Wildlife Rehabilitators Partnership of NW FL, Inc.
Mammal Facts
HomeMammal FactsSpotlight

There are about 4,600 species of mammals, 9000
species of birds, 21,000 species 
 of fish, 8200 species of reptiles, 3000 species of amphibians and 800,000 species of insects!

 

Fish

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Reptiles

  
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Birds

  

Mammals

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Insects

  
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Amphibians

    

Mammals have these characteristics which make them the same!!

  • Warm Blooded
  • Swim in water or walk on land
  • Mammals are the only animals with true hair
  • Mammal Babies: All drink Milk!
  • Most mammal babies live inside their mothers before they are born, just like humans.
  • People have baby teeth or milk teeth.  So do all of the other mammals! The only exceptions are mammals like anteaters -- they don't have any teeth at all.
  • Mammals are vertebrates, which means that they all have backbones (spines).
  • Believe it or not, most animals don't have backbones -- mammals are one of the few groups that do.
  • All mammals, except some sea cows and sloths have 7 bones in their necks. This includes giraffes who have VERY long spines! Their necks can be 6 1/2 feet long, but they're still made up of just 7 bones.


Types of Mammals

  • Monotremes: Primitive egg-layers.

       Echidnas (spiny ant-eaters)
       Duck-billed platypus.

  • Marsupials: Young are born in an embryo state. Most female have pouches.

        Koalas
        Kangaroo
        Opossum

  • Placental:   Young are born at a relatively advanced stage  Young are nourished through a placenta.

       Cats
       Dogs
       Deer
       People

 

Different Mammalian Diets:

  • Herbivores (plant eaters): Beavers, cows, horses, pandas, sloths
  • Carnivores (meat eaters) Whales and dolphins, dogs, tigers, lions
  • Omnivores (eat plants and meat): People, some bears,Insectivores (eat insects): Aardvarks, anteaters, pangolins


Mammal Extremes

  • Fastest: Cheetah (60-70 mph = 97-110 kph)
  • Slowest: Sloth (less than 1 mph, or 2 kph)
  • Biggest in Ocean: Blue whale
  • Biggest on Land: African Elephant
  • Tallest: Giraffe
  • Smallest: Pygmy Shrew (weighing 1.2-2.7 gm) Bumblebee Bat (weighing about 2 gm)
  • Loudest: Blue Whale.
  • Smallest newborns: Marsupials (pouched mammals, like the kangaroo)
  • Smelliest: Striped Skunk
  • Venomous: Duckbilled Platypus (males only)
  • Shrew (some species)
  • Solenodon (a small insectivore)
  • Fatest: Blue whale has the thickest layer of blubber
  • Ringed seal pups have the greatest percentage of fat (about 50 %)