Mammals and their characteristics

[Music] the cat is a familiar animal what does a cat have in common with a giraffe or a bat or a dolphin while these animals look very different they all have something in common they are all mammals as a group mammals have certain physical characteristics which they share with other animals all mammals have backbone and so belong to the large group of animals called vertebrates this group also includes the reptils amphibians fish and birds all mammals are warm-blooded vertebrates being warm-blooded means that the internal body temperature of a mammal remains about the same no matter what the temperature is of the surrounding air or the surrounding water In The Heat Of Summer or in the cold of winter this skunk has almost the same internal body temperature another characteristic that mammals share with other vertebrates is that they breathe air with lungs all mammals breathe air with lungs not only those that live on land like this woodchuck but even mammals that live in water like this dolphin a dolphin May remind us of the fish but it doesn't have gills it breathes air with lungs and must come to the surface for air from time to time or it would drown another characteristic of mammals is that they give birth to wellform living young this characteristic is also found among a few kinds of fish and reptiles but giving birth to well formed living young is most characteristic of mammals baby mammals stay with their mothers a long time and require more parental care than other animals although most mammals give birth to live young there are two exceptions the Akida or spiny ante eater lays an egg from which the young ante eater hatches another rare egg laying mammal is the duck build platypus that lives along streams in Australia so mamal share some characteristics with other vertebrates but there are two characteristics which mammals have and only mammals first mammals have some kind of hair one of the first things we notice about a cat and other mammals is the covering of hair sometimes we call it fur in some mammals the hair is called wool as on sheep the hair covering keeps the animals warm sometimes the hair has unusual markings or patterns as on this tiger and sometimes the pattern or color of the fur as on this Badger blends with the animal's background helping to protect it from enemies on some mammals the hair is not easy to see on a porcupine we see many hard sharp quills but beneath the quills the porcupine like all mammals has hair some mammals such as elephants seem to have no hair but if we look closely at the adult we can see hair on the head often a mammal has more hair when it's Young this baby elephant is covered with bristly hair but will lose most of it as it grows older some mammals such as dolphins have sparse hair when they're young but lose it as they grow older so mammals have some kind of hair and most of them have hair all their lives a second character istic of all mammals is that they nurse their young mammals and only mammals feed their young in this way with milk from their own bodies the milk is produced in special glands called mamory glands and this is where mamals get their name some baby mammals nurse for only several days while others nurse for several weeks or longer because a young mammal depends on its mother for food it stays with the mother they're longer than most other animals do so we have seen two characteristics that mammals have they have hair and they nurse their young there are some special characteristics that only certain mammals have and mammals may be grouped according to these special characteristics this cat is a mammal that eats meat mammals that eat meat are called carnivores carnivore means meat eater and such a mammal has long sharp eye teeth used to tear the meat carnivores also have sharp claws used in Catching and H holding their prey other mammals are plant eaters and use use their teeth in a different way some use them for gnawing their food mammals with KN teeth are the rodents the largest group of mammals this Antelope is a plant eater too but it uses its teeth to grind its food it belongs to another group of mammals the large plant eaters that have hooves mammals with hooves are called ulet the ulet include some of the most beautiful mammals as well as some of the largest hooves are well suited to supporting great weight and moving across hard ground the giraffe is one of the most unusual ulet the cow is one of the most common all the ulates have hooves and eat plant food this Plante eater is a waby a relative of the kangaroo wbes and kangaroos belong to a group of Australian mammals with a very unusual characteristic they have pouches in which they carry their young mammals with pouches are called marsupiales when a WABE is Born the mother puts it into her pouch where the mamory lands are located the baby is carried in the pouch until it's old enough to get along by itself the chubby Little Koala bear is another marsupial of Australia the oposa is the only North American marsupial the marsupial are considered a very primitive group of mammals many of the most highly developed mammals are included in the primates another group among the primates are many kinds of monkeys and the large Apes such as this chimpanzee it is one of the most intelligent of all the mammals scientists classify man with the primate group there are many other kinds of mammals which are grouped according to special characteristics this giant an heater belongs to a group of mammals that have no teeth it eats mostly termites and ants another an heater is the armadillo there are thousands of species of mammals with wide differences in appearance and habits but whether the animal lives on land like this rodent or flies in the air like these bats or lives in the water like these Dolphins there are two questions we can ask to help us decide if it is a mammal does it have hair and does it nurse its [Music] young these are the two characteristics that all mammals share whenever we find animals that have hair and nurse their young we know they belong to the large group of vertebrates called [Music] mammals