Mammals: Abrief General Idea

In my earlier blog I have discussed interesting facts about some mammalian species, today it’s the total mammalian family that I am going to discuss.

You can find mammals everywhere. They are present in land, water, and sky. They have more than 4500 species in their class. As you all know humans are also a mammal. The largest living mammal(also the largest living animal) is blue whale. It can be 30 m in length. Where as the smallest living mammal is the bumblebee bat which is 1 inch in length. 

But how we can distinguish a mammal from the rest of the animal. Let discuss some of the important features of a mammal.

Presence of mammary gland:

The first and foremost character of a mammal is presence of a mammary gland. The name mammal comes from there. Now, this mammary gland secretes milk which used to nurse the young ones. All most all of the animals in this this class give birth to young one and do not lay eggs. I said almost because duck billed platypus and Echidna are the two types which lay eggs and also hatch them.

Presence of hair:

 All the mammals have hairs on their bodies. The hairs will be present in a mammal in at least in some stages of their life. The hair can be transformed into many other forms like fur, whiskers, spines or even horns. Hairs play a very important role in mammals life. They help in insulation, camouflage, act as a sensory organ, protect the skin and some times(the rhinoceros) also used as a weapon.

Endothermic mechanism:

Mammals(along with birds) are endothermic, which means they can generate their body heat unlike reptiles and other classes of animals. They have a inbuilt thermostat present in the brain which regulates their body temperature. This is why they are termed as warm blooded animals.

Presence of Lungs:

All the mammals where ever they might live, need air to breathe. That is why you will find the aquatic animals to come to the surface at a regular interval.

Mammals are the inhabitants of class mammalia under phylum Chordata and sub-phylum Vertebrata.their are some orders under the class mammalia which are mentioned below. The total number of order in debatable among scientists.

The following are the orders under class mammalia:

Artiodactyla: They are the hoofed animal with presence of even number of toes. E.g, The giraffe, The Cow

Perrisodactyla:They are the hoofed animal with presence of odd number of toes. E.g, The Rhinoceros, The Horse

Cetacea: They are the mammals which are completely adapted to the aquatic lifestyle and are found in water. E.g, the Blue whale

Chiroptera: This class of mammals can fly. Their area of operation is air. E.g, The Bats

Dermoptera: These animals cannot fly like Chiroptera. But they can glide through the air. E.g, The Lemurs

Lagomorpha: These animals can leap. E.g, Rabbit, Hare

Carnivora: They are the flesh eaters. E.g, Tiger, Cheetah etc

Insectivora: These are primitive, insect eating animals.

Hyracoidea: They are called the conies.

Proboscidea: These animal have proboscis. E.g, the Elephants

Rodentia: This is the largest order of mammals. This include all the gnawing animals.

Philodonta: Scaly ant-eater. E.g, The pangolin

Praimates: Mammals with the most advanced brain. E.g, Humans, Chimps, Gorilla etc

Marsupialia: These animal carry their young and immature babies inside a pouch. The Kangaroos

Macroscelidea: The elephant shrews are included in these order

Sirenia: This order includes the sea cows.

Tubulidentata: Only mammal the aardvark.

Xenartha: A premitive group of animals found in America only

Scandentia: These are the tree shrews.

 
Thanks for reading. I hope this blog has given you some insights about the mammals.