Error "cannot convert const char to char*

[AvengerLB]

The only error that appears in my code when I try to run it and I am having trouble figuring out how to fix it. I receive the error in my all my header files in the line animalType = "lizard";

Aninmal.h

 #ifndef ANIMAL_H_
#define ANIMAL_H_
#include <string>
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

class animal
{
public:
	animal();
	virtual string talk() = 0;
	virtual string move() = 0;
	//Support << operator, outputs the animal type, talk, and move
	friend ostream &operator<<(ostream &output, animal &lhs);
	char *animalType;
	static int numAnimals;
	virtual ~animal() = 0;
};

#endif /* ANIMAL_H_ */  

Animal.cpp

#include "animal.h"

using namespace std;

animal::animal()
{
	numAnimals = numAnimals + 1;
}

//Overload our cout operator, to support printing our animal
ostream &operator<<(ostream &output, animal &lhs)
{
	output << lhs.animalType << ", " << lhs.talk() << ", " << lhs.move();
	return output;
}

animal::~animal()
{
	--numAnimals;
}

Lizard.h

#include "Lizard.h"

using namespace std;

lizard::lizard()
{
	animalType = "lizard";
}

string lizard::talk()
{
	return "meep";
}

string lizard::move()
{
	return "run";
}

//Overload our cout operator, to support printing our animal
ostream &operator<<(ostream &output, lizard &lhs)
{
	output << lhs.animalType << ", " << lhs.talk() << ", " << lhs.move();
	return output;
}

lizard::~lizard()
{
	// TODO Auto-generated destructor stub
} 

[kbw]

Why is animalType declared to be a char*? Shouldn't it be a string?

[jonnin]

it should be a string.

you can't assign char* directly.
you can use strcpy (a C function) for this but make sure the char* has memory or that will crash. Handling C style strings is a bit of work, do you need to use them/ need to learn that?