• Gambella University

• College of Agriculture and Natural Resource

• Department Of Wildlife and Ecotourism
• Mammalogy

Gambella Ethiopia

November 2022
05/15/2024 Mammalogy Department of Wildlife and Ecotourism by Jibril Kedir (Msc In Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Smart Agriculture)
 1: Introduction to Mammalogy

What does mean by Mammalogy:?

Ӑ . The word mammals derived from Latin, it means breast or teat.

Ӑ . The mammals are the highest group in the animal kingdom.

Ӑ . Young Mammals fed on milk from mammary glands, had modified sweat

glands.

Ӑ They are warm blooded, back boned animals.

 : Basic concept of Mammalogy:?

Ӑ Mammalogy is the branch of biology, deals structure, function, evolutionary

history, Ethology, taxonomy and management of mammals.

Ӑ . About 4,200 species of mammal are there, consist of egg-laying echidnas,

platypus, pouched marsupials, tiny shrews, bats, mice, whales etc, they are hairy,

milk producing endothermic animals.

Mammalogy Department of Wildlife and Ecotourism by Jibril Kedir (Msc In Biodiversity Conservation and Climate
05/15/2024
Smart Agriculture)
 1.1. Major Characteristics of mammals

• 1. Hair and Mammary Glands

• They distinguished from others vertebrate, by having hair and mammary
glands.
• Mammary glands: produce and secrete milk that nourishes developing
young.
• Mammals’ hair has several functions,
1. Insulation
2. Camouflage
3. Sensory devices
4. Defense

05/15/2024 Mammalogy Department of Wildlife and Ecotourism by Jibril Kedir (Msc In Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Smart Agriculture)
 Other Characteristics mammals

 A high metabolic rate supports endothermy,

 Specialized teeth and digestive systems,

 A diaphragm to aid in respiration,

 A four-chambered heart, and a highly developed brain

05/15/2024 Mammalogy Department of Wildlife and Ecotourism by Jibril Kedir (Msc In Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Smart Agriculture)
 Other Characteristics mammals

1. Endothermy:

 Mammals are endotherms, to mean they produce their body heat internally.

• 2. Four-chambered heart,

 With complete separation of pulmonary and systemic circulation.

• 3. An nucleate Red Blood Cells –

 Provides them more space for hemoglobin and greater capacity for carrying
oxygen.
Other Characteristics mammals….

Separate sexes

Muscular Diaphragm - used in respiration.

Facial muscles: allows for facial expression and communication.

Expanded cerebral portion of brain (particular portion called dorsal pallium)

Double occipital condyle (the point of articulation between skull and vertebral

column).

Mammals have single lower jaw,

Other Characteristics mammals…..

Three auditory ossicles (middle ear).

Teeth with different dental characters.

Diphyodont : two generations of teeth contrasts with monophyodont and

polyphyodonty.

Thecodont: – Teeth are rooted in a socket,

Heterodont:-different teeth have different shapes and functions, a opposed

to homodont (seen in some reptiles).
• 1.2. Origin and evolution of mammals…

Mammals evolved from reptilian subclass synapsid ancestors appeared in late

Carboniferous period in Mesozoic era 225 million years ago (age of reptiles) occurred in

Triassic period.

Descendant of synapsid, Therapsida are the first true mammal-like reptiles, happen in

190 million years ago, foothold in the world at beginning of the Cenozoic in Triassic

period of 200 million years ago.

05/15/2024 Mammalogy Department of Wildlife and Ecotourism by Jibril Kedir (Msc In Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Smart Agriculture)
 Origin and evolution of mammals….

Were dog-like carnivores with differentiated teeth and legs for running, small

about the size of a mouse or shrew.

• The world was not ready for mammals until the great reptilian dinosaurs died

about 70 million years ago.

• The mammals were present and living throughout the whole Mesozoic Age,

however it expanded during the era of Cenozoic Era when Dinosaurs died out,
 When Did the Cenozoic Era Start?

 The Cenozoic era began 65 million years ago after the mass extinction of the dinosaurs

at the end of the Mesozoic era.

