Question

giant anteaters live in central and south america. as their name suggests, they eat ants and termites. first, an anteater tears open insect nests with its long claws. then, it extends its extremely long, sticky tongue into the nest to catch its prey. one anteater eats 35,000 ants and termites in a day. taxonomists first classified aardvarks as close relatives of anteaters. later, they moved aardvarks to a completely different order within the mammals. how do taxonomists decide classification of organisms in the linnaean system?

Explanation:

Taxonomists use physical characteristics, genetic - molecular data, and evolutionary relationships to classify organisms in the Linnaean system. They consider similarities and differences in anatomy, physiology, and DNA sequences. For aardvarks, initial classification was based on some surface - level similarities to anteaters, but further study of genetic and other characteristics led to re - classification.

Answer:

Taxonomists decide classification of organisms in the Linnaean system by considering physical traits, genetic data, and evolutionary history.