Plants differ from animals in a few ways, and fungi share traits with both groups, belonging completely to neither.
Like plants, fungi may be rooted into the ground, and they absorb their nutrition without the aid of a digestive system or mouth
Not all animals walk, swim, fly or slither, but those that don't relocate from place to place, like barnacles, do move in their shells and have muscle-like tissues. Fungi do not
But fungi aren't plants either. They don't do photosynthesis. They feed on other biological matter, usually dead tissue.
So, being plantlike heterotrophs (they feed on formerly living things) they need their own kingdom.
Yael: Have I got a question for you, Don. What are fungi, plants or animals?
Don: I'm on to you. You want me to doubt my own common sense and pick the stranger of the two choices. But I'm no fool, Yael. Anyone with any sense at all knows that fungi are plants. I mean, mushrooms grow in soil for Pete's sake, and they certainly don't move about like animals do.
Y: You seem to be forgetting that mushrooms are merely one of many types of fungi. Not all fungi grow in soil. But you're right that mushrooms and other fungi do resemble plants in many ways, so much so that scientists long classified fungi plants, but they know better now. Where it truly counts, fungi differ from plants significantly.
D: Such as?
Y: One major difference lies in how they eat. Plants are characterized by their ability to make their own food, using chlorophyll, sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. Fungi cannot make their own food. They have to consume other living or once living organisms.
D: Hey, that sounds a lot like animals. But surely fungi aren't animals, are they?
Y: You're right there. Fungi aren't animals either, but for what it's worth, some scientists consider them more akin to animals than plants. It's even thought that fungi and animals may share a similar single-celled ancestor.
D: No way.
Y: Yes way. A major defining difference between the two kingdoms, however, is that while fungi do indeed have to consume other material, they don't have stomachs like animals. Fungi have special cells that allow them to absorb their food.
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Verified answer
Plants differ from animals in a few ways, and fungi share traits with both groups, belonging completely to neither.
Like plants, fungi may be rooted into the ground, and they absorb their nutrition without the aid of a digestive system or mouth
Not all animals walk, swim, fly or slither, but those that don't relocate from place to place, like barnacles, do move in their shells and have muscle-like tissues. Fungi do not
But fungi aren't plants either. They don't do photosynthesis. They feed on other biological matter, usually dead tissue.
So, being plantlike heterotrophs (they feed on formerly living things) they need their own kingdom.
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From http://amos.indiana.edu/library/scripts/fungiwhat....
Yael: Have I got a question for you, Don. What are fungi, plants or animals?
Don: I'm on to you. You want me to doubt my own common sense and pick the stranger of the two choices. But I'm no fool, Yael. Anyone with any sense at all knows that fungi are plants. I mean, mushrooms grow in soil for Pete's sake, and they certainly don't move about like animals do.
Y: You seem to be forgetting that mushrooms are merely one of many types of fungi. Not all fungi grow in soil. But you're right that mushrooms and other fungi do resemble plants in many ways, so much so that scientists long classified fungi plants, but they know better now. Where it truly counts, fungi differ from plants significantly.
D: Such as?
Y: One major difference lies in how they eat. Plants are characterized by their ability to make their own food, using chlorophyll, sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. Fungi cannot make their own food. They have to consume other living or once living organisms.
D: Hey, that sounds a lot like animals. But surely fungi aren't animals, are they?
Y: You're right there. Fungi aren't animals either, but for what it's worth, some scientists consider them more akin to animals than plants. It's even thought that fungi and animals may share a similar single-celled ancestor.
D: No way.
Y: Yes way. A major defining difference between the two kingdoms, however, is that while fungi do indeed have to consume other material, they don't have stomachs like animals. Fungi have special cells that allow them to absorb their food.
D: Well, I guess you got me again.