Mammals are warm-blooded animals
that have two main characteristics, hair someplace on their bodies and
mammary glands to produce milk for their young. Mammals are vertebrates,
meaning they have a backbone. They are also found in the kingdom Animalia.
Mammals are found in all different shapes and sizes. The smallest mammal
alive is the pygmy shrew. The largest mammal alive is the blue whale.
There are lots of mammals in trouble for many different reasons. Some
of those reasons are urban sprawl, clear-cutting forests and oil spills.
One mammal, the New England cottontail, is affected by urban sprawl. Unfortunately,
people have managed to destroy its habitat by
clear-cutting its forests. But on the bright side, now that people are
aware of these facts there has been a lot done to help, such as preserving
its habitat from being cut down for more housing developments.
FAST FACTS
Did you know there are
over 5,000 species of mammals? Well, its no surprise! Did you know
the fastest mammal alive is the cheetah which can run up to 70 MPH? The
slowest moving mammal alive is the sloth. It can move less than a mile
an hour! There are only 3 venomous mammals known to man. They are the duckbilled
platypus (but only the male duckbilled
platypus is venomous), several species
of shrews, and the solenodon.
