What is Taxonomy?
[[Image:Scientific classification.svg|right|100px|The hierarchy of scientific classification]] '''Taxonomy''' is a branch of [[biology]]. It is about the [[law]]s and [[principle]]s of classifying living things.<ref>''Oxford English dictionary''</ref> From one type of taxonomy, many classifications might be produced. ==Classification== The best-known kind of taxonomy is used for the [[Biological classification|classification]] of lifeforms (living and extinct). Each organism has a scientific name. This name is part of the '''[[biological classification]]''' of that [[species]]. The name is the same all over the world, so scientists from different places can understand each other. In addition, a species has a position in the [[Tree of life (biology)|tree of life]]. Thus the [[crow]] is ''Corvus corone'', a member of the [[Corvidae]] [[Family (biology)|family]], and they are [[passerine]] [[bird]]s. That is well agreed, but the classification of some groups is not agreed at present, and often several classifications are being discussed. Living things are classified into three [[Domain (biology)|domains]]: [[bacteria]], [[archaea]] and [[eukaryotes]]. The highest rank in a domain is the [[Kingdom (biology)|kingdom]]. Each kingdom has many smaller groups in it, called [[Phylum|phyla]].<ref>See [[List of animal phyla]]</ref> Each phylum has more smaller groups in it, called [[Class (biology)|classes]]. This pattern looks like branches on a tree with smaller branches growing from them. Each species is put into a group because of what it does, how and what it eats, special body parts, and so on. At the end of the pattern, the groups ([[Genus|genera]]) are very small. Then each species in the genus is given its own name. == Binomial nomenclature == When someone writes about a living thing and its formal scientific name, they write the genus and species name. This is known as [[binomial nomenclature]], because it uses two names for each [[organism]]. The first is the [[genus]] name, and the second is the [[species]] i