Introduction
Living things have the ability to carry out the following activities: reproduction, movement, feeding, excretion, growth, respiration, irritability and death which make them different from non-living things. The major groups of living things are plants and animals.
Types of Activities of Living Things
- Movement: Living things like man, goat, cat, etc. move from one place to another on their own. Plants however cannot do this. They only move in response to stimuli i.e. they can move towards light or water. Animals move in several ways like running, swimming, flying, jumping, etc.
- Feeding: Living things feed to get energy to do their daily activities and to remain alive. The process of eating food to get energy is known as feeding or nutrition. Plants feed on food manufactured by themselves through the process of photosynthesis while animals depend on food manufactured by plants.
- Growth: All living things grow to become bigger. They start off in life usually much smaller than when they are mature. They increase in size and weight. Plants grow continuously throughout their life time (i.e. their growth is unlimited) while animals grow and stop at a certain stage in life (i.e. growth is limited in animals).
- Irritability: This is the ability of a living thing to respond to reactions from external environment. For example, when the weather is cold and you shiver, you are responding to an external stimulus-cold. Reactions are known as stimuli and this can be internal or external to the living thing. Examples of stimuli include, light, touch, sound, etc.
- Reproduction: Reproduction is the process by which all living things produce young ones after their own kind. There are different methods of reproduction in animals and plants. Some animals reproduce their young ones alive e.g. goat, others reproduce through laying of eggs e.g. hen, while plants reproduce from seeds, roots or stem cuttings.
- Respiration: Animals take in oxygen and give out carbon (IV) oxides while plants take in carbon (IV) oxide and give out oxygen during photosynthesis. Respiration involves the oxidation or breakdown of food taken in using oxygen. All living things respire.
- Excretion: This is the removal of waste products from the body. Living things such as animals remove water, carbon (IV) oxide and ammonia in form of urine, while plants release oxygen, water, gum, tannin, etc.
- Death: When living things stop carrying out their daily activities as described in their characteristics, they are said to be dead.
Read more below-
https://passnownow.com/lesson/characteristics-of-living-things/
