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真菌是一個很大的生物類群，大約有10萬種，其中包括各種霉菌、酵母菌等，還有我們平時很熟悉的蘑菇——傘菌，它們在整個生物界中占有非常特殊的地位。
雖然在很早以前，科學家們已把它勉強歸入到植物界中，但關于真菌究竟是植物還是動物的爭論，長期以來一直沒有停止過。
有關真菌的最早論述，應追溯到公元前4世紀，著名的古希臘學者亞里土多德，首次在書中描述了真菌的特性。大約過了3000年后，著名科學家達普林尼把蘑菇分為可食蘑菇和有毒蘑菇兩類。然而，人們對真菌的認識，長期以來一直徘徊在很幼稚的水平，僅僅知道，它是一類沒有葉綠素、不能進行光合作用、常常依靠腐生或寄生的生物，但無法確定它究竟是植物還是動物，沒有一個人能為它下一個權威性的確切定義。
【英文原文】
What are fungi, plants or animals?
Well, mushrooms are merely one of many types of fungi. Not all fungi grow in soil. However, mushrooms and other fungi do resemble plants in many ways, so much so that scientists long classified fungi plants, but they know better now.
Eating Habits
Where it truly counts, fungi differ from plants significantly. One major difference lies in how they eat. Plants are characterized by their ability to make their own food, using chlorophyll, sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.
Fungi cannot make their own food. They have to consume other living or once living organisms. Fungi aren’t animals either, but for what it’s worth, some scientists consider them more akin to animals than plants. It’s even thought that fungi and animals may share a similar single-celled ancestor.
A major defining difference between the two kingdoms, however, is that while fungi do indeed have to consume other material, they don’t have stomachs like animals. Fungi have special cells that allow them to absorb their food.
