Mammals Flashcards
About how many species of mammals are there?
~5000
What are the 3 unique features of mammals?
- hair
- sweat glands
- mammary glands
Which evolved first, mammals or birds?
Mammals!
About how many years ago did mammals evolve? And phylogenically, are they more related to amphibians or reptiles?
During carboniferous period, about 350 MYA.
They’re closer to reptiles.
First the amphibians split off from the amniota, then the amniota split into reptiles & mammals.
Skull morphology is really important for distinguishing amniotes. Describe the 3 extant skull types and the 1 extinct one.
- Anapsids (no hole - turtles)
- Synapsids (one big hole - mammals, therapsids)
- Diapsids (2 holes, dinos & birds)
- EXTINCT Euryapsids (marine reptiles)
What is the difference between the jaw bones of reptiles & mammals?
Reptiles have lots of jaw bones, in mammals some of these bones have migrated up to form mammalian middle-ears.
What allowed mammals to radiate & diversify?
Dinos going extinct, allowed mammals to fill now-empty niches & return to ocean.
What is the ancestor of whales?
“Ambulocetus”
What was the megatherium?
A giant ground sloth, herbivorous, elephant-sized.
Why did smilodon & megatherium go extinct?
Human hunting.
What are the 3 groups of mammals?
- Prototherians (egg laying, platypus, echidna)
- Marsupials (pouch development)
- Eutherians (placental)
Do marsupials have a placenta?
Yes they can, so it’s not only the eutherians that have placentas.
How do fetuses get nutrition/oxygen from the mom? What kind of veins/arteries carry these to/from the mom?
Diffusion - no direct blood mixing.
Two arteries carry deoxygenated blood back to the mother, whereas a vein carries fresh blood towards the fetus.
How does the fetal heart adapt quickly to independent circulation once the baby is born?
Aortic holes close up.
What are the 2 groups of primates?
- Prosimians (arboreal & nocturnal - lemur, loris. only Madagascar & SE-Asia)
- Anthropoids
Is the tarsier a prosimian or an anthropoid?
Anthropoid.