The Basics of Taxonomy

Taxonomy as depicted in the New Oxford American Dictionary:

taxonomy |takˈsänəmē|
noun chiefly Biology
the branch of science concerned with classification, esp. of organisms; systematics.
• the classification of something, esp. organisms : the taxonomy of these fossils.
• a scheme of classification: a taxonomy of smells.

If you don’t get it, here’s an example:

Species: Felis catus (Feral cat, house cat)

Genus: Felis (Group includes the Felis rufus (bobcat) and Felis concolor (cougar))

Family: Felidae (Group includes genus Panthera (lions, leopards and tigers) and genus Leopardus (ocelots))

Order: Carnivora (Carnivores, in general)

Class: Mammalia (Mammals, in general)

Phylum: Chordata (Animals with spines)

Kingdom: Animalia (All animals)

What is all this for?

Taxonomy is all about helping scientists identify animals, especially when there are many, many, many common names for the exact same life form. And sometimes, there are no common names for that life form!