General Account and Examples : Mammals

General Characters:

The presence of Mammary glands to nourish the young one is prominent character of Mammals. They have two pairs of limb for the walking, running, swimming, flying , burrowing etc. The skin of Mammals are covered by hair. External ears are present called Pinna. Teeth are of diffrent types. Heart has four chamber : Two auricle and two ventricles. Respiration occurs by lung. Development is direct. Saxes are separate. Fertilization is internal. They are viviparous with few exception like ornithorhyncus. They are homeo thermal or  warm blooded because they can maintain their body temperature. They are found in different habitat like glaciers,Mountain, forest , Grassland and Dark caves

Examples

Ornithorhyncus : 

It is commonly called as Duck billed  platypus. It is an egg laying  or oviparous mammals and found in semi aquatic conditions. It is found in Eastern Australia and Tasmania. It has a snout, short legs webbed feet for swimming and tail. It feed crustacean, fish , frog , Molluscan etc. They do not have teeth and used their bill to crush the food. The female lays eggs one to three in number and young one are hatched after four months. Male has a spur on heel and connected with the poison sting glands. The female does not have nipple to release milk hence platypus use their skin to release its milk.

Macropus : 

It is commonly called as kangaroo . It is a marsupial  or pouched mammals and found in terrestrial conditions. It is found in south west  Australia and Tasmania. It has powerful hind limb for hopping and leaping as mode of locomotion. They also have a long tail for balancing. They are herbivores and have an additional chamber similar to ruminants. They are active during day and live solitary or some time in gregarious condition.

Pteropus:

It is commonly called as Flying fox. It is found in tropical, subtropical forest and mangrove. It feed fruit, nectar, pollen and follow vegetarian diet. During spring and summer season, they are found in big group for birth of young one. The young ones are carried by their mother. The face is fox like, short wings for flying. They have good capacity for eyesight and smell.They are walked for long distance in search of good food.They are nocturnal and vulnerable to extinct.

Camelus: 

It is commonly called as Camel. It has one hump on their back and hump is composed of connective tissue and fat. When fat of hump is metabolised than it act as source of Energy. It's neck is long and curved. Feets are broad and large.  They have four teats. Nostril are slit like and can be closed to prevent the entry of sand. Eyes have long eyelids from the protection of sand. Mouth has prehensile lips. Upper lip is divided into two halves. This animal is better adapted to survive in very hot condition and sandy habitat.

Rattus :

It is commonly called as Rat. It has slender body with pointed head. It has prominent eyes and ears. They are different in color like black, White, brown etc. Rats are herbivores or Except Antartica, They are found in each continents. The gestation period of Rat is approx 26 days and give birth 11 to 22 young one per year. Rats are social animal and want to be live and sleep together in a group.

Felis:

Cat is included in this genus. It can jump and climb easily due to presence of flexible body and strong limb. It has fine hairs as Whiskers at cheek and above the eyes. Their tongue has numerous papillae to feed the flash. It has sharp vision and special membrane on eye which reflect light. These are good hunters and carnivores.

Macaca:

It is commonly called as Monkey. They spent arboreal life but also found in home.They have large space at cheeks for storage of foods.  They have a long tail for balancing during jumping.Their teeth are bilophodont with incisor and canine. They live in social group led by male individuals. 

They are primate and share some characters with the human.

Balaenoptera:

It is commonly called as Blue Whale.It has streamlined body to swim actively. It migrated to pole in summer for feeding and move to equator in winter for breeding. It has a thick layer of fat under the skin called blubber. 

It is largest animal reach up to 100 feet in length and may acquire body weight up to 200 tonn. Snout is pointed and have a dorsal hook fin on back of body.