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Why is paramecium called slipper animalcule?

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John McCann Profile
John McCann answered

Because it looks like a slipper you would wear on your feet and they once were thought to be " little animals. "

Paranecium

Pictures of paramecium.

Tim Cook Profile
Tim Cook answered

Paramecium, or to give them their full Latin name, Paramecium tetraurelia, were called 'slipper animalcule' due to their slipper-like shape, more pronounced when paramecium were discovered in the early 17th Century, due to the lower-quality lenses available to scientists back then, as you can see from this drawing:

The above image was drawn by Frenchman Louis Joblot in 1718, and is one of the first recorded pictures of a paramecium. The resemblance to a slipper is more noticeable here than in a more recent picture:

The 'animalcule' comes from the old word for protozoa, single-celled organisms who were considered animals because they appeared to behave like animals in that they had independent movement, consumed food and excreted waste in a similar way. 
Paramecium feed on bacteria and eat them using internal acids.

In 1752, the 'slipper animalcule' was renamed paramecium, from the Greek word for 'oblong'. They are related to the parasitic protozoa which causes the malaria virus in humans.

For other Blurtit questions about paramecium, take a look at Why Does A Paramecium Need Contractile Vacuoles? or What is the economic importance of paramecium?

YouTube provides lots of chances to meet microscopic creatures up close. Watch how a paramecium goes about its business in this clip:

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