Lizard, Crocodile, Armadillo
4		Bird, Chicken, Ostrich, Penguin
5		Butterfly, Grasshopper, Bat, Bee

Answer:  1.Fur   2.Horns   3.Scales   4.Beak   5.Wings