Animals live almost everywhere on Earth, from tropical forests and deserts to rivers, mountains, oceans, and polar regions. Where an animal lives can be understood in several different ways, including its geographic range, the habitat it depends on, and the ecosystem it is part of.
These three ideas are closely connected, but they describe different parts of an animal’s environment. Geography tells us where animals are found around the world, habitats describe the places and conditions they need to survive, and ecosystems show how animals interact with other living things and with their physical surroundings.
Animal Geography
Animal geography looks at where species are found across the world. Continents, oceans, climate, mountains, islands, rivers, and other geographic features can all influence where animals live and how populations are distributed.
Animal Habitats
A habitat is the place where an animal lives and finds the food, water, shelter, space, and other resources it needs to survive. Animals live in many different habitats, including forests, grasslands, deserts, wetlands, freshwater environments, oceans, mountains, and polar regions.
Ecosystems
An ecosystem includes the living organisms in an area and the physical environment around them. Animals are connected to plants, other animals, water, soil, climate, and many other parts of an ecosystem through feeding, competition, pollination, seed dispersal, and other relationships.