Animal Cell Structure — Differences from Plant Cells
In 1855, German scientist Rudolf Virchow studied more than 3,000 tissue samples and proved that every animal cell comes from a pre-existing cell — a discovery that redefined how doctors understood disease.
Printable Worksheets
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Q1 · Which parts of a plant cell do you think an animal cell would NOT need? Why not?
Q2 · Animals can run and jump and change shape. Plants can't. What does that tell you about the outside of an animal cell vs. a plant cell?
● Know
- The four main parts of an animal cell
- That animal cells have no cell wall, no chloroplasts and only small vacuoles
- The five parts shared by plant AND animal cells
● Understand
- Why animal cells don't have cell walls (animals need to move)
- Why animal cells don't have chloroplasts (animals eat food instead)
- That structure fits function — the cell's design matches the organism's lifestyle
● Can do
- Compare a plant and animal cell using a table
- Label the main parts of an animal cell
- Explain three key differences and why each one exists
- Plasma membrane
- Cytoplasm
- Mitochondria
- Organelle
- Flexible
- Powerhouses that release energy from food
- Able to bend or change shape
- Thin outer layer of an animal cell
- A specialised part inside a cell
- Jelly-like fluid that fills the cell
Squeeze a water balloon and watch it bulge and wobble — that is a reasonable model of an animal cell: soft, flexible, and completely unlike the rigid brick-shaped plant cell you studied last lesson.
| Part | Job |
|---|---|
| Plasma membrane | Thin flexible outer layer. Acts as the "gate" — controls what enters and leaves the cell. |
| Cytoplasm | Jelly-like fluid that fills most of the cell. Other parts float in it. |
| Nucleus | The control centre. Contains DNA. Decides what the cell makes. |
| Mitochondria | Tiny "powerhouses". Release energy from food (this is respiration). |
That's it. No tough outer wall. No green sun-catchers. No giant water tank. Animals get away with a much simpler cell design because they have a very different lifestyle.
A cell may also have small vacuoles for storing tiny amounts of substances, but these are nothing like the huge central vacuole in a plant.
An animal cell is surrounded by a thin . Inside, the jelly-like holds the (control centre) and many that release energy.
The clearest way to learn the differences is a comparison table.
| Part | Plant cell | Animal cell |
|---|---|---|
| Cell wall (cellulose) | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| Plasma membrane | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Cytoplasm | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Nucleus | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Mitochondria | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Chloroplasts | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| Large central vacuole | ✓ Yes | ✗ No (only small ones) |
| Shape | Rigid, box-like | Flexible, blobby |
So they share four things: plasma membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus and mitochondria. They differ on the three plant-only parts plus the overall shape.
Every difference in the table has a reason linked to how plants vs animals live.
| Difference | Why animals don't need it |
|---|---|
| No cell wall | Animals need to move, bend, run, change shape. A rigid wall would make this impossible. Imagine trying to run with a brick suit on. |
| No chloroplasts | Animals don't make their own food from sunlight — they eat other organisms instead. So chloroplasts would be useless. |
| No large vacuole | Animals drink water and have other ways to store fluid (blood, body fluids). They don't need a big internal water tank. |
This is a huge idea in biology: structure fits function. The design of a living thing matches the life it leads. You'll see this again in Lesson 9, when you meet specialised cells.
Wrong: "Animal cells are bigger than plant cells." There's no rule about size — both can vary a lot. Some animal cells are tiny (red blood cells); some plant cells are huge.
Right: Plant cells often LOOK bigger because of their large vacuole, but cell size depends on the cell's job, not whether it's plant or animal.
Wrong: "Animal cells don't have any vacuoles." They can have small vacuoles to store little bits of fluid or food. They just don't have one giant central vacuole like a plant.
Right: Animal cells can have small vacuoles. The key difference is they never have one huge central vacuole.
Wrong: "Animal cells don't need mitochondria — only plant cells do." This is the opposite of the truth. Animals can't make their own food, so they completely depend on mitochondria to release energy from the food they eat.
Right: BOTH cells have mitochondria. Animals especially need them — every muscle contraction, every nerve signal, every heartbeat needs energy from mitochondria.
A plant cell can make its own glucose using its chloroplasts. An animal cell can't — every bit of glucose has to come from food.
Once that glucose gets into an animal cell, it goes into the mitochondria. There it reacts with oxygen and releases energy that the cell can use to:
- contract muscles (lift your arm, kick a footy)
- send nerve signals (think, see, feel)
- pump your heart, breathe, keep warm
- build new molecules (skin, hair, bone)
Cells that need a LOT of energy — like muscle cells or sperm cells — pack themselves with hundreds or thousands of mitochondria. Cells with low energy needs (like fat-storage cells) have far fewer.
Imagine an animal cell suddenly grew a thick cellulose cell wall like a plant cell. Predict: what problems would this cause for the animal? Write 1–2 sentences, then reveal.
How close was your prediction?
Nice — you linked rigidity to loss of movement.
That's okay — the link between "no wall" and "free movement" is easy to overlook until you think about it.
At the start of the lesson you were asked: why don't humans glow green from chloroplasts and make their own food from sunlight?
Now that you've compared plant and animal cells, write your full answer. Explain which cell parts would be needed for that, why animal cells don't have them, and what animals do instead to get energy.
Q1. Name the four main parts of an animal cell and give the job of each. (3 marks)
Q2. Draw or describe a comparison table showing four parts present in both plant and animal cells, and three parts that are only in plant cells. (4 marks)
Q3. Choose ONE difference between animal and plant cells and explain why this difference makes sense given the lifestyle of an animal vs a plant. Use the phrase "structure fits function" in your answer. (4 marks)
Answers
▾MCQ 1
D — Both plant AND animal cells need mitochondria for respiration. Cell wall, chloroplasts and the large central vacuole are plant-only.
MCQ 2
B — A rigid wall would lock the cell into one shape. Animals need flexibility to move, run, bend and change shape — so no wall.
MCQ 3
A — Animals are heterotrophs: they get glucose from food. Plants are autotrophs: they make glucose from sunlight, water and CO₂. So animal cells don't need chloroplasts.
MCQ 4
C — The four shared parts are plasma membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus and mitochondria. Cell wall, chloroplast and large vacuole are plant-only.
MCQ 5
B — Mitochondria release the energy that powers muscle contraction. The harder a cell has to work, the more mitochondria it packs in. Fat-storage cells mostly just hold fat and need less energy.
Short Answer 1
Model answer: (1) Plasma membrane — thin flexible outer layer; controls what enters and leaves. (2) Cytoplasm — jelly-like fluid that fills the cell. (3) Nucleus — control centre that holds DNA. (4) Mitochondria — release energy from food.
Short Answer 2
Model answer: Shared parts (in both): plasma membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, mitochondria. Plant-only parts: cell wall (cellulose, makes cell rigid), chloroplasts (run photosynthesis using chlorophyll), large central vacuole (stores water).
Short Answer 3
Model answer: One example — animal cells have no cell wall while plant cells do. This makes sense because animals need to move: muscle cells must contract, blood cells must squeeze through capillaries, gut cells must flex as you swallow. A rigid wall would lock every cell into one shape and stop the animal moving. Plants don't need this freedom — they need to stand upright instead, so a strong wall suits them. This shows the big idea that structure fits function: the design of a cell matches the life of the organism.