Animal Form and Function

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Animals provide evidence of the many and varied solutions to the challenges imposed on them by their changing environment. This unit builds on knowledge of the diversity of animals and interprets the differences and similarities within the framework of their evolutionary relationships to each other. While sometimes very different, animals provide many fascinating examples of solutions to the problems of gaining nutrients, removing wastes and surviving to reproduce the next generation. The unit provides a broad overview of animal function and structure and integrates this information with that introduced in earlier units of the major. It is a step leading to the units of Level 3 of the major where the underlying fundamental mechanisms and processes are revealed.