Cats and dogs, elephants and bats, whales and horses, and monkeys and men belong to a zoological classification called "mammals".
Mammals are distinguished from all other types of life by the factthat there young are fed with milk from the mammary glands of the females. In most mammals the young are born fully formed, instead of hatching out of eggs as young birds do.
Mammals are also distinguished by the hair or fur they have on all or some parts of their bodies. They are warm-blooded, and they have a four-chambered heart and a diaphragm.
While most mammals live on dry land, a few, such as the whale and dolphin, live in the water. Some burrow in the ground, such as the mole and many rodents. And still others live in trees, such as monkeys and squirrels. The only mammals that can fly are the bats.
Scientists have arranged the mammals into a number of smaller divisions, or orders. The lowest of these orders, "the monotremes", are mammals that lay eggs. The next order, "the edentates", are toothless mammals. Then come the sea mammals. Then we find "the ungulates", or hoofed mammals.
Mammals are distinguished from all other types of life by the factthat there young are fed with milk from the mammary glands of the females. In most mammals the young are born fully formed, instead of hatching out of eggs as young birds do.
Mammals are also distinguished by the hair or fur they have on all or some parts of their bodies. They are warm-blooded, and they have a four-chambered heart and a diaphragm.
While most mammals live on dry land, a few, such as the whale and dolphin, live in the water. Some burrow in the ground, such as the mole and many rodents. And still others live in trees, such as monkeys and squirrels. The only mammals that can fly are the bats.
Scientists have arranged the mammals into a number of smaller divisions, or orders. The lowest of these orders, "the monotremes", are mammals that lay eggs. The next order, "the edentates", are toothless mammals. Then come the sea mammals. Then we find "the ungulates", or hoofed mammals.