Animal groups
Science
Unit: Reproduction and life cycles: animals
Oak’s lesson structure Useful links
Oak’s lessons are structured around learning cycles. Advice on how to use Oak lessons to bring the
These are indicated through colour in the slide deck: lesson to life in your classroom and best fit the
needs of your pupils.
Each learning cycle covers several phases:
Outcome
I can name and group a wide variety of common animals,
including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.
Keywords
mammal
fish
bird
reptile
amphibian
Keywords
A mammal is a warm-blooded animal that gives birth to live young
and has hair or fur.
A fish is a cold-blooded animal that has fins and a tail and uses gills
to breathe underwater.
A bird is a warm-blooded animal that lays eggs and has feathers,
wings and a beak.
A reptile is a cold-blooded animal that lays eggs and has dry, scaly
skin.
An amphibian is a cold-blooded animal that has moist skin, lays
eggs and can live on land and in water.
Lesson outline
Animal groups
Animal groups
Classifying animals
Animal groups
Explanation
Different animals have different characteristics, or
features, that we can use to identify them and sort, or
classify, them into broad groups.
One way of classifying animals, is into animals that do have a spine
(vertebrate) and those that do not (invertebrate).
animals with spines animals without spines
Animal groups
Explanation
Within the group of vertebrate animals, they can
be classified further into one of five groups:
mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians.
Do you know any characteristics of animals in each group?
Do you know any animals that belong in each group?
Animal groups
Explanation
Characteristics that we use to help us classify animals
into groups include:
● Their skin or body covering
● How their offspring are born
● Whether they are warm-blooded or cold-blooded
● How they breathe
Which of these characteristics can we
bird
tell by looking at a picture of this
animal?
Animal groups
Explanation
Sometimes, we can tell the skin or body covering
by looking at pictures of an animal.
What kind of skin or body covering do these animals have?
eagle iguana barb fish labrador poison dart
frog
Animal groups
Explanation
Birds have feathers.
Reptiles have dry, scaly skin.
Fish have scales.
Animal groups
Explanation
Mammals have Amphibians
hair or fur. have smooth,
moist skin. To find out about
other animal
characteristics, we
need to observe the
animals or carry out
research using
secondary sources.
Animal groups
Check
Which of these animal characteristics do you agree with?
a All birds have feathers.
b All fish have dry, scaly skin.
c All mammals have hair or fur.
Animal groups
Explanation
Mammals have these characteristics:
● hair or fur on their bodies
● give birth to live young
● warm-blooded
● feed on milk provided by their
mother when young
pigs
Animal groups
Explanation
Fish have these characteristics:
● scales on their bodies
● cold-blooded
● breathe underwater using gills
● most lay eggs
goldfish
Animal groups
Explanation
Birds have these characteristics:
● feathers on their bodies
● lay eggs
● warm-blooded
● wings and a beak
owl great crested grebe
Animal groups
Explanation
Reptiles have these characteristics:
● dry, scaly skin
● lay leathery eggs on land
● cold-blooded
lizard
Animal groups
Explanation
Amphibians have these characteristics:
● smooth, moist skin
● lay jelly-like eggs called spawn
in water
● cold-blooded
● live on land and in water
frog
Animal groups
Check
This animal has moist skin, lays eggs and is cold-blooded.
What group does it belong to?
a mammals
b fish
c amphibians
d reptiles
Animal groups
Check
This animal has dry, scaly skin, lays eggs and is
cold-blooded. What group does it belong to?
a amphibians
b reptiles
c birds
d fish
Animal groups
Check
This animal is warm-blooded, has hair and gives birth to live
young. What group does it belong to?
a mammals
b fish
c amphibians
d reptiles
Animal groups
Check
Which of these animal characteristics do you agree with?
a All birds can fly.
b All animals that live in water are fish.
c All reptiles are cold-blooded.
Task A Animal groups
Practice
1. Sort the cards to match the animal type to its description.
animal description
mammal warm-blooded, lays eggs, has a beak
bird warm-blooded, live young, hair or fur
fish cold-blooded, lays eggs, has gills
reptile cold-blooded, lays eggs, moist skin
amphibian cold-blooded, lays eggs, dry, scaly skin
Task A Animal groups
Feedback
1. Sort the cards to match the animal type to its description.
animal description
mammal warm-blooded, live young, hair or fur
bird warm-blooded, lays eggs, has a beak
fish cold-blooded, lays eggs, has gills
reptile cold-blooded, lays eggs, dry, scaly skin
amphibian cold-blooded, lays eggs, moist skin
Task A Animal groups
Practice
2. Add the words to correct places on a Venn diagram to compare
these animal groups: mammals, birds and reptiles.
mammals cold-blooded dry, scaly skin
warm-blooded moist skin
hair or fur beak
feathers vertebrate
scales invertebrate
lays eggs
birds reptiles
gives birth to live young
Task A Animal groups
Feedback
Create a three-circle Venn mammals scales
diagram to compare these
animals. hair or fur moist skin
gives birth to live young
invertebrate
Here is my Venn warm-
diagram. Is yours blooded
different?
vertebrate
feathers cold-blooded
lay
beak dry, scaly skin
Izzy eggs
birds reptiles
Lesson outline
Animal groups
Animal groups
Classifying animals
Classifying animals
Explanation
Animal scientists use
classification skills to decide
what groups animals belong in.
