Table of Content

Title ....................................................................Page

Introduction.......................................................4

Characteristics of Living Things....................5

Types of living things......................................6

What are invertebrates?.................................7

How many invertebrates are they?.............9

Type of invertebrates.....................................11

Insects.................................................12

Arachnids............................................14

Mollusks..............................................16

Crustacean.........................................18

Coral...................................................20

Velvet worms...................................21

Horseshoe Crabs............................22

Where do invertebrates live?................23

The importance of invertebrates.........24

What was learnt.....................................25

Glossary....................................................26

Introduction

Did you know that invertebrates make up 97% of the animal kingdom? Who would have thought?

Invertebrates are one of the two main groups of animals. This book will give you information on how many types of invertebrates they are. It will also tell you where invertebrates live and why invertebrates are important to the world. Just like vertebrates, invertebrates have a big role to play an as you read through the book you will see the role that they play.

After reading this book I do hope you have a greater appreciation for them.

Living Things

Living things are any thing which do the following things:

• Breathe
• Eat
• Grow
• Reproduce
• Give of waste
• Move

Types of living things

There are two types of living things and those are animal and plants. Yes plants!

This book will be focusing on animals specifically invertebrates . Animals are further broken down into two groups which are vertebrates and invertebrates.

Guess what? Plants are also living things

What are invertebrates?

Invertebrates are animals which do not have a back bone.

Invertebrates look like this!

How many invertebrates are they?

Invertebrates are the largest group in the animal kingdom.

They make up 97% of the animal kingdom, which means that the vertebrates only make up 3% of the animal kingdom.

They're so many invertebrates because they comprise mostly of insects.

They're 1,305,250 invertebrates to 66,178 vertebrates.

They are so many invertebrates because they reproduce quickly. Some invertebrates can reproduce on their own and do not need a partner.

Finally they are adaptable and can survive in extreme conditions. Invertebrates can survive anywhere because they don't only eat plant and animals but they also eat decaying organic materials.

Types of invertebrates

The list below will show the types of invertebrates and how many species they are:

• Insects - 1,000,000
• Arachnids - 102,245
• Mollusks - 85,000
• Crustaceans -47,000
• Corals - 2,175
• Velvet worms -165
• Horseshoe Crabs - 4
• Other - 68,658

Insects

Insects are animals which have six legs and have a outer body shell which is called an exoskeleton.

Some insects have antennae and wings.

Which insect below has wings?

We are all insects.

Can you name us?

Insects

Butterfly

Grasshopper

Beetle

Arachnids ( uh-rack-nidz)

Arachnids are joint legged animals. These animals contain an exoskeleton but do not have wings like the insect. The most common arachnid is the spider Most arachnids live on land.

Hi, there friends. I am an arachnid.

Arachnids

Spider

Scorpion

Tick

Mollusks ( mol-lusks)

Mollusks are the soft invertebrates which do not have an exoskeleton. Many mollusks live on both land and water. Some even have a shell which they hide under as their way of protection.

I am a mollusk, that's me!

Mollusk

Octopus

Snail 

Sea Cucumber