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Animals

When we hear someone talking about animals, we immediately think of the animals we know best and that are evolutively nearer to us, like birds and mammals. Actually the larger part of the animal kingdom is made up of invertebrates, animals without a skeleton, that account for 95% of the living species. Jellyfish, corals, worms, arachnids, crustaceans, molluscs, echinoderms and, among the most numerous species, insects, are all very different from one another and they populate all the environments on land and in the seas. These are mainly small sized animals, with the exception of the giant squid that is the largest living invertebrate, whose tentacles grow up to twenty meters long. Reptiles exist since millions of years, and their ancestors were amphibian, and lived both on land and in the water. Their size, and their structure varies greatly: tortoises, crocodiles, alligators, lizards and snakes are reptiles. From 230 to 65 million years ago, the Earth was dominated by dinosaurs that became extinct at the end of the period. 150 million years ago, birds evolved from the reptiles and they were characterized by their capacity to fly, that enabled them to spread rapidly to all the environments of the planet. Mammals can survive in almost all the environments and can adapt to various climates: to life in the jungle, in the desert, in the polar regions, in the air, in the oceans, underground, on trees, and they move from one environment to another.
In order to live in each environment, mammals have developed different bodies: most of the domestic animals, humans, bats, whales, elephants and beavers, kangaroos, koalas, the duck-billed platypus and bears are mammals!

subjects dealt with in Animals

Animals knowledge

Most of animals, even the simplest ones, have a sexed reproduction, which allows to increase the genetic variability of individuals…

Man and animals

As early as 20,000 years ago, some Primitive men portrayed on rocks, in caves and in the open air the…

Protection of biodiversity

An animal species is seriously threatened with extinction when its population is broken up. Extinction is a natural process that…

Breeding and environment

Have you ever wondered how is produced meat you can find well-packaged and neatly filed on shelves at the supermarket?…

What you can do

Current meat consumption have grown a lot in comparison to the past: FAO has estimated that they have been raising…

 
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special reports

from the Multimedia section

  • life

    Nudibranchs (sea slugs)

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  • water

    No more ice for the bears

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  • air

    The polar bear will become extinct

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curiosities

eniscuola energy&environment

"Eniscuola Energy and Environment" is a project run by eni to promote awareness of energy and environmental issues amongst students. In the Italian version, the website also offers digital lessons on Art, Science and English language.

 
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eniscuola energy&environment

"Eniscuola Energy and Environment" is a project run by eni to promote awareness of energy and environmental issues amongst students. \ In the Italian version, the website also offers digital lessons on Art, Science and English language, produced in collaboration with Italian high schools (eniscuola culture and eniscuola in the classroom).

 
 
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