Mammals!

What Makes a Mammal a Mammal?

• Air Breathing• Vertebrate• Warm Blooded (endothermic)• Hair covered bodies• 3 Middle Ear Bones • Mammary glands that function in mother hood

(breast milk produced for young) .

• Most have sweat glands• Specialized teeth for chewing.• Placenta that is used to feed offspring

during gestation (time when infants are in the mother’s uterus)

• Mammalian brain is the most advanced for regulating body systems

• 4 chambered heart and red blood cells for oxygen transport.

• Mammals range in size from the 30–40 millimeter bumblebee bat to the 33-meter blue whale.

Reproduction

• Except for the monotreme mammals, which lay eggs, all living mammals will give birth to live young.

Platypus Short Beaked Echidna

Long Beaked Echidna

Reproduction • The young will develop in the

uterus of the mother for different times depending on the species.

• The shortest gestation is 12-13 days in the Virginian opossum. However the young are not fully developed and must live in the mothers pouch for several weeks before being able to survive away from their mother.

• The longest gestation is 660-760 days for the African Elephant. Young are born able to walk.

Groups of Mammals

1) Rodentia

• The rodents• Includes mice, rats, porcupines, beavers,

capybaras, and other gnawing mammals

Mouse

Rats

Porcupines

Capybara

Beaver

2) Chiroptera

• Bats• Forelimbs have become webbed, which makes

them the only mammals truly capable of flight. • Most each insects, followed by fruit. • There is one species on the coast of California

which will eat fishand crustaceans.

3) Soricomorpha

• Includes shrews, moles and solenodons.• A Solenodon is a burrowing, nocturnal,

venomous and insectivorous animal. They are only found in Cuba or Haiti.

Cuban Solenodon

Haitian Solenodon Shrew Mole

4) Primates

• Includes the human species, Homo Sapiens.• Most primate types are found in tropical/sub

tropical areas. • There are 2 groups found in the primates:• Prosomians and Simians

Prosomians

• Lemurs • Lorises• Galagos• Tarsiers

Simians • Monkeys• Gibbons• Apes• Chimps• Gorillas

5) Cetartiodactyla• Large groups that includes a

variety of animals:• Whales and dolphins is one

grouping.• ‘Even toed ungulates’ are the

other group. These include animals such as pigs, deer, hippos, etc. Essentially any 4 legged animal with even amounts of toes.

6) Carnivora

• Primarily meat eaters and mothers raise the young.

• Includes dogs, cats, weasels, bears, and seals.• The smallest member of carnivora is the least

weasel at as little as 25 grams.• The largest members are the polar bear, which

can weigh up to 1,000 kilograms and the southern elephant seal which can weight up to 5,000 kilograms.