What is a mammal?

• Mammals are animals that use lungs to breathe air, produce milk, are warm-blooded, vertebrates and are covered in hair.

Vertebrates

• Mammals are vertebrates, which means that they all have backbones (spines). 

All mammals have hair or fur

• Sometimes it's long hair covers their entire body, other mammals have short hair or just a few strands.

Mammals under water

• Even mammals that swim under the water (like whales and dolphins) have hair.

Its hard to find it! Whales have fine hair on the lips.

Mammals are warm blooded.

• The temperature could be really cold or very hot, but mammals’ bodies are built to maintain just about the same temperature all the time.

Believe it or not!

• Mammals are the animal class that people belong to.  

Bats

• Yes a bat is a mammal, it has wings and it’s not a bird.

Mammal Babies:  all drink Milk

• Baby mammals are born different ways, but they all drink milk that comes from their mothers' bodies. Baby pigs, lions, dogs, dolphins, bats and elephants all drink milk!

Mammal mothers

• The mammal mothers have to care for their young.

Teeth

• People have "milk teeth“, animals too.

• Except anteaters, they don’t have teeth at all!

Special mammals (anteaters)

• There are, however, a few mammals (like the duckbilled platypus and the spiny anteater) who lay eggs like a bird!

They are a lot of different mammals