The document discusses how biologists classify animals. It describes the key characteristics used to classify animals, including whether they have specialized tissues, their symmetry (radial or bilateral), the number of germ layers in their embryos, how their gut develops, and their method of growth. The classification system presented divides animals into major groups including sponges, cnidarians, worms, mollusks, arthropods, echinoderms, and chordates based on these characteristics.