The term protozoa is commonly used to describe which group?

• A. Plant-like protists
• B. Animal-like protists
• C. Fungus-like protists
• D. Bacteria

Answer: (B)

Protozoa are animal-like protists—single-celled eukaryotes that move and obtain nutrients by ingesting other organisms or organic particles, rather than by photosynthesis. This animal-like lifestyle is what links them to the term protozoa. They lack chloroplasts, so they aren’t plant-like, and they don’t fit the fungus-like category which includes organisms that absorb nutrients through different, often filamentous forms. Bacteria, by contrast, are prokaryotes, without a true nucleus, so they’re a different kind of organism altogether. Historically, protozoa were grouped this way because of their motility and heterotrophic feeding, and in many intro biology contexts that association remains a practical way to describe these single-celled, animal-like protists.