Mammals

Class Mammalia
 Small number of
species ~4500
 But probably more
successful than most
animal groups (except
insects) at exploiting
all available
environments
Class Mammalia
 Very diverse group
not constrained by
particular lifestyle (like
flight in birds)
 Diversity makes it
difficult for layperson
to identify various
mammals as being
closely related
Class Mammalia
 Descended from
therapsid reptiles with
mammal-like
characteristics
 Important structural
changes from reptiles
to mammals
Class Mammalia
 Limbs from lateral to
ventral
 Higher center of
gravity - less stability
 Required greater
development of
cerebellum - muscular
coordination center in
brain
Class Mammalia
 Separation of air and
food passageways in
head
 Can breathe with
mouth full of food
 Allows prolonged
chewing & some early
digestion
Subclass Theria
 Most mammals
belong to Subclass
Theria
 Descended from
some common
ancestor ~150 million
years ago
Subclass Theria
 Infraclass Metatheria
- marsupials -
pouched mammals
 Infraclass Eutheria -
placental mammals
Subclass Prototheria
 Monotremes
 Small group of egg-
laying mammals
 So different from
other groups of
mammals
 Entirely different
origin?
All mammals
 Characteristics
unique and diagnostic
for mammals
 Hair - greatly reduced
in aquatic mammals
 Mammary glands -
milk secreting glands
for nourishing young
 Integument & Derivatives
 Skin generally thicker
than in other
vertebrates
 Dermis thicker than
epidermis
 Epidermis very thin
where covered with
hair, thicker on palms,
soles
 Integument & Derivatives
 Hair derived from
epidermis
 Probably evolved
from reptilian scales
 Scales still present in
some (tail of rat,
beaver)
 Integument & Derivatives
 Grows from follicle
 Epidermal structure
sunk deep into dermal
layer and beyond
 Grows by addition of
new cells at base of
follicle
 Integument & Derivatives
 Cells pushed upward
die from lack of
nourishment
 Dead cells mostly
keratin - same
material in nails,
claws, feathers
 Integument & Derivatives
 Hair consists of 3
layers
 Medulla - core
 Cortex - contains
pigment
 Cuticle - composed of
imbricated scales
 Different types of hair
result from differential
development of the 3
layers
 Integument & Derivatives
 Each follicle has
muscle attached to it -
erector muscle
 Contraction causes
hair to stand up
straight
 Increase insulation
thickness, serve as
warning
 Fur or Pelage
 Most mammals have
two kinds of hair
 Thick, soft underhair -
provides insulation
 Coarse, long guard
hair - protects and
provides coloration
 Fur or Pelage
 Hair stops growing
when it reaches
certain length
 Remains in follicle
until new growth
starts, then falls out
 Fur or Pelage
 Mammals lose hair in
periodic molts
 Most have 2 annual
molts - entire pelage
shed (humans shed
and replace
continually)
 Spring - thin summer
 Fall - heavy winter
 Fur or Pelage
 Pigmentation and
molts allow mammals
to be different colors
in different seasons
 Brown in summer
 White in winter -
leukemism
 Fur or Pelage
 Lack of pigment
results in albinism -
