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Mammals
Temporal range: Upper Triassic–Recent
Procyon lotor (Common raccoon).jpg
Raccoon (Procyon lotor )
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Subphylum:
Vertebrata
Infraphylum:
Amniota
Superclass:
Tetrapoda
(unranked):
Synapsida
Class:
Mammalia

Linnaeus, 1758
Subclasses & Infraclasses

Mammals are the group of vertebrate animals which form the class Mammalia. They have fur and a very precise kind of temperature regulation. The females bear live young, and produce milk for the young. Parental care of the young is universal among mammals, and it is essential because live birth limits the number of offspring.

Main characteristics

Myresluger2
The insectivorous giant anteater eats some 30,000 insects per day.
A Bonobo at the San Diego Zoo "fishing" for termites
A bonobo fishing for termites with a stick
Borneo elephants
Female elephants live in stable groups, along with their offspring.
- fighting red kangaroos 2
Red kangaroos "boxing" for dominance

Reproductive cycle

Most marsupial and eutherian mammals have a reproductive cycle known as the oestrous cycle (U.S: estrous cycle). Females are sexually active only during the oestrous stage, when they are 'on heat' for a few days each month. If an ovum is not fertilised, the endometrium (uterus lining) is resorbed. Oestrus cycles may occur once or twice a year, or many times a year. Each group of mammals has its own frequency.

Humans and primates, are quite different. They have a menstrual cycle. In this case, females are sexually receptive at any time, but only fertile when an ovum is released from an ovary. In this case, the endometrium (if not needed for an fertilised egg) is discarded. The endometrium is shed, and takes with it a certain amount of blood. In this system, eggs are released from the ovaries mostly in the middle of the cycle, away from the menstrual period. This ovulation is 'concealed', meaning, it is not obvious when it occurs. This process, so it is thought, tends to keep the male and female together, which is unusual in mammals with the oestrous cycle.

Skeleton

One diagnostic feature is the lower jaw which, unlike earlier forms, is composed of a single bone, the dentary. This is one feature which can be seen in fossils, or at least those which are complete enough to have the lower jaw. Mammals have three little bones in their inner ear, the ear ossicles. The ear ossicles are bones which were, long ago, part of the lower jaw in early proto-mammals.

There are quite a number of other features, particularly in the skull and limbs, so that it is usually possible identify and describe a mammal from its skeleton alone.

Neocortex and behaviour

Another diagnostic feature is the neocortex of the brain, which no other vertebrate has. This is involved in the kind of flexible behaviour and learning typical of mammals. Reptiles and birds have much of their behaviour controlled by "inherited behaviour chains", which roughly translates as "instincts". Almost all animals can do some learning, but mammals do far more than other vertebrates. Their behaviour is much more flexible than lizards, for example, and that is made possible by their neocortex.

Other things in the life of mammals seem to be connected with this flexibility and learning. Play is a kind of early learning period in which, according to one theory, mammals develop skills which they will need in life. All mammalian young play, and this is very obvious in the more intelligent mammals (primates, cats).

The emotions of mammals are very noticeable, and rather similar to ours. It is possible, and quite common, for humans to have a friendly relationship with another mammal. It is quite impossible for a human to have any kind of relationship with a snake or a gecko (for example). This is because the reptile simply does not have the same basic emotions as a human.

Other items

There are about 50 characters which are typical of mammals, and some of the most important are discussed above. A few more examples will make it clear that mammals are very different from reptiles and birds:

  • Sweat glands
  • Tooth replacement: two sets, and no continuous replacement. Enamel on the tooth surface. Reptile teeth all alike; mammal teeth follow a pattern (incisors, canines, premolars and molars)
  • Occipital condyles. Two knobs at the base of the skull fit into the topmost neck vertebra; most tetrapods, in contrast, have only one such knob
  • Outlet for foodwaste separate from urinogenital outlet. Reptiles and birds have a common cloaca at the rear
  • Mammals excrete urea; reptiles and birds excrete uric acid
  • Colour vision is defective or absent in most mammals (primates are an exception)
  • In reptiles and birds the blood vessel which carries oxygenated blood from the left ventricle of the heart lies on the right side of the body; but in mammals it lies on the left side.
  • There are many features of the skeleton that mammals share
    • Their neck always has seven vertebrae, no matter how long it is.
    • Their lower jaw is made of just a single bone on each side, the dentary.
    • Their inner ear has three tiny bones, the ossicles: malleus, incus and stapes.

In the language of cladistics, these 50 unique characters are apomorphies which prove that mammals are a clade descended from a common ancestor.

Main groups

Almost all mammals give birth to live young. There are only two mammals that lay eggs, called monotremes, the duck-billed platypus Ornithorhynchus, and the spiny anteater Echidna, with four species. All are confined to Australia and New Guinea, and are the sole survivors of an earlier group of mammals. However, like other mammals, they feed milk to their young, and protect and look after them.

Other mammals are divided into the marsupials and the Eutheria, the placental mammals. Marsupials are mammals with pouches to carry young in, like the kangaroo.

Modes of life

In terms of number of species mammals, with 5488 species, are not the most successful vertebrates. Birds, with about 10,000 species have nearly twice as many, and reptiles have just as many as birds. Fish have even more species. There are 27,000 species of fish, of which nearly 26,000 are bony fish.

Despite this, many zoologists do regard mammals as a successful group of animals. One reason is that they are successful in all habitats on Earth. In the air, in the water, in forests, in the colder regions of the world, and above all on grasslands, where they are outstandingly successful.

In the air, the bats (Chiroptera) are the mammalian order with the most species. They 'own' the nighttime, since birds are largely diurnal (daytime) animals. Bats are hugely successful, mostly as nighttime predators of insects.

Seagoing mammals, the Cetacea and the pinnipeds, are very successful and significant predators. This includes the whales, seals, walrus, dolphins and others.

The terrestrial mammals are fewer in number of species than lizards, but they are huge in individual numbers, and far more important in the life of the terrestrial biomes. Their ability to move from place to place and adapt has made them a most effective group. Many mammals live in cold places. These mammals have thick hair or blubber to keep them warm. Others may live in rainforests. On land the rodents (rats, mice) are hugely successful, more common in numbers than any other mammals. Large mammals on land have been hunted to extinction in some parts of the world, but the ones which remain are now better protected.

Last, but certainly not least, are the primates. Their natural habitat, with few exceptions, are the forests. Most live in the trees, with hands that grasp, good colour vision, and intelligence. In the Pliocene period some moved out onto the savannahs as grassland replaced forests. Mankind is the result of this shift into the savannahs.

Taxonomy

Hand milking a cow at Cobbes Farm Museum
Cattle have been kept for milk for thousands of years.
Extinctions Africa Austrailia NAmerica Madagascar
Chart showing the biodiversity of large mammal species per continent before and after humans arrived there

The evolutionary relationships among land vertebrates is as follows:

This sort of classification is not traditional, but it does reflect our knowledge of palaeontology and evolution.

Standardized textbook classification

A somewhat standardized classification system has been adopted by most current mammalogy classroom textbooks. It is based on living animals. The following taxonomy of extant and recently extinct mammals is from Vaughan et al. 2000.

Class Mammalia

List of orders

Mammal species pie chart
Over ¾ of mammal species are in the orders Rodentia (blue), Chiroptera (red), Soricomorpha (yellow) and Primates (green).

Mammals can be divided in a number of orders:

Images for kids

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Mamíferos para niños

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