What does it mean to be living? All living things share eight characteristics that classify them as being alive.

Interactive exercise. Assistance may be required. Click on the pictures below to learn more about the characteristics of life.

As you reviewed the interactive exercise, you learned that all living things reproduce or make more of their own kind. There are two types of reproduction: sexual reproduction and asexual reproduction. There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of reproduction.

Sources for images used in this section, as they appear, top to bottom: