Protist Protests Like us Commentary

John Hogg protistology

Protist

• Carl Linnaeus said there were Animalia,
• Plantae, and a third kingdom Lapides, the rocks.
• But before there were animals,
• before there were plants,
• life existed, reasoned John Hogg,
• and he called this fourth kingdom Protoctista.
• Protists are eukaryotic organisms
• that do not fit into the animal or plant kingdom.

Protests

• Protozoa are animal-like unicellular protists—
• amoeba, flagellata, ciliophora, sporozoans.
• Protophyta are plant-like protists—
• thallophytes and unicellular algae.
• Molds are fungus-like but they are not fungi.
• Some protists are odd, such as the metamonads,
• including the retoramonads, diplomonads,
• and maybe the parabasalids and oxymonads.
• Are fungi multicellular protists?
• (Fungi are not animals, plants, or rocks.)
• Some forms of life are not so easy to classify.
• Diatoms, are they animals?
• Are slime molds amoebas?
• Bacteria are not protists
• because they are not eukaryotic;
• they don’t have nuclei or organelles.
• Viruses and viroids are not protists;
• some say they are not a form of life.

Like us

• Clearly, mammals are like us.
• After all, we are mammals.
• Also marsupials and octopi.
• How about birds and fish? Aren’t they like us?
• They have backbones like us,
• hearts and brains,
• and little brown eyes that look at us.
• Maybe reptiles? Turtles are cute,
• and some think dinosaurs
• were warm-blooded, like us.
• But I rule out, I categorically rule out
• mollusks and crabs. I like them,
• but mainly on my dinner plate.
• Also worms and insects.
• Insects and worms are not like us.