Station 1A1.

Mammals

Classification of the Major Taxa of

Mammalia
! Phylum Chordata examples
! Subphylum Vertebrata
! Class Mammalia
! Subclass Prototheria monotremes or egg-layers
! Order Monotremata platypuses, echidna
! Subclass Theria
! Infraclass Metatheria marsupials
! Order Marsupialia kangaroos, opossums
! Infraclass Eutheria placentals
! Order Edentata armadillos, sloths, anteaters
! Order Pholidota pangolins
! Order Carnivora seals, bears, wolfs, badgers
! Order Rodentia rodents
! Order Lagomorpha rabbits
! Order Cetacea dolphins and whales
! Order Artiodactyla even-toed ungulates: goats, hippos, giraffes
These four orders ! Order Tubuldentata aardvarks
are more closely
related to each
! Order Dermoptera colugos
other than to other ! Order Insectivora moles and shrews
orders ! Order Chiroptera bats
! Order Primates primates
! Order Perissodactyla odd-toed ungulates: horses, rhinos, tapirs
! Order Hyracoidea hyraxes
! Order Proboscidea elephants
! Order Sirenia manatees
Station 1A2. Mammalian Characteristics

ANATOMICAL and PHYSIOLOGICAL

FEATURES of MAMMALS
Mammals have a few skeletal features that distinguish their class. They have three middle ear
bones used in hearing - two of these bones derived from bones used for eating by their
ancestors. The earliest therapsids (mammal-like reptiles) had a jaw joint composed of the
articular (a small bone at the back of the lower jaw) and cranium (brain case)

orbit
the quadrate (a small bone at the back of the upper jaw). (eye socket)
Reptiles and birds also use this system. In contrast,
mammals’ jaw joint is composed only of the dentary (the bony crest
(occipital crest)
lower jaw bone jaw bone that carries the teeth) and the incisors
occipital condyle
squamosal. In mammals the quadrate and articular bones canines
auditory bullae
have become the incus and malleus bones in the middle
ear. incisors lower jaw (mandible)

cheek-teeth
Mammals have a neocortex region in the brain. Most
mammals also possess specialized teeth and utilize a placenta in their ontogeny. Mammals also
have a double occipital condyle: they have two knobs at the base of the skull which fit into the
topmost neck vertebra, whereas other vertebrates have a single occipital condyle.
Paleontologists use the jaw joint and middle ear as criteria for identifying fossil mammals.
o
j
f Sphenacodon q o f Asioryctes cp
sq
(early therapsid d sq (early placental
from Upper ag rl mm mammal from
d Pennsylvanian) ! ar
d
ty/ag
Upper Cretaceous) ! d

Abbreviations: ag = angular; ar = articular; cp = coronoid process; d = dentary; f = lateral temporal fenestra; j = jugal; mm = attachment site for
mammalian jaw muscles; o = eye socket; q = quadrate; rl = reflected lamina; sq = squamosal; ty = tympanic.
Station 1A3. Mammalian Characteristics

ANATOMICAL and PHYSIOLOGICAL

FEATURES of MAMMALS
It would be correct to say that mammals are a group of warm-blooded animals with backbones
and a four-chambered heart, whose bodies are insulated by hair, that have sweat glands
including milk producing sweat glands that they use to nurse their infants, and that share a
unique jaw articulation. This, however, fails to convey how these few shared characteristics
underpin the evolution of a group with astonishingly intricate adaptations, thrilling behavior and
highly complex societies. Mammals are also the group to which humans belong, and through
them we can understand much about ourselves. Another answer to the question “What is a
mammal?” would therefore be that the essence of mammals lies in their complex diversity of
form and function, and above all their individual flexibility of behavior.

Herd of African savannah elephants led by a

Pack of wolves howling to define and matriarch
defend territory, and to reinforce social
Harem of Elephant seals hierarchy.
resting on a beach
Station 1A4. Mammalian Characteristics

HOW ABUNDANT ARE MAMMALS?

Although mammals are generally considered to be the dominant and probably most diversified class of living
vertebrates, they are far from being the most numerous. If the total numbers of species for all the major
animal groups are compared, mammals come out near the bottom. The sizes of the different creatures in this
drawing illustrate this point. The very small frog represents the 1,500 living species of amphibians.
Then come the other vertebrate classes in order of increasing number of species:
mammals, reptiles, birds and fishes. The large snail next in line
represents the invertebrates: all the one-celled animals, all the
worms, clams, lobsters, spiders-everything else, in short,
except the insects. Strictly speaking the insects should
should be lumped with the other invertebrates, but there are
so many of them-more different species than in all the other
groups put together-that they have been represented
separately here by the huge butterfly at the right.

MAMMALS
5,000
AMPHIBIANS REPTILES BIRDS FISHES INVERTEBRAES (EXCEPT INSECTS)
1,500 6,000 8,600 20,000 232,000 INSECTS
700,000
Station 1A5. Mammalian Characteristics

What Are the Most Common Mammals?

