Definition of Physical Characteristics

Everything that surrounds us has objective qualities, singularities. To refer to them we talk about the physical characteristics of something, which can be a person, an animal, a mineral or a continent.

Knowing the physical characteristics allows us to differentiate one reality from another, describe something or classify it in an orderly and coherent way.

Physical characteristics of people

The features of the human body, its different measurements and its peculiarities make up the set of its physical characteristics. When referring to an individual we can use information that explains their uniqueness (height, hair color, skin color, weight and other data that are evident to an observer). Generally, the description Someone's physics is found within an everyday context (for example, when we observe an individual we are perceiving the most striking features of him with the naked eye). However, sometimes the physical characteristics of a person are related to other situations (for example, when a medical examination collects information about a patient).

The physical characteristics of people are related to very different aspects: with the canon of beauty, with their physical capacity, with their state of health or with age. In any case, the different physical characteristics provide useful information about people. However, the information can be misleading, as there are thin people who are very strong or fat with more endurance of what its appearance conveys. On the other hand, physical characteristics are interpreted unfairly with some frequency (the appearance exterior with personal qualities or in the case of people with disability you can be prejudiced that their external appearance has some relation to their intellectual capacity).

Physical characteristics from the perspective of zoology

Zoologists conduct a classification of each animal species from its physiological variations. These variations make up the taxonomy of an individual that belongs to a specific species and each species has its own physiological characteristics (bone structure, musculature, internal organs and other tissues). The information obtained from each animal allows us to know its evolution as a species and its ability to adapt to the physical environment.

Taxonomy as a management tool allows animals to be classified, ordered hierarchically and made comparisons between one species and another.

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