recessive gene -
blocks pigment
formation (don’t
confuse with
leukemism)
 Excess of black
pigment is melanism
Derivatives of Hair
 Vibrissae - sensory
hairs on snouts, other
parts of head
 Incorrectly called
whiskers
Derivatives of Hair
 Quills - defensive
structures in
porcupines,
hedgehogs, echidnas
 Break off after barbed
tip embeds in flesh of
other animal
 Work in deeper with
time
 Glands
 Mammals also have
variety of epidermal
glands
 Greatest variety
among vertebrates
 4 basic types
 Glands
 Sweat glands -
simple, tubular, highly
coiled
 Cover most of body
 Not found in other
vertebrates
 Open directly to skin
surface
 Two types
 Glands
 Sweat glands -
eccrine glands
 Secrete watery sweat
for temperature
regulation
 Hairless regions in
most mammals
(especially foot pads)
 Glands
 Some mammals don’t
have eccrine glands -
rodents, rabbits,
whales
 Some have them all
over body - humans,
horses, dogs
 Racial differences in
abundance in humans
 Glands
 Sweat glands -
apocrine glands
 Found in all mammals
 Longer, more winding
than eccrine glands
 Open into follicle at
surface
 Secretion not involved
with heat regulation
 Glands
 Apocrine gland
activity correlated with
some aspects of
sexual cycles
 Human females have
twice as many as
males
 Glands
 Scent glands -
location and function
vary
 Communication,
warning, defense,
attraction
 E.g., skunk
 Humans have many,
but taught to dislike
their scent
 Glands
 Sebaceous glands -
associated with hair
follicle
 Secrete fat (sebum) to
keep hair and skin soft
 Polite fat - does not
turn rancid
 Generally all over body
- most numerous on
human scalp, face
 Glands
 Mammary glands -
modification of
apocrine, sebaceous
glands?
 Present in both
genders, functional
only in female
 Secrete milk to
nourish young
 Glands
 Contain varying
quantities of fat (3-
5%), protein,
carbohydrate, salts
 Higher fat content
(30-40%) in marine
and arctic mammals,
where development is
rapid
Horns & Antlers
 3 kinds of horns or
horn-like structures
found in mammals
 1) true horns
 2) antlers
 3) rhino horns
Horns & Antlers
 True horns
 Found in ruminants
like cows, goats,
antelope
 Hollow sheaths of
keratinized epidermis
surrounding core of
bone arising from
skull
Horns & Antlers
 Not normally shed
 Not branched (but
may be greatly
curved, twisted)
 Found in both sexes
Horns & Antlers
 Antlers
 Deer family
(Cervidae)
 Generally males only
(except caribou -
female’s smaller)
 Entirely bone when
mature
Horns & Antlers
 Annual growth
 Develop beneath
cover of highly
vascularized soft skin
- velvet
 Growth complete,
blood vessels
constrict, velvet dies
and is rubbed off
Horns & Antlers
 Antlers dropped after
breeding season
 New buds appear within
few months
 New pair larger, more
elaborate
 Strain on mineral
metabolism - moose, elk
must accumulate 50+ lbs
of calcium salts from
vegetable diet
Horns & Antlers
 Rhinoceros horn
 Hairlike horny fibers
arise from dermal
papillae
 Cemented together to
form single horn
 Dagger handles and
medicinal uses
 Teeth

