Mamals

A mammal is a warm blooded vertebrate (animal with a backbone) with some hair on its body. Female mammals feed their young on milk from their mammary glands. Most mammals give birth to live young which develop inside the mother's body, but echidnas and the platypus lay eggs. Marsupial mammals such as kangaroos give birth to live young, but they are very small and weak. They finish their development in a pouch on the mother's body. There are 21 main groups, or orders, of mammals.

Listed below are the names of the main mammal groups, examples of the animals and the approximate number of known species. Common names are given where possible.

Rodents

Beavers, squirrels, mice, rats porcupines, voles, guinea pigs chinchillas 2052

Chiroptera

Bats 977

Insectivores

Shrews, moles, hedgehogs, tenrecs 440

Primates Lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, marmosets, monkeys. gibbons, apes, humans 270

Marsupials

Opossums koalas, bandicoots, kangaroos, wallabies, numbat 292

Carnivores

Dogs. foxes, wolves, cats, bears, hyenas. raccoons, civets, mongooses, weasels,

pandas 249

Even-toed ungulates

Pigs peccaries, giraffe, okapi, Hippopotamuses, deer,camels, llamas, antelopes, cattle 225

Cetacea

Whales, dolphins, porpoises 83

Lagomorpha Rabbits, hares, pikas 80

Pinnipedia

Seals, sea-lions, walruses 34

Edentates

Anteaters, sloths, armadillos 29

Odd-toed ungulates Horses, asses, zebras, rhinos, tapirs 19

Scandentia Tree shrews 19

Macroscelidea Elephant-shrews 15

Monotremes Duck-billed platypus, echidnas 5

Hyracoidea Hyraxes 8

Pholidota Pangolins 7

Sirenia

Manatees, dugong 4

Proboscidea Elephants 3

Dermoptera Flying lemurs 2

Tubulidentata Aardvark 1