Mammals R Us If Your A Human...

   Hey everybody who is reading this awesome blog to today. If you don't know what a mammal is, it is basically you. You are a mammal. See, not all mammals are animals. So lets get back to the blog
This Is What We Are Going To Learn...

• 5  characteristics of all mammals
• How mammals characteristics help them survive in different environments
• How birds and mammals are similar
• The difference between marsupials, monotremes, and placental mammals
• Similarities between placental mammal, marsupial, and monotreme babies
• An awesome mammal and interesting facts about it

     Before we start learning about mammals here are the groups of mammals.

     On the left are the placental mammals and on the right are the marsupials.

 Monotremes

     5 Characteristics of All Mammals

    

 So, right now I am going to name 5 characteristics of all mammals. All mammals are warm-blooded. That means their body temperature stays the same no matter what the weather is. All mammals have hair or fur.

 hair  fur

     All mammals give milk to their young. Some give milk through nipples and some sweat milk. All mammals have mammary glands. Mammary glands help mammals feed the young. All mammals have lungs. Lungs help the mammals breathe air. Without lungs you can't breathe and would die unless you have gills and live in water, but that is a different story.

Click here to learn more about their characteristics... http://animals.about.com/od/mammals/a/mammals-characteristics.htm

 How Mammals Characteristics Help Them Adapt To Their Environment

     One of the adaptations that some mammals have like the lion is sharp teeth. The sharp teeth helps the lion eat meat. If the lion didn't have sharp teeth it couldn't chew it's food and will choke.


  Another adaptation is that they have fur or hair. The fur or hair keep them warm. Seals that live in Antartica have hair or fur to keep them warm in the cold.



     Another adaption is they are warm-blooded. Being warm-blooded helps them. How you ask? Well, I'm going to tell you. It would be harder to stay warm or cold. If it was a really hot day you would want to go into the shade. Animals that are cold-blooded feel more hot because their blood temperature changes too.    

     To learn more about the adaptations click these links http://www.zoosociety.org/pdf/GuidedTours/AnimalAdap.pdf
http://animals.about.com/od/mammals/a/mammals-characteristics.htm

How Birds and Mammals are Similar
     Now we are going to talk about how birds and mammals are similar. Some people mistake birds as mammals, but birds have feathers not hair or fur. They are both warm blooded. You know what warm blooded means right? I told you not to long ago.  They are both vertebrates which mean they have backbones. Both have 4 chambers in the heart. They both have 2 atriums and ventricles.

The Difference Between Placental Mammals, Monotremes, and Marsupials
      Since you have already seen a picture of all of them lets talk about them. Okay these are things that none of the other groups have. Marsupials have pouches like kangaroos.The babies are not fully developed when they are born, the babies go into the mom's pouch and develop. Monotremes like platypuses lay eggs. Placental mammals give birth to fully developed live young. Those are the facts that only that group has. No other group of mammals has those characteristics.

Similarities Between The Group of Mammal Babies
    Now, I am going to talk about the similarities of the babies.  Well, all mammal babies drink milk from their mom. All babies depend on their mom when they are born. That means all mammals babies need their mom when they are born.

My Special Mammal
    This is what you guys have been waiting for. My special mammal is the platypus. What inspired me to pick this mammal is Perry the platypus.


     We are not going to talk about how awesome Perry is, we are going to talk about the facts of the platypus. To make it easier I'm going to put it in bullet points.

• Lays eggs
• Has a duck bill and a racoon tail (so awkward)
• Eats meat (carnivore)
• 20 inches from head to tail
• 3 lbs.
• The male platypus has stingers on his rear feet for defense
• Have webbed feet in the front
• Hunt in water

To learn more about platypus click here http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/platypus/

Here is a video to end it off about mammals.

   I hoped yhat you learn something today about mammals. BYE!!