Animal Abbreviations

An animal is a multicellular, living organism that is able to move and respond to its environment through senses. A cat or a dog are examples of animals.

The scientific name for animals is Animalia. Although humans also fall under the Animalia, the word animal often refers to a non-human being. Almost all animals are able to move independently. They use energy for this, which must be obtained from food. An animal’s body is made up of various tissues, such as muscles, bones, and connective tissue. However, the sponge is an exception to this, but it does belong to the Animalia. Some animals reproduce by mating, but there are also animals that are able to reproduce without sex. There are many types of animals, often divided into tribes, such as the Chordata, to which the vertebrates belong. These tribes are often divided into classes, orders and families. A cat belongs to the family Felidae, or the felines.

BIOLOGY

Animals are distinguished from plants by a capacity for active displacement (at least at a certain stage of development), the possession of a nervous system (at least a conduction and reaction system), a need for organic food (see heterotroph), the lack of cellulose as a cell wall reinforcement, further through germ layer formation (see gastrulation) in embryonic development. This definition is extremely inadequate. It is limited to characteristics that apply to most animal species, especially multicellular organisms. The less developed species are much more difficult to classify. Most single-celled organisms differ from plants by their heterotrophic lifestyle, but this distinction also disappears in the very lowest.

Incidentally, the chlorophyll-less plants also live heterotrophically. On the other hand, there are the single-celled whippets, which have chlorophyll, and should therefore be classified among the plants. There are also animals with a lifestyle that is not geared to moving. The Myxomycetaceae (see plant kingdom, overview) are, together with the Mycophyta, regarded as a third group next to ‘plants’ and ‘animals’. See animal kingdom, see plant.

RELIGION

The animal plays an important role in the religious life of many peoples. Man felt an affinity with it, which is apparent from all kinds of stories about marriages between people and animals, about women who produce animals, etc., but also from representations that underlie totemism, in which an animal is considered the ancestor of a certain tribe. . At the same time, the animal was and is also strange and mysterious, representative of the ‘other’, bearer of a power that man does not possess: it is stronger than he, can walk faster, it has a much greater sense of smell and visual acuity, a wonderful sense of orientation. etc. Certain animals are worshiped as so-called soul bearers: the soul of a dead person has taken up residence there (snake, mouse, bird); others for their breeding power, eg the bull in the ancient east; the serpent around her dwell in the earth, in connection with fertility as well as with death. Sometimes an entire species is considered sacred, sometimes a single specimen, eg the Apis bull in Egypt.

The relationship between animal and deity is also variable: the animal can be the god himself, but can also be regarded as a manifestation of the god. Especially animal worship in ancient Egypt has attracted attention. There were a large number of local cults in honor of dung beetle, crocodile, baboon, jackal, falcon, snake, bull, cat, etc. In popular belief, the animal still has its (often unrecognizable) place: eg the werewolf.

LITT. H. Portmann, Die Tiergestalt (1948); M. Kayser, Gottliche Tiere (1951); GvdLeeuw, Phanom. d. Religion (2nd Dr. 1956); Kees, Der Götterglaube im alten Aegypten (2nd ed. 1956).

HERALDRY

In banistics as well as in heraldry, all animal species, usually in a highly stylized form, appear as emblems. Usually (with the exception of lions as shield holders) they are not depicted in natural colors and often have crowns on the head, all kinds of attributes in the claws, extra coats of arms on the chest, shoulder or (in birds) on wings. The usual rendering is in profile, facing the pants at flags, facing to the right for the viewer of a weapon, but also (and then mentioned in the weapon description) facing the other side, with head turned (turned off) and the like. Of the birds, eagle and pelican are usually depicted face to face. In mammals, the male genitals are pronounced (sometimes with a special colour).

In all animals, claws, beaks, tongues and teeth can also be extra accentuated by a special color; on flags such detailing is usually neglected because it would not be recognizable from afar or even impairs the recognizability of the animal emblem. Also parts of animals appear as patches of weapon emblems: head, wing, claw, tail, feather, etc., or also mythical creatures.

List of Acronyms Related to Animal