 Teeth are a less obvious characteristic of

mammals
 Reveal more about lifestyle than any other
characteristic
 Not in monotremes, some whales, anteaters
 Teeth

 Diphyodont teeth - two sets of teeth

 Set of deciduous “milk teeth” replaced by set of
permanent teeth
 Reptiles have polyphyodont teeth - many sets -
all are homodont - uniform, unspecialized
 Teeth

 Mammals have heterodont teeth - specialized

for various functions
Teeth
 Teeth

 Incisors - snip, bite - simple crowns, slightly

sharp edges
 Teeth

 Canines - piercing - pointed, long conical crowns

 Teeth

 Premolars - shear, slice - flat compressed

crowns with 1 or 2 cusps
 Teeth

 Molars - crushing, grinding - broad with variable

cusp arrangement
 Always belong to the permanent set
 Teeth
 Different diets
necessitate differing
development of
different teeth
 Carnivores - large
canines, some small
and/or modified
molars and premolars
 Teeth
 Rodents and
herbivores - large
incisors, reduced
canines, large molars
 Incisors grow
continually, must be
worn away to keep
pace with growth
Teeth
 Digestive Systems
 Different diets also
necessitate differing
digestive systems
 Herbivores face
special problem -
indigestibility of
cellulose, chief
carbohydrate in plants
 Digestive Systems
 No digestive enzyme
to break down
cellulose
 Depend on anaerobic
bacteria to do it
 Developed various
digestive structures
where microbes can
do their thing
 Digestive Systems
 Two basic
approaches
 1) hind-gut approach
 2) fore-gut approach
 Digestive Systems
 Hind-gut approach
 Horses and rabbits
and others
 Large sidepocket -
cecum - at junction of
small, large intestines
 Houses microbes
 Digestive Systems
 Sometimes all isn’t
digested first time
through
 Rabbits, hares, some
rodents eat fecal pellets
- coprophagy
 More bacterial
fermentation, chance to
absorb vitamins
manufactured by
bacteria
 Digestive Systems
 Humans have
vestigial cecum -
appendix
 Digestive Systems
 Fore-gut approach
 Cattle, deer, sheep,
antelope are
ruminants
 Have huge, 4-
chambered stomach
where digestion
occurs
 Digestive Systems
 Grass passed down
esophagus to rumen
 Broken down by
bacteria and formed
into small balls of cud
in reticulum
 Regurgitated to
mouth and chewed to
crush fibers
 Digestive Systems
 Swallowed to rumen
again for further
digestion by bacteria
 Finally passed
through reticulum and
churned in omasum
 Digestive Systems
 Passed into
abomasum - true
stomach
 Proteolytic enzymes
secreted, normal
digestion occurs
 Digestive Systems
 Small intestine very
long, coiled
 Much longer in
herbivores than in
carnivores,
insectivores
 Cow small intestine -
50+ m (165 feet)
 Size vs. Food Consumption
 The smaller the
mammal, the greater
its metabolic rate, and
the more it must eat
relative to its size
 Small mammals
spend more time
hunting, eating than
large mammals
 Size vs. Food Consumption
 2 g shrew eats > its
body weight in food
each day
 Will starve to death in
few hours if deprived
of food
 Size vs. Food Consumption
 Large carnivore may
only need one meal
every few days to
remain healthy
 Migration
 Few mammals make
seasonal migrations
 Much more difficult
than for birds
 Most that do live in,
near North America
 Migration
 Barren-ground
caribou - seasonal
movements >1000
km
 North for calving,
south for winter
 Migration
 Longest mammal
migrants are whales,
seals
 Fur seal females
migrate 2800 km to
give birth, winter
 Males stay north
 Migration
 Few bats with power
of flight use it to
migrate
 Most hibernate during
winter
 4 spp. of American
bats migrate - red bat
 Winter in Mexico,
summer north, west
Flight
 Flight, gliding evolved
independently in
several different
groups: marsupials,
rodents, lemurs, bats
 Bats are only true
fliers - nocturnal
insectivore niche left
open by most birds
Flight
 Success of bats:
 1) flight
 2) ability to navigate
via echolocation
Echolocation
 Fly and avoid
obstacles in complete
darkness
 Locate & catch
insects with precision
and speed
 Find way deep into
caves - new habitat
Echolocation
 Emit short pulses (5-10
msec) from mouth
 Ultrasonic to human ear
 10-200 pulses/sec
 Echo received with
great ears - form image
of surroundings as
good as eyes of other
mammals
Echolocation
 May be used by other
insectivorous
mammals: shrews,
tenrecs
 Crudely developed
compared to bats
Echolocation
 Echolocation highly
developed in toothed
whales, e.g., sperm
whale
 Varying frequency
clicks produced in
sinus passages
Echolocation
 Focused by lens-
shaped melon in
forehead
 Returning echoes
channeled through
