Order (biology) facts for kids

This picture shows how living things are grouped, from big categories like 'Domain' down to smaller ones like 'Species'.

An order is a special group used in biology to help organize all living things. It's like a step in a big classification system called taxonomy. Scientists use orders to group living things that are closely related. Each order contains several families that share similar features. Many orders together make up a class.

What is an Order?

Imagine you're sorting your toys. You might put all your action figures together, then all your building blocks, and so on. Scientists do something similar with plants, animals, and other living things. They use different levels, or "ranks," to sort them. An order is one of these important ranks. It helps us understand how different living things are connected.

How Orders are Formed

Orders are made up of one or more families. These families have common features, even if they look a bit different. For example, all members of an order might have a similar body structure or way of life. The idea is to group living things that are more alike than they are different. This makes it easier to study and understand the huge variety of life on Earth.

Examples of Orders

Let's look at some examples to understand orders better. These show how different families can belong to the same order.

Carnivora Order

The order Carnivora includes many meat-eating mammals. This order is home to animals like cats, dogs, and bears. Even though a house cat and a big bear look very different, they share enough features to be in the same order. The cat family, dog family, and bear family are all part of Carnivora.

Rodentia Order

The order Rodentia is for rodents. This group includes animals that have special teeth for gnawing. Rats and mice belong to one family within this order. Squirrels, with their bushy tails, are in a different family. Despite their differences, all these animals are rodents because of their shared characteristics.

Pinales Order (Conifers)

The order Pinales includes many types of pine trees. But it's not just pine trees! This order also includes all living conifers. This means trees like cypress and yew trees are also part of Pinales. They might look different, but they all produce cones and have needles or scale-like leaves.

Images for kids

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  This is the title page from a very important book by Carl Linnaeus, published in 1758. It helped create the system we use today to name and classify living things.

See also

In Spanish: Orden (biología) para niños