Hello, this is wild suzhou.
Today, we will be talking about fungi and mushrooms. What are they? Are they plants, or animals, or something else?
Now, what are some things that are interesting about fungi? There are almost 120,000 species that have been discovered, but estimates say there could be millions of different species. Some species, like the portobello, oyster, and button mushrooms are edible and are commonly used in cooking. Others, like the deathcaps, destroying angels, and autumn skullcaps can very easily kill you. They come in bright oranges and yellows, warning you not to touch them, or softer brown and greys, blending in with their environment. They are found in every part of the earth, sometimes helping other life and sometimes preying on it, but usually helping to decompose dead matter and recycling nutrients back into their ecosystems. Fungi are curious and complex organisms, similar to both plants and animals, but existing as their own group.
Fungi are an extremely broad group of organisms, since it is considered a kingdom. A kingdom is a taxonomic rank, or level that we use to classify and name organisms. This may be confusing, so I’ll use the animal kingdom as an example. The animal kingdom contains all animals, from bears to birds to fish. There are many taxonomic ranks, and each one is more specific and usually has less animals that fit into the category. For example, with the animal kingdom, you can start with all animals, then all vertebrates, which are animals with spines, then all mammals, then all carnivorous mammals, then all cats, large and small, then all medium sized cats, and finally the house cat. You can see how the list of animals that fit in each rank becomes smaller as you move through the ranks.
Just like the animal kingdom, fungi are their own kingdom, with organisms like mushrooms, yeast and mold. There are a few reasons fungi are not considered plants or animals. They are unlike plants because they are not able to photosynthesize, meaning they can’t create their own food and energy from the sun. You might be wondering why there is confusion as to why people have been unsure whether fungi are animals. This is because fungi are more closely related to animals than they are to plants, which is crazy to think. Humans even share around 50 percent of their DNA with fungi, which is useful in developing cures for disease since we can observe how fungi learned to deal with the problem at hand.
For Wild Suzhou I’m Ciana thanks for listening and see you next time.