This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
YKTTW: Sliding Scale of Taxonomic Variety
launched as Sliding Scale Of Fictional Taxonomy
- Ub3r D4n: Uh, you guys know that animals and fungi are part of the same kingdom, right? The "Kingdom Animalia" has been defunct for years now. Since I'm not sure whether this trope is meant to be informative about the truth or about people's general biological conceptions, I haven't changed anything.
Grev: ...uh, what are you talking about?
Robert: They've probably got the wrong. Fungi are much more closely to animals than plants. Ultimately, the difference is that animals eat their food from the outside in, and fungi from the inside out. Thus, animals wrap themselves around their food, swallowing it, while fungi grow inside their food. It's a small difference, but that's how all the large divergences started. However, while fungi are our cousins, that's not the same as being in the same kingdom.
