Mike Biswas, age 12, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, for his question:

HOW MANY SPECIES OF ANIMALS ARE THERE?

All living things are divided into two main groups by scientists: the animal kingdom and the plant kingdom. Plants

make their own food from water, air and sunlight, and for the most part they are anchored by roots into one place. Animals move around and eat either plants or other animals. Some are so small, such as bacteria, they can only be seen under a microscope.

Animal life is almost endless in its variety. The range goes all the way from simple one celled creatures, such as a protozoa, to complex animals, such as the ape.

And there are a lot of strange creatures here on earth, too. There's the flying dragon, a type of lizard that lives in Asia and the East Indies. He can spread out folds of his skin to form wings that he uses to glide from tree to tree. And how about the coconut crab who lives on many tropical islands. He is able to climb palm trees and eat coconuts for food. He cracks the nuts with his powerful. claws and scoops out the sweet meat.

Both animals and plants are linked together in a basic pattern of nature that is often called the web of life.

Man probably first learned about animals when he hunted them for his food, and they in turn hunted him for their food. Civilization quite possibly came into focus when man and dog became partners. It wasn't too long after that when man discovered he could tame and raise other animals for food and as beasts of burden.

Animals can be grouped in a number of ways. There are tame animals and wild ones. Some are warmblooded while others are coldblooded. Some live on land while others live in water. And they can be grouped by the number of their legs: some have two, four, six, eight, 10 or hundreds of legs.