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A mammal (from Latin mamma 'breast') [1] is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (/ m ə ˈ m eɪ l i. ə /). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle ear bones.
Their definition of Mammalia is roughly equal to the Mammaliaformes as defined by McKenna and Bell (1997) and other authors. They also define their taxonomic levels as clades and do not apply Linnean hierarchies. Mammalia †Sinoconodon - earliest and most basal of mammals; Unnamed clade 1 - a clade that contains all other mammals.
The archive of number of mammals on earth is constantly growing, but is currently set at 6,495 different mammal species including recently extinct. [2] There are 5,416 living mammals identified on earth and roughly 1,251 have been newly discovered since 2006. [ 2 ]
Animals including insects [210] and mammals [218] feature in mythology and religion. The scarab beetle was sacred in ancient Egypt , [ 219 ] and the cow is sacred in Hinduism . [ 220 ] Among other mammals, deer , [ 218 ] horses , [ 221 ] lions , [ 222 ] bats , [ 223 ] bears , [ 224 ] and wolves [ 225 ] are the subjects of myths and worship.
Figure 1:In mammals, the quadrate and articular bones are small and part of the middle ear; the lower jaw consists only of dentary bone.. While living mammal species can be identified by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands in the females, other features are required when classifying fossils, because mammary glands and other soft-tissue features are not visible in fossils.
Placental mammals (infraclass Placentalia / p l æ s ə n ˈ t eɪ l i ə /) are one of the three extant subdivisions of the class Mammalia, the other two being Monotremata and Marsupialia. Placental mammals contains the vast majority of extant mammals, which are partly distinguished from monotremes and marsupials in that the fetus is carried ...
Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia.They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas.One of the defining features of marsupials is their unique reproductive strategy, where the young are born in a relatively undeveloped state and then nurtured within a pouch on their mother's abdomen.
The order Chiroptera comprises bats and is the second largest order of mammals, containing about 1,240 species of bats, which is around 20% of all mammal species. Suborder Yangochiroptera [ edit ]