Classification of Living Beings

Aristotle was the first author in human history to attempt to categorize various creatures in his work Historia Animalium or History of Animals. He divided the animals into categories based on characteristics that they shared. He divided the creatures into two groups, instance, animals with blood and animals without blood, depending on the presence of blood. Aristotle also divided creatures into those that lived on land and those that lived on water depending on their environment. In his view, all living things might be classified into hierarchical groups according to where they were in the hierarchy, from lowest to highest. In this ranking, he ranked the human species top.

He also created the vocabulary for binomials. With the use of this approach, any living thing may now be assigned two sets of names that represent its "genus" and "difference." Aristotle intended for a living thing's genus to stand in for its whole collective family or group. The distinction sets the residing thing apart from other members of the family to which it belongs.