Us!
We are mammals.
The best.
We even outlived dinosaurs! How? Easy...
The best.
We even outlived dinosaurs! How? Easy...
Tactic 1
Unlike dinosaurs, we gave birth. This helped a lot - a big plus to the mammals. By giving birth, we could carry our, though helpless, babies around. Dinosaurs had to guard eggs, and these were even more vulnerable: what if a dinosaur ate one of the eggs?
Tactic 2
Mammals are warm-blooded. Reptiles are cold-blooded. So what? Also, what makes animals warm-blooded? Mostly, warm-blooded animals have fur. The fur traps warm air near the animals body, keeping it insulated. Whoo-hoo! On the other hand, reptiles DON'T have this, so they aren't warm-blooded. Because of this, they spend most of the time basking in the sun, heating up with the temperature. This allows mammals to do things that they cannot, like hunting at night. Well, it's cold at night, isn't it?
Tactic 3
Milk. It is essential to survive.
It allows mammals to feed there baby from their teats - or, for humans, nipples - which allowed them to give the baby food without going off to hunt - leaving the babies vulnerable. In fact, kangaroos go one better: they have different types of milk for different stages in the baby's growth.
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Weird and Dangerous
So, that's why they've survived. But now, we are going to take a closer look at some weird, cool, and deadly mammals...
Dolphins
Clever dolphins. Dolphins talk to each other with a complex range of whistles and clicks. While scientists aren't to sure about what they mean, they have found out that dolphins give each other names - they respond to their whistle-name even from a dolphin they don't know!
And if things couldn't get much cooler, dolphins have actually saved a surfer, Todd Endris, from a shark attack! A shark, 15 feet tall, appeared, attacking him three times! Although a huge amount of skin got ripped off, the dolphins formed a protective ring around him, keeping him from harm. Luckily, this was enough time to catch a wave back to shore, before having emergency treatment.
Oh, and by the way, dolphins are mammals, not fish. Okay?
And if things couldn't get much cooler, dolphins have actually saved a surfer, Todd Endris, from a shark attack! A shark, 15 feet tall, appeared, attacking him three times! Although a huge amount of skin got ripped off, the dolphins formed a protective ring around him, keeping him from harm. Luckily, this was enough time to catch a wave back to shore, before having emergency treatment.
Oh, and by the way, dolphins are mammals, not fish. Okay?
Echidnas - or, the mammal that lays eggs!
Yep. They do. After they've laid the leathery egg, the female tucks into her pouch and after 10 days... BINGO! The egg is hatched! And hears another shocker... echidnas have no nipples! But they make up for it - the female has these glands in her pouches, milk patches, which feed the baby milk.
They also have...
They also have...
- No teeth - but to make up for it, the have hard pads on the roof of its mouth and back of its tongue
- A four-headed penis (a tinkler), but we won't picture it.
- And here's a special extra. Baby ones are called.... puggles! Awwww!
Stupid lions?
If you love lions, you'll probably be thinking that we are abusing the 'king of the jungle'. And yes. We are. So if you're one of these people, you may want to skip this bit, or start favoring lionesses.
Because guess what? Female lionesses actually hunt for the food, while the lazy lions wait for the food.
Poor lionesses. Because then, even when the lioness get the food, the male gets more. The female has to get the scraps. If she's lucky.
And that's not all. Lions, in groups, have a success rate of catching their prey as 30%. But cheetahs, alone, have a success rate of 70%!
King of the jungle?
Because guess what? Female lionesses actually hunt for the food, while the lazy lions wait for the food.
Poor lionesses. Because then, even when the lioness get the food, the male gets more. The female has to get the scraps. If she's lucky.
And that's not all. Lions, in groups, have a success rate of catching their prey as 30%. But cheetahs, alone, have a success rate of 70%!
King of the jungle?
The Arctic Fox
Yep! It's basically a fox with white fur...
Coooooool! But that isn't the coolest part. This is the coolest part...
Using their amplified hearing, they can hear prey under the snow. When they are certain about where it is, the white fox, with accuracy, pounce on the on the prey, through the snow. But they have to time it right. Sometimes - amusingly - if they jump to high, their head gets stuck in the snow! |
Did you know...? In winter, the colour of their fur is white. But, in summer, their fur changes to a rather tasteful brown!
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Cheetah
Fastest animal ever? Err... no. This prize goes to the Peregrine falcon, on our Birds page. But, it is the fastest land animal. And the falcon only reaches its amazing speeds of up to 200 miles per hour by diving, which you might think is cheating. The cheetah, meanwhile can reach up to speeds of 61 miles per hour, first to only the Pronghorn Antelope, which can reach up to speeds of 60 miles per hour. By the way, 61 miles per hour was set in 2012, by a cheetah called... Sarah! But how do they reach these breathtaking speeds? Here's a list of some..
- Cheetahs have (duh!) massive muscles and lungs to take in air.
- Also, their airways are big.
- Non-re-attractable claws help a cheetah to grip the ground while running.
- Its tail helps a cheetah's balance.
Did you know...?
A cheetah has 'tear stripes' to help protect it from the sun.