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mammals

Mammals are an important group of vertebrates characterized by the presence of mothers feeding their offspring. Notable characteristics of mammals include lactation, body hair, endothermy (warm-blooded animals), and a four-chambered heart. There are many species of mammals, living in almost all ecosystems on Earth, from the deep sea to the mountains, from tropical rainforests to the cold polar regions.

  • scientific name:Mammalia

  • Features

    • suckle:Females have mammary glands that secrete milk to feed their young.

    • Body hair:Most mammals are covered with hair.

    • Endothermic:Maintaining a constant body temperature through metabolism.

    • Four-chambered heart:Mammals have four-chambered hearts to ensure efficient oxygen delivery.

    • viviparous:Most mammals reproduce by giving birth to live young, but some species, such as monotremes (e.g. the platypus), lay eggs.

  • Habitat:Almost all habitats on Earth, including land, ocean, fresh water, polar regions, etc.

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Mammal classification table

Mammals are numerous and can be subdivided based on different biological characteristics. Mammals are roughly divided into three subclasses:

  1. Monotremata: Oviparous mammals.

  2. Marsupialia: Kangaroos, koalas, etc., whose young continue to develop in a pouch outside the mother's body.

  3. Eutheria: Viviparous mammals, the most abundant species, including humans, lions, whales, etc.

The following is a detailed classification table of mammals, including all orders, families, genera and typical animals:

sortOrderFamilyGenusExamples
MonotremataMonotremataOrnithorhynchidaeOrnithorhynchusPlatypus, Echidna


TachyglossidaeEchidnaEchidna
MarsupialiaMarsupialiaMacropodidaeMacropusKangaroos, wombats, possums


PhascolarctidaePhascolarctoskoala


DasyuridaeDasyurusBandicoot, Tasmanian devil
EutheriaCarnivoraCanidaeCanisWolf, dog, fox


FelidaeFelisHouse cat, lion, tiger


UrsidaeUrsusBlack bear, brown bear, polar bear

PerissodactylaEquidaeEquusHorse, donkey, zebra


RhinocerotidaeRhinocerosWhite rhino, black rhino


TapiridaeTapirusTapirus

ArtiodactylaBovidaeBosCattle, antelopes, sheep


CervidaeCervusDeer, reindeer, sika deer


SuidaeSusWild boar, domestic pig

CetaceaBalaenidaeMegapteraHumpback whale, blue whale


DelphinidaeDelphinusDolphins, killer whales

PrimatesCercopithecidaePongoOrangutans, gibbons, monkeys


HominidaeHomoHumans, chimpanzees, orangutans

RodentiaSciuridaeSciurusSquirrels, Ground Squirrels


CastoridaeCastorbeaver


MuridaeMusHouse mouse, vole

ChiropteraVespertilionidaeMyotisSmall bat, big bat

LagomorphaLeporidaeOryctolagusRabbit, hare

Characteristics and Adaptations of Mammals

Mammals are one of the most diverse groups in the biological world. Here are the main characteristics of mammals and how they adapt:


1. Breastfeeding

A notable feature of mammals is that mothers secrete milk through their mammary glands to feed their offspring. This allows mammal cubs to receive adequate nutritional support after birth, increasing their survival rate.


2. Body hair

Almost all mammals have body hair, which not only helps to keep warm, but also plays a camouflage or display function in some species. For example, the white hair of polar bears helps them camouflage in the snow and reduce the risk of being discovered by prey.


3. Homeothermy

Mammals maintain a stable body temperature through metabolism, which allows mammals to maintain a suitable temperature regardless of changes in the outside temperature. This feature allows mammals to survive in a variety of environments, including extreme environments such as polar regions and deserts.


4. Viviparity

Most mammals reproduce by giving birth to live young, which allows the embryo to receive more stable nutritional support in the mother's body and be more viable after birth. Some species, such as kangaroos and koalas, adopt marsupial parenting.


5. Diet

Mammals have a variety of diets, from herbivorous to carnivorous and omnivorous. Some species (such as bats) have even evolved to suck blood. Different diets allow mammals to find living space in a variety of ecological environments.


Summary: Mammals are the most advanced animals with the most perfect physiological functions. There are more than 4,000 existing mammals. Almost all mammals are warm-blooded. Feeding their offspring with breast milk is one of their most notable characteristics. Mammals include nearly 30 orders, including Monotremes, Carnivores, Primates, Perissodactyla, and Artiodactyla.

Carnivora Primates Rodents Chiroptera Eulipotyphla Ungulata Cetacea Lagoiformes Pholidota Proboscidea Monotremata
Arctocephalus australis

Arctocephalus australis

Sea lion, South American seal

Features:The South American sea lion is known as the "king of the sea" and is a very large predatory animal.

