The goals of biological classification

The world of animal diversity is quite complex and it requires an ability to recognise similarities and differences among organisms. Classification systems have four important roles. First, they are an aid to memory. It will be impossible to remember the characteristics of a large number of different animals unless we can group them into categories all members of which share many features. Second, classification systems greatly improve our predictive powers. If, for example, you know that mammals of all species have mammary glands with which they produce milk for their offspring, we can be quite certain that a newly discovered mammal will have this method of provisioning its offspring even if the first specimens we happen to find are males. Third, classification system. improves our explanatory power about relationships among animals. For biologists, this is especially an important role as they attempt to reconstruct the evolutionary pathway that has produced the diversity of organisms.