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A mammal (from Latin mamma 'breast') [1] is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (/ m ə ˈ m eɪ l i. ə /).Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle ear bones.
In 1997, the classification of mammals was revised by Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell. [10] The Classification of Mammals Above the species level, here referred to as the "McKenna/Bell classification", is a comprehensive work on the systematics, relationships, and occurrences of all mammal taxa, living and extinct, down through the rank of ...
Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles and birds , from which their ancestors diverged in the Carboniferous Period over 300 million years ago.
In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous systems. [1] Mammalogy has also been known as mastology , theriology , and therology .
Figure 1:In mammals, the quadrate and articular bones are small and part of the middle ear; the lower jaw consists only of dentary bone.. While living mammal species can be identified by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands in the females, other features are required when classifying fossils, because mammary glands and other soft-tissue features are not visible in fossils.
Primates arose 74–63 million years ago first from small terrestrial mammals, which adapted for life in tropical forests: many primate characteristics represent adaptations to the challenging environment among tree tops, including large brain sizes, binocular vision, color vision, vocalizations, shoulder girdles allowing a large degree of ...
Animals have several characteristics that set them apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and multicellular. [14] Unlike plants and algae, which produce their own nutrients, [15] animals are heterotrophic, [16] [17] feeding on organic material and digesting it internally. [18] With very few exceptions, animals respire aerobically.
Cetartiodactyla is a large order of hoofed mammals, the even-toed ungulates, and aquatic mammals, cetaceans. Cetacea was found to be nested within "Artiodactlya" and has now been moved into that order, whose name is now Cetartiodactyla. [2] Even-toed ungulates are found nearly world-wide, although no species are native to Australia or Antarctica.