MAMMALS

classification of placental mammals

RODENTS PROBOSCIDEANS
 pointed nose  very large
 chisel-like front teeth  2 uppper front teeth form a pair of tusks
 rats, mice, squirrels  lenghtened nose forms a trunk
 elephant
CARNIVORES
 meat-eaters CHIROPTERANS
 sharp claws asd teeth  wings
 strong jaws  small pointed teeth
 cats, dogs, foxes  bats

UNGULATES CETACEANS
 herbivorous  fish-like in appearance
 have hooves on their feet  sharp pointed teeth
 teeth with flat, rigid surface  whales, dolphins

PRIMATES
 grasping fingers and toes
 tend to stand on hind legs
 monkeys, apes, humans

habitat: terrestrial, aquatic, fossorial, aerial, arboreal

external structure
 body covered with hair - keeps their body warm – WARM BLOODED
 head contains the main sense organs and feeding systems
 mouth is bounded by muscular lips, opens into buccal cavity
 the floor of the buccal cavity – tongue - moved with muscles
 teeth, several types of them and each does a different job
 pair of nostrils
 eyes are positioned high up on the head
 each side of the head - opening leading into the ear (behind opening is a flap of skin called the pinna)
 most of them are quadrupedal
 their feet usually have 5 digits (claws, nails or hooves)
 some have a tail – balance

nervous system
 well developed brain, spinalcord & nerves
 brain is bigger and more developed than in lower vertebrates
 NEOCORTEX allows for better spacialreasoning and language

circulatory system
 4-chamebered heart, 2 atriums and 2 ventricles
 left side: oxygenated blood
 right side: deoxygenated blood
 oxygenated blood & deoxygenated blood don’t mix

respiration
 lungs
 DIAPHRAGM-pulls the lungs downward to increase their volume, causing air to rush into the lungs or
presses the lungs upward to push the air out of them
 mouth/nose->Trachea->Bronchus->Bronchi->Bronchioli->Alveoli
digestion
 carnivores, herbivores or omnivores
 digestive system in omnivores and carnivores is very similar
 Buccal cavity->Pharynx->Esophagus->Stomach->Small intestine->Large intestine->Anus
UNGULATES:
 multi-chambered stomach
 Buccal cavity->Esophagus->Rumen->Reticulum->Omasum->Abomasum ->Small intestine>Large intestine->Anus
 often have additional salivary glands

reproduction
PLACENTAL MAMMALS
 viviparious
 young develop inside the mother, attached to a placenta
 male genital organs – penis and a pair of testes (hang from the body in a bag called the scrotal sac)
 female has a reproductive opening which leads, via a tube called the vagina, to the uterus

POUCH MAMMALS
 cloaca
 pregnant the same way as placental mammals
 no placental connection is formed
 as soon as the marsupial egg has consumed it’s own yolk to stay alive and develop it has to be born
 it is born at a very early stage of developmnet
 development is completed inside a pouch

EGG-LAYING MAMMALS
 cloaca
 eggs usually hatch within 10 days after laying
 newborn monotremes are larval and fetus-like, much like newborn marsupials
 don’t have nipples, lactate from their mammary glands via openings in the skin