How do scientists classify animals?

They use the binomial system. Every animal has a Latin name.

Every animal or species belongs to a:

• Kingdom
• Phylum
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• Species

Take the domestic cat for example, it’s Latin name is Felis Catus. The first section, in this case is Felis – this is the genus. The second section, Catus, is the species. These are then combined to give the Latin name of Felis Catus. Your first question may well be, why bother? But this is a great way for scientists to combine their thinking and get over the issue of different languages internationally.