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Animals
The term Animal is by definition arbitary. As a
category it has been included in the encyclopaedia only to give the
baseline or near-baseline reader a general appreciation of the great
diversity and value-importance of such creatures in the civilized
galaxy. Although they do not contribute to the day to day running of
sciety (as for that matter neither do most S<1's) they do contribute
by their very existence, as an expression of the diversity and
abundance of the universe (again, as do most S<1's)
Heuristic Definition: As generally used, without
terragen or anthropist chauvanism, an animal is a ril (non-virtual)
subsophont or presophont, usually (but not always) mobile, usually
multicelluar (or equivalent), heterotrophic organic (non-aiont)
sentient being of any metabolism or biochemistry. Because, given
dedicated enthusiasm, time, and the right biotech it is not too hard to
uplift an animal to full sapience (and even transapience), whether a
genus or a species as a whole should be considered "animal" (subsapient) or "sophont" ("sapient") is often hard to
determine. As a general rule, if 50% or more of the estimated
population is subsapient, it is considered an animal; if less than 50%
it is a sophont.
Allosaurus
Ammonite
Amphibian
Annelid
Anomalocaris
Ant
Arachnid
Archosaur
Arthropleura
Bat
Bird
Brachiosaur
Cat
Cephalopod
Copepod
Coral
Crab
Crocodile
Crustacean
Cymbium
Dinosaur
Dragonfly
Electrogenic fish
Fish
Frog
Fruit bat
Insect
Labyrinthodont
Lagomorph
Lepidoptera
Mammal
Marsupial
Mite
Mollusc
Mormyrid
Nematode
Physeteridae
Plesiosaur
Pterosaur
Rat
Rodent
Sabre-tooth
Ungulate
Volutidae
Worm
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