Sams tree of life
Sam's Tree of Life
Taxonomy is exciting! Check out, how different animals are related to each other and navigate your way through families of bugs and non-bugs to find your favorite species.
What is taxonomy?
All living beings are categorized and classified into taxons. Every animal belongs to a species that has been named with at least a latin name. Some animals also have common names in various languages. You probably know, what a pig / cochon / cochino / Schwein is. That's a Sus. Yes, the pinkish one, the big brown one, a mini pig, Asian pigs living in the rain forest and European Wild boars, they are all member of the Sus tree. Sus scrofa, the wild boar, was bred into several domestic species, all called Sus scrofa (ssp.) domesticus. Races and breeds do not get their own species classification. If you're looking at a pink pig, that's probably a Sus scrofa domesticus var. American Yorkshire, that means it is a variation on the species.
But what is a pig really? Well, in taxonomy it is first and foremost a member of the taxon Animalis (Kingdom), then a member of Chordates (Phylum), something to do with how the animal is built in larval and adult stages, and then a Vertebrate (Subphylum), which means it has a spine and a cranium. It is a Mammal (Class), a Therian (Subclass), it is not a marsupial but a Placental Mammal (Infraclass) and as a member of Laurasiatheria (Superorder) it originated from the super continent Laurasia, rather than Gondwana. It is also even-toed (Order) and a member of Suids (Suborder) which are then broken down into tribes, genuses and finally species. And there you have it, that's the taxonomy that defines, what a pig is.
The exciting part is discovering, what other animals are in the same tribes, families or suborders. You will find that a pig is pretty closely related to Ruminants like sheep and goats. But of course on a bigger scale it is also related to a tiger, a whale or a turtle, they are all Vertebrates. Why not unfold the "Tree of life" above and find a pig?
Bugs vs Non-bugs
Bugs and non-bugs are not a real thing. Animals on this website were put into those two categories just for fun. Insects, worms and all sorts of arthropods are classified as "bugs" while all other living beings are "non-bugs". Because I thought it would be funny. It still is.