Aristotle Animal Hierarchy

Aristotle, a famous and renowned philosopher and a covetous scientist from Greece, was the first person ever who ardently classified all kinds of animals on this earth on the basis of their physical habits as well as their traits and then named it as Aristotle Animal Hierarchy.

He categorized the animals as those with Blood and those without Blood according to the nature’s created ladder of differentiation, Human Being at the top most in this ladder of nature. These two categories further got sub categorized into different divisions like Quadrupeds, Birds, Whales, Insects, Crustaceans, Shelled Animals, Fish and many more.

This categorization is termed as the Invertebrates and the Vertebrates in scientific language. The further sub division was termed as Genera which showcases the animals having characteristics similar to each other. The basic division done by Aristotle in his Aristotle Animal Hierarchy is described as below in brief:

Aristotle Animal Hierarchy
Aristotle Animal Hierarchy

Animals with Blood: In scientific language being termed as Vertebrates, these Animals with Blood further got five Genera in the Aristotle Animal Hierarchy which are explained here as:

  • Quadrupeds I: The first animal in the Aristotle Animal Hierarchy includes Quadrupeds I means animals with four legs and those who give birth direct to young ones. This sub category showcases the mammals on this earth.
  • Quadrupeds II: Next in the list of Aristotle Animal Hierarchy comes the Quadrupeds II means animal on four legs but those who lay eggs, not give direct birth to young ones. This sub category focuses on Amphibians and Reptiles Hierarchy.
  • Birds: All the Birds of this planet correspond to the third sub category of this Aristotle Animal Hierarchy.
  • Whale: Next to Birds in the list of the Aristotle Animal Hierarchy comes Whales, the biggest animal present on the earth.
  • Fish: The last animal in the Aristotle Animal Hierarchy list is Fish.

Animals without Blood: Being termed as Invertebrates in scientific language, The Animals without Blood were further divided into five Genera in the Aristotle Animal Hierarchy which are showcased as follow:

  • Insects: Among one of the most diversified group of animals on earth, Insects portrays the first Genera in the Aristotle Animal Hierarchy. The Scorpions, Spiders and Centipedes were considered as Insects by Aristotle in the Aristotle Animal Hierarchy.
  • Cephalopods: These remarkable marine creatures create the second Genera in the Aristotle Animal Hierarchy. Aristotle considered Octopuses and Squids in this category of Animals without Blood.
  • Crustaceans/ Crustacea: Crustaceans normally referred as Crustacea form the third Genera of this list of Aristotle Animal Hierarchy.
  • Shelled Animals: Shelled Animals scientifically termed as Exoskeleton generates the fourth position in the Aristotle Animal Hierarchy. These are the animals having an external skeleton on their body which protects them and also provides a support to their body. Aristotle included Echinoderms and Mollusks in this sub category.
  • Zoophytes: A Zoophyte is basically an animal which due to its look is resembled to plants. The common example is Sea Anemone. This sub category represents the last and the fifth Genera created by Aristotle in the Aristotle Animal Hierarchy.

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