The fur of the South American Fur seal is dark gray.Females and most immature individuals have a variety of colors, mostly gray on the neck and back, but some have white tips on the hair, making it silver-gray, and a pale yellow belly. It was named by Zimmermann in 1783.Compared with other fur sea l...

Odobenus rosmarus

Odobenus rosmarus

Walrus, Seahorse

Features:It is the largest mammal in the ocean besides whales.

Walrus, as the name suggests, is the elephant in the sea. It has a huge body, thick and wrinkled skin, sparse bristles, small eyes, and poor eyesight. It has two long teeth.Walrus is one of the largest representatives of the Arctic fauna. Among pinnipeds, they are second only to elepha...

Ursus arctos

Ursus arctos

Brown bear, Grizzly bear

Features:One of the largest land mammals of the order Carnivore.

Brown bears are sometimes called "bruin" from Middle English. The name originates from William Caxton's fable History of Reynard the Fox, from the Middle Dutch word "bruun" or "bruyn", meaning brown (color). In the mid-19th century, brown bears were called "Old...

Phoca largha

Phoca largha

Harbor seal, seal, fur seal, fur seal, western Pacific harbor seal

Features:The cutest seal in the world.

Sometimes they look out of the water, sometimes they dive for food, and sometimes they go up to the islands and reefs to bask in the sun. They are all naive and cute. Yes, they are the cutest seals in the world - harbor seals.Harbor seals spend most of their lives in the water. Except for the infanc...

Polar Bear

Polar Bear

Ursus maritimus,White bear, sea bear, ice bear

Features:The largest existing land carnivore in the world.

Polar bears are such good swimmers that they were once thought to be marine animals. Polar bears spend most of their lives (about 66.6%) in a "stationary" state, such as sleeping, lying down to rest, or waiting for prey. The remaining 29.1% of the time is spent...

Aonyx cinerea

Aonyx cinerea

Small-clawed otter, Oil otter, Oriental small-clawed otter

Features:The smallest otter species in the world

On October 10, 2016, a cute creature quickly became famous all over the world with a photo. In the photo, it has its eyes closed, its two small paws tightly folded, and a serious expression, just like a little angel praying devoutly. This cute creature is the Asian small-clawed otter.A...

Trichechus senegalensis

Trichechus senegalensis

African manatee,African manatee, Seacow,Lamantin d'Afrique, Lamantin du Sénégal,Manatí de Senegal

Features:They may be the origin of the mermaid myths of central and west Africa.

The West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis, African manatee) is a species of the family Sirenia, Sirenia, and is found in western Africa. It has long been an important source of meat, fat, and folk remedy consumables for the indigenous people of the African coast.The West African manatee may...

Arctocephalus australis

Arctocephalus australis

South American sea lion, southern sea lion, maned seal, South American fur seal

Features:The most lion-like sea lion

There are about 14 species of sea lions in the world, of which the South American sea lion is the least known and the most bizarre. There are many new and interesting facts about South American sea lions, especially their "family marriage" life.In the South American Sea Lion Palace, fe...

Arctic wolf

Arctic wolf

Canis lupus arctos, white wolf, snow wolf

Features:This wolf has a variety of fur colors. The common Arctic wolf has snow-white fur, and occasionally there are red, gray and black ones.

Among the animals living in the Arctic, polar bears and Arctic foxes are very famous, but the Arctic wolf is not well-known. It is also called the white wolf, a subspecies of the gray wolf under the genus Canidae, and can only be regarded as a medium-sized wolf among the gray wolf subspecies.The fur...

Papio hamadryas

Papio hamadryas

Hamadryas baboon, Egyptian baboon, dog-headed monkey

Features:It is the smallest species of baboon and a famous "kidnapper" in the monkey world.

If the monkey world were to hold a "beauty pageant", the Arabian baboon would never lack confidence, with its heart-shaped red buttocks and silver-white brushed "trendy" hair, it would have a natural and suave style.As the main object of wildlife biologists' research on prima...

Ceratotherium simum

Ceratotherium simum

White rhino, square-nosed rhino, broad-nosed rhino

Features:It is one of the largest rhinos in existence and the second largest animal among terrestrial vertebrates.

The white rhino is not white. In fact, the body color of the white rhino is not much different from that of the black rhino. The main difference is the larger body size and wide lips. The mouth of the white rhino is "flat", while the mouth of the black rhino is "pointed".The name...

