Classification of Living Things

Scientists classify living things for several reasons. It helps to understand human beings’ biological evolution its close relations in the animal kingdom. It is also interesting to learn about other living things. Every living organism on Earth, whether plant or animal, is classified by shared characteristics. Organisms are first divided into large groups by a shared characteristic, and then divided into smaller groups by additional shared and similar characteristics. There are eight main levels scientists use to classify all living things and are based on shared characteristics. The eight groups include:  domain, kingdom, phylum, classes, order, families, genus, and species. Each of the groups are then further divided into smaller groups based on additional characteristics within the larger group.