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edit   The mammals portal Mammals (class Mammalia) are vertebrate animals characterized by the presence of sweat glands, including milk producing sweat glands, and by the presence of: hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in the brain. Mammals, other than the monotremes, give birth to live young instead of laying eggs. They also possess specialized teeth and use a placenta in the ontogeny. The mammalian brain regulates endothermic and circulatory systems, including a four-chambered heart. Mammals encompass approximately 5,400 species, ranging in size from the Bumblebee Bat, (30-40mm), to the Blue Whale, (33,000mm), distributed in about 1,200 genera, 153 families, and 29 orders, though this varies by classification scheme. Most mammals belong to the placental group. The four largest orders within the placental mammals are Rodentia (mice, rats, and other small, gnawing mammals), Chiroptera (bats), Carnivora (dogs, cats, bears, and other mammals that primarily eat meat), and Cetartiodactyla (including numerous herbivore species, such as deer, sheep, goats, and buffalos, plus whales). Phylogenetically, Mammalia is defined as all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of monotremes (e.g., echidnas and platypuses) and therian mammals (marsupials and placentals). This means that some extinct groups of "mammals" are not members of the crown group Mammalia, even though most of them have all the characteristics that traditionally would have classified them as mammals. These "mammals" are now usually placed in the unranked clade Mammaliaformes. The mammalian line of descent diverged from the sauropsid line at the end of the Carboniferous period. The sauropsids would evolve into modern-day reptiles and birds, while the synapsid branch led to mammals. The first true mammals appeared in the Jurassic period. Modern mammalian orders appeared in the Palaeocene and Eocene epochs of the Palaeogene period. edit   Selected article The Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is a species of the family Rhinocerotidae, and one of five extant rhinoceri. It is the smallest rhinoceros, standing about 120–145 centimetres (3.9–4.8 ft) high at the shoulder, with a body length of 250 centimetres (98 in) and weight of 500–800 kilograms (1100–1760 lb). Like its African counterparts, the black and white rhinoceri, it has two horns; the larger is the nasal horn, typically 15–25 centimetres (6–10 in), while the other is typically a stub. A coat of reddish-brown hair covers most of the rhino's body. Members of the species once ranged throughout rainforests, swamps and cloud forests in India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. They are now critically endangered, with only six substantial populations in the wild: four on Sumatra, one on Borneo, and one on peninsular Malaysia. Their numbers are difficult to determine because they are solitary animals that are widely scattered across their range, but they are estimated to number around just 300. The decline in the number of Sumatran rhinoceri is attributed primarily to poaching for their ivory horns, which are highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine, fetching as much as US$30,000 per kilogram on the black market. The rhinos have also suffered from habitat loss as their forests have been cleared for lumber and conversion to agriculture. edit   Did you know? ...that one burrow of the eastern chipmunk (pictured) was found to contain 390 acorns? .. that the Hare Indian dog, now extinct, was not known to bark, but puppies learned to imitate the barking of other dogs when the breed was introduced to Europe? ... that the rodents Thomasomys ucucha from Ecuador and Oxymycterus hucucha from Bolivia were both named after the local Quechua word for "mouse"? ...that the incisors of blesmols are visible even when their mouths are closed? ... that the pebble-mound mice of northern Australia construct mounds of stones around their burrows up to 10 m2 in area? ... that the stationmaster of the Kinokawa train station in Kinokawa, Japan is a cat named Tama? edit   Selected picture Braunvieh (German: brown cattle) is a breed of cattle originating from Switzerland. edit   Scientific classification Kingdom→ Animalia   Phylum→ Chordata   Subphylum→ Vertebrata   Superclass→ Tetrapoda   (unranked)→ Amniota   Class→ Mammalia Subclasses