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or afterbirth,
organ that develops in the uterus during pregnancy. It is a unique characteristic of the higher (or placental) mammals. In humans it is a thick mass, about 7 in. (18 cm) in diameter, liberally supplied with blood vessels.
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. The order Carnivora, or flesh-eating animals, includes terrestrial families such as the cat, dog, and bear as well as the aquatic seal, sea lion, and walrus. Other aquatic mammals are the whale, porpoise, and dolphin of the order Cetacea and the manatee and dugong of the order Sirenia. Unusual adaptations are also found in the bat (order Chiroptera); in the elephant (order Proboscidea); in the sloth, armadillo, and anteater (order Edentata); and in the beaver, woodchuck, porcupine, and squirrel (order Rodentia). The order Soricomorpha includes the shrew and the mole, and the spiny and hairy hedgehogs form Erinaceomorpha; both orders were formerly classed as Insectivora. There are two groups of ungulates, or hoofed mammals: most members of the order Perissodactyla, including the horse and the rhinoceros, are odd-toed, with the third digit the largest; those of the order Artiodactyla, including the deer, antelope, camel, pig, and cow, are even-toed, with the third and fourth digits symmetrical and functional. Humans, monkeys, apes, and lemurs belong to the order Primates. Some remains of mammals are identified as from the Jurassic period of the Mesozoic era, but mammals remained small creatures during the Mesozoic. The group became diversified relatively rapidly in geological terms in the Tertiary period of the Cenozoic era after the dinosaurs had become extinct.




(vertebrate zoology)
A member of Mammalia.


any animal of the Mammalia, a large class of warm-blooded vertebrates having mammary glands in the female, a thoracic diaphragm, and a four-chambered heart. The class includes the whales, carnivores, rodents, bats, primates, etc.
References in periodicals archive ?
Kathy Fischer, a director of the Organization for the Respect and Care of Animals, which helps rescue stranded marine mammals, says the lack of a local rehabilitation center means some of the sick sea lions can't be helped.
Although the status of most of the world's mammals and birds is fairly well documented, we know relatively little about the rest of the world's fauna.
Some of the animals in Washington were found to have the bacterial infection leptospirosis, which affects kidney function in mammals, including horses and dogs.
Michelle Ford, Leighton Buzzard, Beds ANIMALS classed as mammals all have belly buttons because they give birth to live young, unlike reptiles which hatch from eggs.
People always said that mammals do not show these lines," says study lead author Meike Kohler, a paleontologist at the University of Barcelona.
An introduction to marine mammal biology and conservation.
They are part of a new, million-pound Mammals In a Sustainable Environment project (MISE), which is backed by the EU's Ireland/Wales Cross Border programme, to survey and conserve a range of mammals on both sides of the Irish Sea in a bid to enhance biodiversity in the region.
Bartonella species are zoonotic agents that have been isolated from a wide range of mammals in the United States (2) and Europe (3) and have been associated with human diseases (4-5).
A Mammal Challenge is also being launched, when people will be asked to record sightings of wild mammals during July.
The study claims that around 80% of fish caught for human consumption come from regions which are seldom used as feeding grounds by marine mammals.
Comparing the needs of more primitive species with those of mammals would only explain why the jaw joint changed, not how it changed.
The odd-ball looks of these mammals have fascinated the scientific world for years - so much so that when the first platypus specimens were sent from Australia to Europe, people thought they were fake.