Varecia variegata

Varecia variegata

Black and white collared lemur, hairy lemur, spotted lemur, collared lemur

Features:The black-and-white ruffed lemur is the wild animal ranked first on the world's endangered species list, the giant panda among monkeys.

The black-and-white ruffed lemur is actually very special. They are the representatives of peace and never quarrel over territory. Not only that, their way of raising offspring is also unique. The probability of twins among primates is very small, but it is very common among ruffed lemurs. Other mon...

Macropus rufus

Macropus rufus

red kangaroo, kangaroo, red kangaroo, big red kangaroo, red kangaroo

Rodents LC

Features:The red kangaroo gets its name from its red or reddish brown body color. It is the largest marsupial in the world.

The common large kangaroo is called the red kangaroo, which is also the most famous one. Its image is widely known by people all over the world. Look at its unruly temperament, sparse stubble, and strong chest. Its muscles are coiled and its veins are exposed. It looks very social at first glance.Th...

Erythrocebus patas

Erythrocebus patas

Red monkey, African golden monkey

Features:The fastest monkey in the world.

One thing that makes red monkeys different from other monkeys is that they generally live on the ground, and most of them are distributed in the desert. The harsh climate in the desert makes it difficult for other creatures to survive, so there are very few trees. Over time, the red monkeys' climb...

Rhinopithecus roxellana

Rhinopithecus roxellana

Sichuan golden monkey, snub-nosed monkey, snub-nosed monkey, golden velvet monkey, blue-faced monkey, Rockanna monkey, long-tailed monkey, thread monkey, thread marmoset, horse marmoset, Guoran beast,

Features:The golden hair is particularly dazzling

Except for the white hair on the abdomen, buttocks, and the inside of the limbs, the rest of the body of the Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey is golden yellow. The shoulders and back have long hair from the tail to the buttocks, which is gray-brown, similar to the straw raincoat used by farmers to p...

Lemur catta

Lemur catta

Ring-tailed lemur

Features:Meditating lemur

Remember "King Julien" in "Madagascar"? Its prototype is a lemur. The ring-tailed lemur, as the name implies, has a "ring" on its tail, and the black and white color makes it particularly easy to remember.Many of you may have seen the scene of ring-tailed lemurs jumping...

Koala

Koala

Phascolarctos cinereus, koala bear, koala bear, sloth bear

Rodents LC

Features:Australia's national treasure, the largest arboreal marsupial.

Australia is the kingdom of marsupials, and the koala is the most precious one. It looks like a velvet teddy bear, with a fat body covered with fluffy light gray or light yellow fur, no tail, a big head, bright eyes, two large semicircular ears standing upright on both sides of the head, long fur co...

Connochaetes taurinus

Connochaetes taurinus

Blue wildebeest, black-tailed wildebeest, black-bearded wildebeest, South African wildebeest, southern wildebeest, black-spotted wildebeest

Features:This animal is very fast and is famous for its speed.

The blue wildebeest has a sturdy body and its coat is dark blue or gray-blue, sometimes gray-brown. Both male and female wildebeest have large, backward-curved horns. The male horns can extend up to 83cm, while the females only reach 30-40cm. The blue wildebeest has clear black stripes on its neck a...

Mandrillus sphinx

Mandrillus sphinx

Ghost-faced baboon, colorful baboon

Features:The world's largest monkey primate, also known as the "ghost" of the mountains.

It is a monkey, but it is not as docile as other monkeys. It is ferocious by nature and has strong fighting power. It is not afraid even when facing medium-sized ferocious animals, because it is smart and holds grudges. After losing a fight, it will always harass the opponent, and even lions have to...

Capybara

Capybara

Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris,Paraguayan capybara, Uruguayan capybara

Cetacea LC

Features:The largest rodent in the world

水豚这种动物我们虽然不常见,但是水豚的长相很可爱,而且对人类很友好,水豚喜欢生活在比较潮湿的地方,因为它们离不开水,而它们可爱的外型也吸引了很多人的关注,特别是女生,可能就会喜欢这种小动物。水豚给人的感觉就是一副人畜无害的样子,就是“暖”,任谁见到了都想给它一个舒服的拥抱。而水豚确实是动物界中的“中...

Beluga whale

Beluga whale

Delphinapterus leucas, sea canary

Cetacea LC

Features:It looks very similar to a dolphin and is very cute. It ranked twelfth on the list of the cutest animals in the world in 2013 and is the cutest whale in the world.

As the name suggests, it is a white whale. It is called the cutest whale in the world because it looks cute, looks like a dolphin, and is close to humans.Not only is the beluga whale cute, it also has a relatively high IQ, even comparable to a three-year-old child. Therefore, the beluga whale gives...