and Infraclasses Subclass †Allotheria* Subclass Prototheria Subclass Theria Infraclass †Trituberculata Infraclass Metatheria Infraclass Eutheria * Member of a haplogroup and not any of its subclades. † Taxon is extinct. edit   Topics Monotremata Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Notoryctemorphia Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Diprotodontia Afrosoricida Macroscelidea Tubulidentata Hyracoidea Proboscidea Sirenia Cingulata Pilosa Scandentia Dermoptera Primates Rodentia Lagomorpha Erinaceomorpha Soricomorpha Chiroptera Pholidota Carnivora Perissodactyla Artiodactyla Cetacea edit   Quality content Featured articles Ambondro mahabo Beagle Bharattherium Blue whale Bobcat Camas pocket gopher Columbian mammoth Cougar Cryptoprocta spelea Dermotherium Elephant Elk Evolution of lemurs Ferugliotheriidae Ferugliotherium Fin whale Flocke Fossa (animal) Giant anteater Giant eland Giant otter Giraffe Guinea pig Hippopotamus Humpback whale Jaguar Javan rhinoceros Killer whale Knut (polar bear) Koala Lavanify Lion Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr. Meerkat Manor Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins Miniopterus aelleni Miniopterus griveaudi Myotis alcathoe Myotis escalerai Paraceratherium Pinniped Pipistrellus raceyi Platypus Plesiorycteropus Primate Pygmy hippopotamus Quagga Raccoon Right whale Rodent Salanoia durrelli Sea otter Sei whale Sheep Short-beaked echidna Sumatran rhinoceros Tammar wallaby Tasmanian devil Thylacine Triaenops menamena Woolly mammoth Featured lists List of cetaceans List of mammals of Florida Featured pictures File:Cheetahs on the Edge (Director's Cut).ogv File:Koala climbing tree.jpg File:Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus Bruny.jpg File:Vombatus ursinus -Maria Island National Park.jpg Good articles Addax Alpine ibex Argentodites Kitti's hog-nosed bat Billy (pygmy hippo) Binky (polar bear) Black wildebeest Black-tailed jackrabbit Blue wildebeest Bohor reedbuck Boreray sheep Bottlenose dolphin Bovidae California sea lion Campbell's dwarf hamster Canidae Capybara Common eland Common vampire bat Dimetrodon Djungarian hamster Dromedary Dugong Dusky dolphin Eastern mole Equus (genus) European hare European polecat Ferret-legging Fisher (animal) Hartebeest Herdwick Hipposideros besaoka History of the domestic sheep Horse Impala Jacob sheep Japanese serow LACM 149371 Large Black pig Least weasel Lesser kudu Malagasy hippopotamus Marsh shrew Mesozoic mammals of Madagascar Microgale macpheei Miniopterus brachytragos Miniopterus mahafaliensis Miniopterus manavi Miniopterus tao Miniopterus zapfei Muskrat Narwhal Neoromicia malagasyensis North American river otter Nyala Okapi Paratheria (mammals) Pilot whale Polar bear Pudú Quoll Ralphie the Buffalo Red fox Red panda River dolphin Scimitar oryx Shetland sheep Smilodon Spotted hyena Swift fox TNM 02067 Tamaraw Tiger Trapalcotherium Triaenops goodmani Tupaia miocenica UA 8699 Veratalpa Walrus Waterbuck Whale Wildebeest William Windsor (goat) Gray wolf edit   WikiProjects Biology Tree of Life Prokaryotes and Protists Plants Arthropods Cephalopods Gastropods Fishes Amphibians and Reptiles Birds Mammals WikiProject Dogs WikiProject Dog breeds WikiProject Rodents WikiProject Cats WikiProject Equine WikiProject Horse breeds WikiProject Cetaceans WikiProject Primates WikiProject Monotremes and Marsupials Viruses A complete list of scientific WikiProjects can be found here. See also Wikispecies, a Wikimedia project dedicated to classification of biological species. edit   Things to do Articles needing attention Biology pages needing attention (cleanup, expansion, wikification, expert needed, etc.) Help Wikipedia by uploading required images Help Wikipedia by creating pages or redirects Help Wikipedia by expanding mammal-related stub articles. edit   Categories Mammals Mammals by location • Lists of mammals • Mammal anatomy • Extinct mammals • Mammal hybrids • Mammalogy • Mammal stubs edit   Related portals Biology • Agriculture and Agronomy • Animals  • Arthropods • Amphibians and Reptiles • Biotechnology • Birds • Cats • Cetaceans • Dinosaurs • Dogs • Extinct and Endangered Species • Evolutionary biology • Fish • Marine life • Medicine • Metabolism • Mind and Brain • Molecular and Cellular Biology • Neuroscience • Plants • Primates • Sharks • Turtles edit   Wikimedia What are portals? List of portals Featured portals