Mammals are hairy, milk-producing, warm-blooded
animals. This animal group includes the heaviest, tallest and fastest animals on land - the elephant,
the giraffe and the cheetah, mice, whales, rhinoceroses, bats and humans.
There are four sub-species of mammals. They are:
Placental Mammals :
Most mammals, including cats and dogs are called placental mammals because the young develop inside the
mother`s womb, or uterus and are fed by means of the placenta. The placenta is a specialised organ
embedded in the wall of the womb.
Marsupial Mammals : Kangaroos, opossums,
wallabies, Koalas, wombats and bandicoots are all known as marsupials or pouched mammals. These animals carry
their young ones in their pouches until they are able to fend for themselves. Once it has left the pouch ,
the Joey ( young kangaroo) return to the pouch to suckle milk. Marsupials are found in Australia and New Guinea,
South America and North America. A few marsupials, such as the shrew opossum of South America don't
have pouches.
Primates: Monkeys, apes and humans belong to a group called primates.
Primates are able to grasp with their hands. Most primates have thumbs and big toes, with flat finger nails
rather than claws. Members of primate group range in the size from mouse lemur, which weigh only 60 g to the
gorilla, which weighs up to 275 kg.
Monotreme Mammals: These kind of mammals lay eggs.
They are called monotreme mammals and include the platypus and the two types of echidna(spiny anteater). All
are found in Australia. After about 10 days , the young hatch out of eggs, then feed on their mother's milk.
