There are 5 kingdoms; Kingdom Animalia, Kingdom Plantae, Kingdom Fungi, Kingdom Minera, and Kingdom Protistae. Why isn’t there another one for viruses, since they fit in neither of these kingdoms, due to the lack of DNA?
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I believe the major reason is because viruses aren’t considered alive. You can’t assign a non-living thing to an animal kingdom. If you do, where do you draw the line? Are self-replicating proteins animals as well?
I thought something that self-replicates is alive. Viruses aren’t alive because they can’t replicate by themselves, they need another living thing to inhabit.
It’s just one of several criteria, and not everyone agrees about which ones count.
