Answer: They have fur to decrease heat loss; their diets contain high energy foods and
methods of feeding help to maintain a high metabolism; and they conserve energy
both by being inactive at certain times of day and sometimes by hibernation.- Describe courtship displays in birds. As you learn about mammals, think about how
their courtship is similar or different to that of birds.
Answer: Males usually perform courtship displays in birds. Most displays involve a type of
song and some displays are very elaborate and may include dancing, aerial flights, or
wing or tail drumming.Introduction
What’s a mammal? It is easy to forget about the biodiversity of mammals, but these animals
range from bats and cats and rats to dogs and monkeys and whales. They walk and run and
swim and fly. They live in the ocean, they fly in the sky, they walk on the prairies and run
in the savannah. What allows them to live in such diverse environments? Well, mammals
have some specialized traits which no other group of animals has. There is a tremendous
amount of diversity within the group in terms of reproduction, habitat, and adaptation for
living in their different habitats. It is because of some of their traits that mammals have
been of benefit to people and also play an important ecological role.
Characteristics of Mammals
Mammals (class Mammalia) are warm-blooded, vertebrate animals with a number of unique
characteristics. In most mammals, these include:
- The presence of hair
- Sweat glands
- Glands specialized to produce milk (mammary glands)
- Three middle ear bones
- Aneocortexregion in the brain
- Specialized teeth
- A four-chambered heart
All mammals, except for themonotremes(the most primitive order of mammals, with
certain birdlike and reptilian characteristics, such as laying eggs, and a single opening for
the urinary, genital, and digestive organs), produce live young (known asvivipary) instead
of laying eggs.