 The Cenozoic era has not yet ended, but it has been broken down into three distinct

periods: Paleogene, Neogene, and Quaternary.

 Paleogene is the oldest period, and it took place from 65 million - 23 million years

The Neogene period took place from 23 million - 2.6 million years ago, and

the Quaternary period began 2.6 million years ago and reaches to the present day.
 What Happened in the Cenozoic Era?

• The Cenozoic era was the era termed the "Age of Mammals".

• Mammals were able to spread out and evolve after the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the

Mesozoic era.

• Cenozoic era animals grew from the size of a shrew to the size of mammoths.

• Cenozoic era, about 200,000 years ago, the first ancestors of human beings began to evolve.

• This was also an era for the evolution of plants. Flowering plants, known as angiosperms evolved.

• The landmasses of world were connected and known as Pangea at the end of the Paleozoic era.

• Over the Mesozoic era, Pangea started to split and move apart.
 CONCEPT OF EON, ERA, PERIOD AND EPOCH

05/15/2024 Mammalogy Department of Wildlife and Ecotourism by Jibril Kedir (Msc In Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Smart Agriculture
• How did the mammals manage to co-exist with the
reptiles?

The earliest mammals lived in trees and were nocturnal, searching for food (mainly insects

and plant material and perhaps reptile eggs) at night while the reptiles were inactive.

Their life style known by large eye characteristics of the present day nocturnal primates.

By bearing their young alive, avoided they avoided hazards

By nourishing the young and caring for them, the parents could offer both protection
When and how did mammals become widely distributed and adapted to a variety of ecological niches?

As Mammal-like reptiles died out by the end of Triassic, the mammals began

to abandoned territories and ecological niches.

Among them the modern relatives, the duck-billed platypus of Australia and

two species of spiny anteaters and New Guinea retain certain reptilian traits.

These monotreme species lay small leathery eggs nurse their young with

milk after hatching.

 When and how did mammals become widely distributed and
adapted to a variety of ecological niches?

Near the close of the cretaceous the first known Marsupials and placentals appeared.

Marsupials were at first more numerous and placentals relatively rare.

All these later cretaceous forms were small insectivorous types, as judged by the

teeth.

Marsupials and placentals come off independently from different types of

pantotheres,.
When and how did mammals widely distributed and adapted to a variety of ecological

niches?.....

During the Paleocene, the first period of the Cenozoic age, the placental mammals found

the world wide open for exploitation.

During the Eocene, the second period of the Cenozoic all the main orders of mammals

had been established, apparently as offshoots of the ancestral insectivores.

By the end of the cretaceous period, three main groups of mammals.

Today, these are classified in three subclasses: prototheria, Metatheria, and Eutheria.
When and how did mammals become widely distributed and adapted to a variety of ecological niches?...

Currently mammals inhabit virtually every corner of the earth-on the

land, in freshwater, salt water, and in air.

They range in size from the tiny pigmy shrew, weighing about 25 grams

to the blue whale, weight more than 90,000kg and is largest animal that

ever lived.
Why is the Cenozoic era Recognized as “the age of mammals”?

• An amazing diversification among mammals as expanded during the 65 ml years since

the Cenozoic era began,

• Increasing sophisticated temperature regulation: Allows the marsupials and placental

to live in a broader range of habitats than the monotremes.

• Increased body size: Within nearly every mammalian order there is a trend towards

larger size, apparently related to heat balance. The larger the body, the lower the ratio

of surface is to body mass.

Diversification of tooth shapes: Mammals have evolved a wide variety of tooth shapes

and functions that correlate with food sources.

Wide, flat molars and premolars for grinding grains and grasses or for crushing bones.

Elongation and specialization of limbs: Mammals have developed diversified limb

structures that permit many different locomotory styles and behaviors.

Feeding Specializations in Mammals: The feeding or trophic apparatus

of a mammalian teeth and alimentary canal are adapted to its particular

feeding habit.

Based on their feeding specializations, mammals may be divided into the

three basic trophic (nutritional groups) like Omnivores, carnivores and

herbivores.