Dave McClain, age 10, of Florence, South Carolina, for his question:

How are elephants and bears classified?

Both the elephants and bears belong in the Class Mammalia, along with dozens of other warm blooded furry mammals who feed their infants on mother's milk. Yes, even Jumbo has a few hairy bristles.. Aside from being mammals, the elephants and bears are in no way related to each other. But the mammal class is subdivided into smaller orders of more closely related animals. The bears are classified in one order, the elephants in a different order.

The bears belong in the Order Carnivora, with all types of mammals who eat meat. They are separated from the cats, walruses and other carnivores in a family of their own. Bears and only bears belong in the Family Ursidae, a name borrowed from an older word for bear. The elephants are classified in the Order Proboscidae, a name that refers to their long noses, known as trunks. There are two of them, the African and the Indian elephants, and their nearest relative seems to be a bunny sized animal called the hyrax.