DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PLANTS AND ANIMAL In reality plants and animals are living things but there are still some basic differences between these groups of living things.
Plants and animals are both living things, but they have many differences.
Here are some of the key differences between plants and animals:
- Movement: Plants are generally immobile, while animals can move from place to place.
- Nutrition: Plants make their own food through photosynthesis, while animals get their food by eating other organisms.
- Cell structure: Plant cells have a cell wall, while animal cells do not.
- Reproduction: Plants reproduce by seeds, spores, or other methods, while animals reproduce sexually.
- Excretion: Plants excrete waste products through their leaves, while animals excrete waste products through their kidneys or other organs.
- Sensitivity: Plants are sensitive to their environment, but they do not have a nervous system like animals.
- Growth: Plants grow throughout their lives, while animals grow only up to a certain point.
Here is a table summarizing the key differences between plants and animal:
| Characteristic | Plants | Animals |
|---|---|---|
| Movement | Immobile | Mobile |
| Nutrition | Photosynthesis | Eating other organisms |
| Cell structure | Cell wall | No cell wall |
| Reproduction | Seeds, spores, etc. | Sexual reproduction |
| Excretion | Leaves | Kidneys, etc. |
| Sensitivity | Environmentally sensitive | Nervous system |
| Growth | Throughout their lives | Up to a certain point |
There are also some organisms that do not fit neatly into either the plant or animal kingdom.
These organisms are called “protists” and they have characteristics of both
For example, some protists can make their own food through photosynthesis, while others eat other organisms.
The differences between plant and animals are important because they help us to understand the different ways that living things function.
These differences also help us to classify organisms and to study their evolution.
Here I am going to give a comprehensive detail of all these differences in the chart below.
PLANT CHARACTERISTICS
1. Most green plants make their own food through a process called photosynthesis. Also known as AUTOTROPHIC MODE OF FEEDING. But non-green plants cannot make food through photosynthesis
2. Growth is mainly at the growing regions or parts of the plant itself known as Epical meristem. So growth is continuous throughout the life of plants
3. Plants are not active. They don’t have developed organs for movement.
4. Plants have a slow response to external stimuli
5. They possess no special excretory system
6. They possess no special sensory organ
7. Food is stored mainly as starch like in fungi
8. They have no fixed number of parts, branching is continuous
9. Gaseous exchange is through the entire body
10. The cells of a typical plant have a rigid, non-living cellulose cell wall
11. Plant cells have large vacuoles containing the cell sap of plants
ANIMALS CHARACTERISTICS
1. Animals cannot carry out photosynthesis but widely depend on foods made by plants. Hence they are heterotrophic
2. Growth takes place all over the body or intercalary. And it is limited to a certain period in their lifetime
