Taxonomy has changed my perception of each organism's uniqueness as Taxonomy shows me how each and every animal is somehow related to each other but also how they are distinct. First of all, what is Taxonomic Classification? Taxonomic Classification is the scientific study of naming, describing and classifying organisms, may it be plants, animals, or microorganisms. The science behind it identifies the organism in many ways, most notably DKPCOFGS or Dear King Phillip Came Over For Good Soup. “DKPCOFGS” identifies all organisms from Domain which is so inclusive that it divides all organisms in earth into 3 categories to Species which rounds all of the earth’s organisms into 1 animal. The first, most inclusive out of all the Taxonomic classifications is the Domain, something such as a membrane-bound nucleus would already differentiate a Eukaryotic life-form from an Archaea or a Bacteria, another difference between Eukaryotes and the other 2 Domains (Archaea and Bacteria) are that the Eukaryotes have a rRNA that is distinctly different from the Archaea and Bacteria. Another way on how the Domain Eukaryote is unique from the other Domains is that Eukaryota is mostly multicellular and is Eukaryotic, while Archaea and Bacteria are unicellular and Prokaryotic. Even if “Kingdom” is the 2nd most inclusive Taxonomic classification, the different types of kingdoms still differ from each other. The Kingdom Animalia(Animal) where the Visayan Warty Pig is from, differs from the other kingdoms as they consume other organisms, may it be carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, or parasites. Another way on how kingdom Animalia is unique from the other kingdoms is how they reproduce, the organisms that are in kingdom Animalia reproduce sexually and goes through on developmental stages on a determined body plan. As for the third one on the list of the Taxonomy classification or more commonly known as Phylum, some ways on how the Chordata differentiate from other Phylums is that Chordata or more known as vertebrates has a backbone. The next classification is Class in which the Visayan Warty Pig( Sus cebifrons) is in, Mammalia (Mammal). What makes a mammal unique is that they are fed milk with special mammary glands from their mother, also that mammals have hair or fur. As for the Order of the species, it is an Artiodactyla, what makes an Artiodactyla unique from the other subspecies is that it has an even-numbered amount (2,4) of toes and is called an even-toed ungulates, compared to Perissodactyla which has an odd-number amount of toes (1,3). As for the Family classification, the main difference between Suidae (pigs) and Tayassuidae(Peccaries) are that Suidae have upright ears and long tails while Tayassuidae have small ears and small tails. Another notable difference is that Suidae’s tusks are curved while Tayassuidae’s tusks are not. What makes the Sus unique from the other members of the family of Suidae is that they are an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. Another that I can apply these learnings to are the way on how the Visayan warty pig (Sus cebifrons) could be similar to Mindoro warty pig (Sus oliveri) through their size but having a different coloration. After all of what has been said, you might be wondering, what is the etymology (origin/meaning of the name)of the Sus cebifrons? The etymology of the words Sus cebifrons would be cebi from Cebu where the specimen is seen from and frons meaning forehead or brow in Latin. It has also taught me that even if there are tons of different animals out there, there can always be a way on how we can classify them no matter how vast the animal kingdom is. Another way on how my perception has changed is no matter how painstakingly boring it may be(no offense), the study of Taxonomy is still very beautiful on how we can tell apart and see each and every organism’s uniqueness in their own way. It may be the coloration of their fur, the amount of toes on their feet, the way they reproduce, each and every animal may be somewhat similar to each other but it doesn’t do them justice by just calling them a “pig”or a “swine”.

The study has taught me many things about the taxonomic classification of animals, the ecology and biodiversity of not only the Visayan Warty Pig but all the animals on the planet. Firstly, taxonomy has taught me to appreciate all the living organisms as how all if not, a lot of animals are intertwined with each other, may it be the domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, or species. But it also taught me that all animals are unique in their own little or big ways, like the amount of toes, if they have a cell wall, or if they have a different color. An example would be how the Visayan Warty Pig (Sus cebifrons) would be similar to the Mindoro Warty Pig (Sus oliveri) but has a different coloration and habitat, which brings me to my second point, etymology. Etymology to put in a few words is the way to name an animal and to differentiate it from the rest and is a name for anything that will go through history unchanged as ancient Latin/Greek is a dead language. As for Biodiversity and Ecology, we can say that all the animals in an ecosystem are connected to each other, as they need each other to survive and make the ecosystem flourish, may it be a food web or a food chain. An example of this from the Visayan Warty Pig would be the plant population needing it to disperse the seed into the ecosystem, making the Visayan Warty Pig a vital player in the ecosystem. After my reflection, I am inspired to help make the world a better place, but how since you are a Grade 10 student? I admit, as a Grade 10 student, there aren't a lot of things I can do, but what I can do is try to help in my own little but big ways. Firstly, I would ban myself from single-use plastics, such as straws, utensils, bags, and instead use paper/wood replacements or better yet, metal! Well what about bags? Well we could always use eco bags or reuse the plastic bags. Doing so would help reduce the total amount of plastic usage and help fight water pollution, plastic straws are one of the reasons why turtles are endangered! One really important rule that I would like everyone to follow is the reuse, reduce, and recycle rule. Reducing is reducing the amount of plastic or waste you produce, this would really help out the environment. Reuse, reusing is just using the plastic/product again and again to reduce waste that goes into the environment. And recycling, recycling is throwing plastics at the recycling bin and people would use up the old plastics and use it to make newer products. And the most simple ways to save the environment that anyone can do is to turn off your lights when you are not using them, and turn off the water when you are done using it. Another unconventional way of saving the environment is doing what we are doing right now, making a website to spread awareness about all the species on our planet and how we could be saving them in our own little ways. In conclusion, saving OUR planet is really simple that even if all Grade 10 students were to follow in our footsteps, we could really make a difference.

After finishing both my reflection and my research about the taxonomic classification, ecology, and biodiversity about the Visayan Warty Pig(Sus cebifrons) and also about all the organisms in the world, also how all the organisms generally rely on each other may it be as a source of food. The reflection also made me think that all animals are unique and each and every animal is also similar to each other. Thus learning all about my reflection and research, the reflection has inspired me to start appreciating all the animals around me and also start fighting against certain practices against animals. Since I am still very young and don’t hold a lot of power as of right now, I cannot do that much, but what I can do is spread awareness about certain practices that affect the animal kingdom in a bad way. Some practices I can start doing is to care more for the environment and some ways I can do that is by: reducing the use of single use plastic, for example straws, plastic bags etc. and also remembering to turn off the lights and water when it is not needed for the time being, not littering and not supporting the companies that are cruel to animals( experimenting on animals, causing pollution at a large scale and not making it right afterwards(covering up the carbon footprint, like planting trees after omitting tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere) ) and also to donate to those who are trying to make the world a better place like MrBeast that plants a tree for every dollar you donate. This is not only for me but we should remember to support the locals to promote the protection of our own nation’s endangered, critically endangered, and extinct in the wild organisms. I would also spread awareness about habitat destruction and doing so would hopefully start helping people realize the effects of habitat destruction and to help stop it but we should also realize that as the human population increases, we should also accommodate natural resources and land towards the population, but a way on how to avoid these mass deaths is to safely relocate these animals or to do research about these endangered animals on where and how they live. As to summarize all my research and reflections, each and every one of earth’s organisms are unique to each other and some ( like the Visayan Warty Pig) are going extinct and we should remember to take care of them, especially the ones that are going extinct so we can save their uniqueness. We can also say that taxonomy is a beautiful study of science because we can truly see the beauty of mother nature and how we are all interconnected(Biodiversity) and how our decisions affect others (Ecology).

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