MAMMALS
Mammals are warm-blooded creatures that feed their babies on milk until the young are able to eat solid food. Most are furry or hairy, unlike all other vertebrates (animals with backbones). Many eat plants, while others prey on other animals. Some, like humans, eat both plants and meat.
- ECHIDNA The echidna and the equally strange platypus are the only mammals that lay eggs. A baby echidna lives on milk produced by its mother for up to six months. The mother eats food such as earthworms, which she digs from the ground with her long snout.
- ELEPHANT Elephants use their sensitive trunks to gather coarse vegetation, which they grind to pulp with their massive teeth. They are the biggest land animals and are very intelligent.
- KANGAROO Marsupials such as kangaroos give birth to tiny young that are only half-formed. The newborn crawls into a pouch on its mother’s belly to drink milk and grow into a fully developed baby kangaroo, or Joey.
- MOUSE Nearly half of all mammal species are rodents – a group that includes mice, rats, beavers, porcupines, and squirrels. The house mouse is the only mammal, apart from humans, to live on every continent.
- BAT Bats are mammals that can fly. Some eat fruit, but most species like this long-eared bat catch insects. They are nocturnal (active at night) and locate prey in the dark by emitting high-pitched clicks and listening for echoes from their target.
- TIGER Powerful hunters like the tiger eat other mammals and birds. They have long, dagger-like canine teeth for killing their prey, and scissor-like cheek teeth for slicing through hide and meat.
- MOLE Moles are specially adapted to their underground environment. They have strong claws for digging and very sensitive whiskers, which compensate for their poor eyesight.
- KILLER WHALE Whales and dolphins, like this killer whale, live in the ocean, swimming with up-and-down movements of their powerful tails. They come to the surface to breathe air.
- GORILLA Our closest relatives among the mammals are apes like the gorilla – a plant-eater that lives in the rainforests of tropical Africa.
- HIPPOPOTAMUS The hippopotamus spends most of its time wallowing in rivers and lakes. The massively built plant-eater has the largest mouth of any land mammal.
Picture Credit : Google
