MediumBiologyHigh School (11–12)Diversity of Living Organisms › Characteristics of LifeConceptualBoard Exam
Three animals cannot reproduce: a worker ant, a hinny and a pet cat that has had an operation so…
Contributed by StemPy LabTry it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
Three animals cannot reproduce: a worker ant, a hinny and a pet cat that has had an operation so that it cannot have kittens. (A hinny is the sterile young of a male horse and a female donkey.) Are they alive? What does this tell us about reproduction as a feature of life?
Need a reminder? The key ideaShow
Reproduction makes new individuals like the parents, with two parents (sexual) or one (asexual). Asexual ways: binary fission (Amoeba, bacteria), budding (yeast, Hydra), fragmentation (fungi, filamentous algae, protonema of mosses), spores (fungi) and regeneration (Planaria). Sterile organisms are alive, so reproduction is not a defining feature. Growth and reproduction are common features of living things, but not defining ones. Metabolism, a body made of cells, and a response to the surroundings are found in every living organism and in no non-living object.
The worked solution
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. Alive? Yes. All three have metabolism, bodies made of cells, and they respond to their surroundings.
Step 2. What it shows. Some living things do not reproduce, so reproduction is not a defining feature of life.
Step 3. Still a clue. No non-living thing can make a copy of itself, so reproduction is a common feature of living things.
Answer: they are alive; reproduction is common in living things but not defining.
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