How does phosphate get into animals? Animals absorb phosphates by eating plants or plant-eating animals. Phosphorus cycles through plants and animals much faster than it does through rocks and sediments. When animals and plants die, phosphates will return to the soils or oceans again during decay. How are phosphate compounds transferred? In a phosphate transfer reaction, a phosphate group is transferred from a phosphate group donor molecule to a phosphate group acceptor molecule. The most important donor of phosphate groups in the cell is a molecule called adenosine triphosphate, commonly known by its abbreviation ATP. What happens to the phosphates...