Systema Naturae

Hello, little explorer. I am a very special book. Inside my pages, I hold all the wonderful living things in the world. I have pictures of buzzing bees, wiggly worms, and tall, tall trees. Before I came along, all their names were mixed up and messy. I helped put them all in a special order so everyone could learn about them. My name is Systema Naturae, and I am a book about nature's big family.

A very kind man named Carl Linnaeus made me. He loved flowers and animals so, so much. A long, long time ago, in the year 1735, he decided that every living thing should have a special name. He gave them a first name and a last name, just like you have. This way, a fuzzy bear in one part of the world would have the same name as a fuzzy bear far away. He wrote all of these names inside of me. He sorted them into groups, like putting all your toy cars in one box and all your dolls in another. It helped everyone see which animals and plants were part of the same family.

Because of me, people learned so many new things. They learned that a big, roaring lion is a cousin to your little purring house cat. Isn't that neat. I am like a giant family tree for all of nature. I show how every butterfly, every fish, and every flower has its own special spot in our big world. I help everyone remember that we are all connected in one beautiful home, and every creature is important.