They look at the similarities and
differences between animals in
different groups, and place
animal scientist
animals in groups that they have
the most in common with.
Classifying animals
Explanation
Sometimes it can be tricky to decide which group an animal
belongs in. These children are trying to decide how to classify an
orca whale.
I think it is an I think it is a
amphibian because mammal because
the water makes its it gives birth to
skin look moist. live young.
orca whale
I think it is a fish
because it lives in What do
Jacob the water.
you think?
Sam Aisha
Classifying animals
Explanation
Orca whales give birth to live young, are warm-blooded
and do not have gills so cannot breathe underwater.
Although hard to see, they have fine hair around
their jaw and head.
They are classified as mammals. orca whale
When scientists are unsure how to classify an animal, they
consider all its characteristics to decide where it fits best.
Classifying animals
Explanation
Sometimes, animals will not fit perfectly into one group,
so scientists have to decide which is the best fit.
This is a short-beaked echidna.
● It has a spine
● It is warm-blooded
● It has fur
● It has a beak
● It lays eggs
short-beaked echidna
How would you classify this animal?
Classifying animals
Explanation
Echidnas have the most in
common with the mammal
group, so scientists classify
echidnas as a special type of
mammal.
Classifying animals
Check
To classify an animal means to . . .
a decide which group it belongs to.
b measure how big it is.
c make sure it has everything it needs.
Check
True or false?
There are some animals that scientists can not classify into
a group.
T True F False
Justify your answer
a some animals have characteristics from more than one
group
b sometimes animals are put into the group that is the best
fit for their characteristics
Task B Classifying animals
Practice
1. Use the animal cards on the next two slides to identify the groups
these animals belong to.
2. Record the clues that helped you to classify each animal.
Animal Group Clues
flying fox
penguin
axolotl
shark
turtle
platypus
Task B Classifying animals
Practice
Flying fox Penguin Axolotl
Penguins
use their
wings to
swim
underwater.
Flying foxes are
commonly known as fruit Axolotls are a type of
bats. They live in the They lay their eggs on the salamander. Axolotls have
tropics and subtropics shore. When the young smooth skin and lay their
and eat mainly fruit. hatch, they use their jelly-like eggs in the
Female fruit bats often sharp beaks to crack the water. Although axolotls
only have one offspring shell of their eggs. Young spend their whole lives in
each year. Once born, the penguins appear fluffy the water and use their
offspring clings onto its and develop their adult gills to breathe, other
mother's fur as she feeds feathers as they age. salamanders spend part
it milk. of their lives on land.
Task B Classifying animals
Practice
Shark Turtle Platypus
Sharks live in seas and Turtles live in the sea The platypus lives in
oceans and breathe by where their hard shells burrows on river banks
passing water over their and rough, scaly skin and has a covering of
gills. provides protection from waterproof fur.
Although some sharks predators. When the female is
lay eggs, around 70% of Although turtles spend pregnant, she makes a
sharks give birth to live much of their time in the hole in the river bank to
young. Young shark pups sea, they must come to lay her eggs. When her
are born with teeth and the surface to breathe, young leave their eggs,
quickly swim away from and they lay their the mother feeds them
the mother. leathery eggs on land. with her milk.
Task B Classifying animals
Feedback
Animal Group Clues
flying fox mammal has fur, feeds young milk
penguin bird lays hard shelled eggs, has a beak, has feathers
axolotl amphibian lays jelly-like eggs, lives on land and in water
shark fish breathes using gills, some lay eggs, doesn’t feed
young
turtle reptile dry scaly skin, lays leathery eggs on land
platypus (egg laying) has fur, feeds young milk
mammal
Summary Animal groups
Different animals have different characteristics
that can be used to sort them into groups.
Common vertebrate groups are fish, amphibians, reptiles,
birds and mammals.
Scientists identify and group animals using classification
skills.
© Oak National Academy 2023.
Produced in partnership with Centre for Industry Education
Collaboration.
Licensed on the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where
otherwise stated. See Oak terms and conditions.