oil-filled cavity in
lower jaw to inner ear
Echolocation
 Allows whales to
determine size,
shape, speed,
distance, directions,
density of everything
in water
 Keep track of
members of pod
Hibernation
 True hibernators:
ground squirrels,
woodchucks
 Body temperature
falls within few
degrees of freezing
 Breathing, heart rates
drop extremely low
Hibernation
 Not true hibernation:
bears
 Breathing, heart rates
fall, but body
temperature remains
similar
Reproduction
 Most mammals have
definite mating
seasons
 Usually winter or
spring
 Timed to coincide with
most favorable time
for rearing young after
birth
Reproduction
 Female mating
function restricted to
time during periodic
cycle - estrous cycle
 Female receptive
during brief period of
cycle - estrus or heat
 Several other stages
Reproduction
 Proestrus - period of
preparation
 New ovarian follicles
grow
Reproduction
 Estrus - mating,
ovulation, fertilization,
implantation,
pregnancy
Reproduction
 Metestrus - if no
mating or fertilization,
a period of repair
Reproduction
 Diestrus - uterus
becomes small,
anemic
Reproduction
 Monestrous - single
estrus during breeding
season
 Dogs, foxes, bats
 Polyestrous -
recurrence of estrus
during breeding season
 Mice squirrels, tropical
animals
Reproduction
 Humans and Old
World monkeys have
slightly different cycle
 Post-ovulation period
terminated by
menstration -
menstrual cycle
Reproduction
 3 different patterns of
reproduction among
mammals
 1) monotremes
 2) marsupials
 3) placentals
Reproduction
 Monotremes - egg-
laying mammals
 One breeding season
each year
 Ovulated eggs (2)
fertilized in oviduct
 Shell added in oviduct
 Eggs laid in burrow
nest
 Incubated for 12 days
Reproduction
 Hatch, fed milk (licking,
not suckling)
 No gestation - period of
pregnancy
 Developing embryo
uses nutrients in egg
 Young reared on milk
Reproduction
 Marsupials - pouched
mammals
 Brief gestation period,
but physiology and
lactation complicated
 E.g., red kangaroo
Reproduction
 1st pregnancy of
season followed by
33-day gestation, joey
born underdeveloped
 Crawls into pouch,
attaches to nipple
 Mother immediately
becomes pregnant
again
Reproduction
 Presence of young in
pouch arrests
development at 100-
cell stage - diapause
 Lasts ~235 days until
joey leaves pouch
 2nd joey develops,
born in ~month,
enters pouch
Reproduction
 Becomes pregnant
again
 Arrested development
 Oldest joey returns to
nurse from time to
time
 3 young at once
Reproduction
 Some marsupial
variations
 Development delays
 Common features
 Born at
underdeveloped
stage
 Prolonged
development
attached to
mammary gland
Reproduction
 Placentals - most
successful
mammals
 Reproductive
investment is in
gestation
 Embryo nourished
by food via placenta
Reproduction
 Gestation variable
 Mice - 21 days
 Rabbits - 30-36 days
 Cats, dogs - 60 days
 Cattle - 280 days
 Elephants - 22 months
 Baleen whales - 12
months
 Bats - 4-5 months
Reproduction
 Variable condition at
birth - well-furred
and mobile to
naked, blind,
helpless
 Human growth
slower than any
other mammal
# of Young
 Smaller animals, larger
litters
 Larger animals, smaller
litters
 Status in food web
important
 Carnivores - 1 litter of
3-5 young
 Mice - 17 litters of 4-9
young per year
# of Young
 Large mammals -
single young with
each pregnancy
 Elephant - 4 young
per 50-year
reproductive life
Territory
 Defended area for
exclusive use
 Marked using scent
glands
 Varies in size from
huge (grizzly bear)
to small (squirrel)
Territory
 Owner comfortable
within territory,
intruder at
“psychological”
disadvantage
Territory
 Owner comfortable
within territory,
intruder at
“psychological”
disadvantage
Territory
 Some territories
established for use
by family unit
 Male beaver
defends territory,
female and young
use it
Territory
 Some live in friendly
towns - prairie dog
 Parents give old
home to young and
move out
Home Range
 Larger foraging area
surrounding
defended territory
 Neutral zone used
for foraging by
owners of several
territories
Us & Them
 Biggest impact -
domestication
 Dogs, cats 10,000
years ago
 Food animals much
later
Us & Them
 Beasts of burden
 Some no longer
exist in wild - llama,
alpaca, 1-humped
Arabian camel
Us & Them
 Some not truly
domesticated - do
not breed in captivity
 Reindeer, Asian
elephant
Us & Them
 Problem mammals -
rodents, rabbits
 Damage crops,
foods, carry
diseases
Us & Them
 Problems with us
 300 species
endangered
 Includes all cetaceans,
cats, otters, primates
 Hunting, collecting,
habitat destruction,
species introductions