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Most mammals are viviparous, giving birth to live young. [1] However, the five species of monotreme, the platypuses and the echidnas, lay eggs. The monotremes have a sex determination system different from that of most other mammals. [2] In particular, the sex chromosomes of a platypus are more like those of a chicken than those of a therian ...
In regards to males, the mammalian penis has a similar structure in reptiles and a small percentage of birds while the scrotum is only present in mammals. Regarding females, the vulva is unique to mammals with no homologue in birds, reptiles, amphibians, or fish. [10] [11] [12] The clitoris, however, can be found in some reptiles and birds. [13]
The largest living amphibian is the 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) [41] but this is a great deal smaller than the largest amphibian that ever existed—the extinct 9 m (30 ft) Prionosuchus, a crocodile-like temnospondyl dating to 270 million years ago from the middle Permian of Brazil. [42]
While the early amniotes resembled their amphibian ancestors in many respects, a key difference was the lack of an otic notch at the back margin of the skull roof. In their ancestors, this notch held a spiracle , an unnecessary structure in an animal without an aquatic larval stage. [ 25 ]
Therapsida [a] is a clade comprising a major group of eupelycosaurian synapsids that includes mammals and their ancestors and close relatives. Many of the traits today seen as unique to mammals had their origin within early therapsids, including limbs that were oriented more underneath the body, resulting in a more "standing" quadrupedal posture, as opposed to the lower sprawling posture of ...
A humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) A leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx). Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine (saltwater) ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), pinnipeds (seals, sea lions and walruses), sirenians (manatees and dugongs), sea otters and polar bears.
Humans are mammals, but human migration, as commonly defined, is when individuals often permanently change where they live, which does not fit the patterns described here. An exception is some traditional migratory patterns such as transhumance , in which herders and their animals move seasonally between mountains and valleys, and the seasonal ...
[2] All mammals have some hair on their skin, even marine mammals like whales, dolphins, and porpoises that appear to be hairless. The skin interfaces with the environment and is the first line of defense from external factors. For example, the skin plays a key role in protecting the body against pathogens [3] and excessive water loss. [4]