Kingdom Protista is known as the “junk drawer” kingdom. Protists are so different from one another and because they don’t fit into another kingdom scientists group them in the protist kingdom. Characteristics of All Protists: *They are all eukaryotic - which means their cells have nuclei. *They all live in moist environments. *They can be either multicellular or unicellular. *They can be autotrophic which means they make their own food or heterotrophic which means they rely on their environment for food. Due to the fact protists share few common characteristics the best word to describe the protist kingdom is diversity.

Question- Are protists animals, plants or fungi? Answer- They are not animals, plants or fungi but some are animal-like, plant-like and fungus-like organisms. Plant-like protists Animal-like protists Fungus-like protists

Animal-like protists Animal-like protists are called Protozoans which means “little animals”. Animal protists are heterotrophs which means they get their food from ingestion. Most animal-like protists can move from one place to another. Unlike animals, Protozoans are unicellular (made of only one cell). Scientists distinguish between four types of Protozoans based on the way the organisms move and live.

Sarcodines (Amoeboids) * Sarcodines have pseudopods *Pseudopods are temporary budges of the cell membrane that fill with cytoplasm (jelly-like substance that fills cell) *Pseudopod means “false foot”. They form when the cell membrane pushes outward in one location. The cytoplasm flows into the bulge and the rest of the organism follows. *Sarcodines trap food particles (such as bacteria) by extending pseudopods on each side of a food particle and trapping the food particle inside. * An example of a protozoan that has pseudopods are amoebas. Amoeba

Ciliates *Ciliates move using cilia *Cilia-tiny hair-like projections from cells that move with a wavelike pattern. *Use cilia to move, get food, and sense their environment *An example of a Ciliate is a Paramecium Paramecium