Mammal
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Mammals (class Mammalia are a clade of warm-blooded amniotes. Among the features that distinguish them from the other amniotes, the reptiles and the birds, are hair, three middle ear bones, mammary glands in females, and a neocortex (a region of the brain). The mammalian brain regulates body temperature and the circulatory system, including the four-chambered heart. The mammals include the largest animals on the planet, the rorqual whales, as well as some of the most intelligent such as elephants as well as some primates and cetaceans. The basic body type is a four-legged land-borne animal, but some mammals are adapted for life at sea, in the air, in the trees, or on two legs. The largest group of mammals, the placentals, have a placenta which feeds the offspring during pregnancy. Mammals range in size from the 30–40 millimeter (1- to 1.5-inch) bumblebee bat to the 33-meter (108-foot) blue whale.
See also
- List of mammal genera
- Lists of mammals by population
- Lists of mammals by region
- List of extinct mammals
- List of mammalogists
- List of prehistoric mammals
- Mammal classification
- Mammals discovered in the 2000s
- Prehistoric mammals