Life and living things

The things in these pictures may look very different from each other, but thay all have one significant things in common-they are all alive. 

Living things can be identified because they have certain characteristics. They all carry out the same life processes, although they do not all do these in exactly the same way. A cat moves very quickly when it chases a mouse. An ivy plant , on the other hand, moves very slowly as its grows up  a wall  towords the light.

Biologists try to find out more about life and living things by studying animals and plants and  in particular, the way they behave.

Biology is the study of living things.

Life processes

All living things  have seven charateristics or liife processes .

Animals feed to produce energy and to grow.They eat other living  things. Plants make their own food by photosynthesis. 

Animals only grow until they reach a certain height. Plants , however, grow continuously all through their lives.

Animal use sense organs such as eyes and ears to respond to want is going on around them . Plants do not have sense organs but can still react by growing towards things such as light and water. 

All living things produce waste such  as carbon dioxide, urine and faeces. The removel of waste from the body is called excretion

Animals move by using their legs, wings or fins . plants move by growing  towords  or away  from something.

Allliving things must reproduce  to replace those that die. Asexual reproducation dose not involve sex organs. Most animals and plants have male or female sex organs . They use seual reproducation to produce young.

Living things need energy to grow , to move and to enable the body  to work properly. Energy is released from food in process called respiration.

Cells

All living things are made up of one or more cells.

Most animals and plants are made up of millions of cells joined togerther. These are called multicellilar organisms.

Animal and plant cells have similar jobs to do . They take in food ,release energy , get rid of waste, grow  and reproduce . Their structures , howeve , are not the same.

                                                                                                                          

This is a photograph of a cell  taken from the                                                       This is a photograph of a cell taken fromthe the leaf of some pond weed

Inside of a human cheek. The cell have

Been stained to make them clearer to see.