Scientific classification is a system of organizing living things into categories, from most inclusive (the biggest one) to least inclusive (the smallest one.) This kind of hierarchical classification is also known as a taxonomy. There are seven main divisions in the system of living things: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. But scientists also use super-divisions and sub-divisions. A human, for example, is classified as: Kingdom: Animalia; Phylum: Chordata; Subphylum: Vertebrata; Class: Mammalia; Subclass: Theria; Infraclass: Eutheria; Order: Primates; Suborder: Anthropoidea; Superfamily: Hominoidea; Family: Hominidae; Genus: Homo; Species: sapiens. Scientific names (such as Homo sapiens for humans) are created by combing the genus and species.
