Why does a dog not belong in a group with a mouse salamander raccoon?

Answer 1

It depends on the size, or inclusiveness, of the group. Dogs, mice, salamanders, and raccoons are all members of the group called vertebrates--they have backbones.

Salamanders, however, are amphibians--they have to spend part of their life cycle living in water, they are cold-blooded, and they have four legs (or at least four limbs.) Most of them have a larval, aquatic stage, like tadpoles, then change to an adult, air-breathing form, like frogs.

Dogs, mice, and raccoons are all mammals. This means they have hair, give live birth (not eggs), and nourish their young with milk from breasts (mammae.)

Mice, however, are rodents, meaning that they have a pair of continuously-growing "middle teeth" (incisors) in the front of their mouth, which means they must keep gnawing on things in order to wear their incisors down. Squirrels, porcupines, beavers, and guinea pigs are also rodents.

Dogs and raccoons are Carnivora, which means "meat-eaters." Other members of the order Carnivora are bears, cats, and skunks.

Dogs are members of Canidae, or canines, along with wolves, foxes, and coyotes. They walk on their toes, or "digitigrade;" bears and raccoons walk plantigrade, like humans do--on the flat part of their feet. Canines live in social groups. Bears and raccoons don't. Canines' teeth are different from bears and raccons. Needless to say, bears and raccoons are also different from each other.

So you can see that dogs, mice, salamanders, and raccoons are members of the same group and also members of different groups--depending on the size and the characteristics of the group.Dogs do not belong in this group of animals