What is A Mammal?

Mammal is a creature that most of us mean when we say the word ‘animal’. We know them best among all other living things, for many of our pets and domestic animal are mammals and so are we. Mammals are found almost everywhere in the world, from the cold land and seas of theArctic to hot deserts and steamy forests, and there are many different kinds. Bats can fly; whales live only in water; moles are burrowers; antelopes and horses are runners; monkeys are climbers; chimpanzees and elephants live in hot regions.

The first mammals were small and evolved at about the same time as the dinosaurs, 220 million years ago. When dinosaurs became extinct, mammals became the dominant land animals.

The skeleton and body of mammals is different from other animals because of hair, three middle ear bones and mammary glands. Some other identical characteristics of mammals are as follows:

• They have a backbone.
• Mammal babies are fed on mothers milk.
• They need lots of food because they are warm-blooded.
• Mammals have lot of hair on their body unlike other animals.
• The brain of mammals is sharper than other animals like chimpanzees, dolphins and human beings are so much intelligent.
• Most of the mammals move around using limbs and bat is the only mammal which can fly.
• Middle ear of mammals has three bones; the Stapes or (Stirrup), Incus or (Anvil) and the Malleus or (Hammer).

Different mammals eat different types of food. And they eat more than any other animal because they have to maintain their body temperature. According to eating habits of mammals, they are divided into four types;

• Herbivores: these mammals eat plants and vegetables like beavers, cows, horses, pandas and sloths are fed on such things.
• Carnivores: this type of mammals eats meat and includes animals like dogs, lions, dolphins, whales etc.
• Omnivores: these mammals can digest plants and meat and we humans are the best example of it.
• Insectivores: as the name suggest, these mammals use insects as their food like aardvarks, anteaters, pangolins and others are insectivores.