Did you know that all living things can be divided into two main groups: plants and animals? Animals are further divided into two types: those without backbones, called invertebrates, and those with backbones, called vertebrates. Humans, like you and me, are vertebrates because we have a spine running down our back.
Scientists like to organize animals into smaller groups based on their traits, which is called classification. This helps us learn more about animals all over the world. Vertebrates are classified into five groups: mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Each group has its own special traits, but sometimes they share similarities. For example, both birds and mammals are warm-blooded, meaning they keep a constant body temperature.
Let’s dive into the world of mammals! Mammals are one of the largest groups of animals on Earth. All mammals have backbones, and humans are mammals too! This means you belong to the same group as dogs, rabbits, and even whales.
Mammals are warm-blooded, which means their bodies try to keep the same temperature inside, no matter how hot or cold it is outside. If you’ve ever felt cold and started shivering, that’s your body trying to warm up! Some mammals, like dogs, cool down by panting, while pigs roll in mud to stay cool.
Mammals need to eat a lot to keep their bodies warm. Some eat only plants, some eat only meat, and others, like humans, eat both. The food they eat turns into energy, which helps them stay warm.
All mammals have hair or fur on their bodies. This fur helps keep them warm, especially during cold times. Most mammals give birth to live babies, unlike birds and fish that lay eggs. Only two mammals, the platypus and the echidna, lay eggs.
Mammal mothers feed their babies with milk. This is important because newborn mammals need their parents to take care of them. In some other animal groups, babies are left to fend for themselves.
All mammals use lungs to breathe, which is why whales and dolphins are mammals, not fish. Mammals living on land usually have four limbs, like arms and legs, to help them move around.
There are about 6,500 species of mammals! Rodents, like beavers and mice, make up almost half of them. The blue whale is the largest mammal, while the elephant is the biggest on land. The giraffe is the tallest, and the tiny hog-nosed bat is the smallest. Did you know that bats are the only mammals that can fly?
Mammals are just one group of many animals in the world. Each mammal is unique, from the smallest bat to the largest whale. Isn’t it amazing how diverse the animal kingdom is?
Hope you enjoyed learning about mammals! There’s so much more to discover about the animal world.
Animal Classification Chart: Create a simple chart with your child to classify different animals into vertebrates and invertebrates. Use pictures from magazines or draw your own. Then, further classify the vertebrates into mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Discuss the traits that help you decide which group each animal belongs to. This activity will help reinforce the concept of classification and the special traits of mammals.
Warm-Blooded Experiment: Conduct a simple experiment to understand how mammals maintain their body temperature. Fill two bowls with warm water. Wrap one bowl with a towel (to represent fur) and leave the other uncovered. Measure the temperature of the water in both bowls over time to see which one stays warmer longer. Discuss how fur helps mammals stay warm and relate it to how humans wear clothes to keep warm.
Mammal Observation Walk: Go on a nature walk with your child and observe different animals you see. Try to identify which ones are mammals. Look for signs like fur, how they move, and if possible, how they care for their young. Encourage your child to ask questions about the animals and discuss how they fit into the mammal group. This activity will help children apply their knowledge in real-world settings and appreciate the diversity of mammals.
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All about mammals! The two main categories of living things in the world are plants and animals. Animals are divided into two main types: those without backbones, called invertebrates, and those with backbones, called vertebrates. Humans are vertebrates; your vertebrae, or spine, runs down the center of your back.
Animals in both groups are divided into smaller groups based on their traits or characteristics. Scientists call this classification. Classification helps make it easier to identify and study animals throughout the world. Scientists have classified all vertebrates into five different groups: mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. You can probably name some animals that go into each group.
Each group of animals has its own unique traits and characteristics, but some of the groups share one or more of the same traits. For example, birds and mammals are both warm-blooded, and reptiles and mammals are both vertebrates. However, they are not in the same group because they also have some differences. For instance, reptiles and fish lay eggs, but mammals do not.
There is a lot to learn about each of the five groups of animals. In this video, we’re going to focus on mammals. Mammals are one of the largest animal groups on Earth. All mammals have backbones or spines. A human is a mammal; you are in the same animal group as dogs, rabbits, whales, and many others.
Mammals are warm-blooded, which means their bodies will always try to keep a constant temperature on the inside, no matter the temperature around them. Your body temperature averages 98.6 degrees unless you’re sick and have a fever. Other mammals’ body temperatures average between 97 and 103 degrees. If an animal is cold-blooded, like fish, reptiles, and amphibians, their body temperature goes up and down depending on the temperature around them.
Some mammals only eat meat or plants, while others eat both, like humans do. Mammals generate their body heat through the food they eat, which is converted into energy. Mammals must eat more food than cold-blooded animals to maintain a constant body temperature.
Have you ever jumped into a freezing cold ocean or lake and found yourself shivering? Your body is trying to warm you up, and shivering generates little bursts of heat. Your body also tries to cool itself down by sweating. Some mammals have other ways of cooling themselves down; for example, a dog pants, and a pig rolls in the mud. The mud protects the pig’s skin from the sun, and when the water droplets in the mud evaporate, it leaves the pig’s skin moist, which helps cool it down.
All mammals have hair or fur that covers their bodies. For mammals that hibernate, like bears, lemurs, squirrels, and skunks, fur helps keep them warm all winter long. Another characteristic of mammals is that almost all of them give birth to live babies. This is different from fish and birds, which lay eggs that will eventually hatch. There are only two mammals that lay eggs: the platypus and the echidna, which is kind of a mix between an anteater and a porcupine.
Mammal mothers nurse their young with milk that their bodies make. A newborn mammal, like a human, puppy, or kitten, needs a parent to take care of them after they’re born, but in some of the other groups, the animals are left on their own and have no one to look after them.
All mammals use lungs to breathe; that’s why whales and dolphins are considered mammals and not fish. They do not have gills like fish, and they are not cold-blooded, so they are classified as mammals. Mammals that live on land have four limbs, which means they have two arms and two legs, like kangaroos and monkeys, or just four legs, like horses, cows, and rabbits.
There are about 6,500 species of mammals. Rodents such as beavers, mice, and squirrels make up almost half of the mammals on Earth. The largest mammal in the world is the blue whale; it can be 150 feet long and weigh 150 tons or 300,000 pounds—that’s about the same weight as five Statues of Liberty put together. The elephant is the largest mammal on land, and the giraffe is the tallest. The smallest mammal is called the hog-nosed bat or bumblebee bat; it’s about the same size as a bee and weighs about as much as a feather. The bat is also the only mammal that can fly, and the slowest mammal in the world is the two-toed sloth.
Mammals make up just one group of the many types of animals in the world. Even though mammals share many characteristics, each is also unique, from the tiniest bat to the biggest whale.
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