What is species?

A species is a group of living things that can have babies together and share similar traits.

Imagine you're at a playground, and all the kids there are from the same school, they can play together, talk the same language, and look kind of alike. That’s like being in the same species. Now imagine another playground nearby where the kids are from a different school, they might still be kids (so they're related), but they have some different rules and maybe even look a little different. Those two groups of kids would be from different species.

If you can find two living things that can have babies together, they’re probably in the same species. For example, all dogs are part of the same species, because any dog can have babies with another dog, even if one is a poodle and the other is a bulldog.

But if you try to make a baby between a dog and a cat, it doesn’t work (usually). That means they’re from different species.

So, a species is like a club, all the members can have babies together and look pretty similar. If someone new comes in who looks different and can't have babies with them, that person might be from another club, or species!