With mammals placed in proper numerical perspective vis-à-vis other animals, what about the
relative abundance of the different mammals themselves? Counting actual numbers of animals
is far more difficult than numbers of species. The only way it can be done is to take a small
sample area and laboriously count every nose in it. This has been done many times in different
parts of the world. While results vary widely depending on the terrain and the time of year,
nevertheless in most areas the rodents turn out to have by far the largest populations. The five
mammals pictured here show what lives on 250 acres of sagebrush country in the western U.S.,
based on a study of a 2.5-acre sample area. They illustrate two general principles: 1) carnivores
(in this case, badgers) tend to be far less numerous than the animals they eat and 2) the
smaller the animal, the larger its population in a given area.

RODENTS RABBITS BADGERS PRONGHORNS BATS

(Rodentia) (Lagomorpha) (Carnivora) (Artiodactyla) (Chiroptera)
5,770 60 30 10 8
Station 1B1. Lactation

Lactation and the Rise of Mammals

The decline of the huge, naked, ectothermic dinosaurs may have been triggered by the cooling
climate of the Mesozoic era, with its daily and seasonal fluctuations in temperature. But these would
have affected smaller (or infant) dinosaurs more than the giants that predominated among dinosaurs,
due to the smaller reptile’s relatively greater surface-area-to-volume ratio and hence more rapid heat
loss. So why did the mammals finally prosper, and the dinosaurs decline?
Early mammals may have avoided competition with dinosaurs by becoming nocturnal, and the key
that unlocked this chilly niche to them may have been the evolution of endothermy (internal self
-regulation of body temperature). In addition to allowing them to forage out of the sun’s warming rays,
endothermy may have improved mammals’ competitive ability by allowing them to grow faster and
therefore breed more prolifically than reptiles, whose bodies more or less “switch off” when they cool
down.
Another possibility is that the mammals usurped the dinosaurs’ supremacy on account of one critical
difference: the development of lactation and parental care in mammals.

An Olive baboon nursing her young (right), and an Orca nursing her calf while swimming (below).
When a mammalian infant sucks at its mother’s nipple it may withdraw a little milk, but more
importantly it stimulates “let-down,” whereby muscles squeeze much more milk out of a honeycomb
of tubes and cavities in the mammae; this milk collects in ducts from which it can be sucked. Some
30-60 seconds of preliminary sucking are required to
stimulate let-down. Thus the process is not
controlled simply by nerves (as they transmit
messages almost instantaneously), but by a
chemical envoy (a hormone) that travels within the
mother’s bloodstream. In fact, sucking triggers a
nerve impulse which races to the pituitary, and in
response this organ releases two chemicals into the
blood. When these chemical couriers reach the
mammae, one (lactogenic hormone) stimulates the
secretion of milk by the glands, the other (oxytocin)
prompts the ejection of stored milk from the nipple.
Station 1B2. Lactation

Lactation and the Rise of Mammals

Young dinosaurs, like modern crocodiles, hatched as minuscule replicas of their parents; their small size
required that they ate quite different food from the adults of their species. They grew slowly at a rate
dependent upon their foraging success, gradually approaching adulthood, as feeble inferiors until they
finally attained full size. In contrast, the evolution of lactation enabled an infant mammal to grow rapidly
towards adult competence under the protection of parental care. At independence the young mammal is
almost fully grown and unlike the still infantile reptile of the same age, enters roughly the same niche as
adult members of its species. For example, a Grizzly bear is born at roughly the same percentage of its
mother’s weight (1-2 percent) as was a hatching dinosaur, but remains dependent on her for protection
for up to 4 1/2 years. The dinosaur, on the other hand, had to fend for itself in a series of niches that
changed as it grew. In the inconstant, unpredictable environment of the cooling Mesozoic, dinosaurs
may have been at a disadvantage to mammals because they required a succession of different food
supplies to become available exactly on cue as their young grew, and faced a protracted period when
young were at a competitive disadvantage to adults. If this reconstruction is correct, then it was parental
care (also evolved by birds), and particularly lactation, that assured the supremacy of mammals. The
protracted parent-offspring bond established during nursing in turn set the scene for the subsequent
evolution of intricate mammalian societies.

A NURSING MONOTREME
The most primitive mammals are the monotremes, whose
mammary glands have not concentrated into milk NURSING MARSUPIALS
-producing organs, as they have in the higher mammals. More advanced are the marsupials such as opossums and kangaroos shown
The milk of the platypus, for example, seeps from a here. They have true nipples, but these are located inside a pouch, or
number of porelike holes in her abdomen and is lapped marsupium, to which their comparatively unformed babies crawl at birth. They
up by the little ones. live there for several months until they are much larger and more developed.!
Station 1C1. Mammalian Hair

HAIR TYPES
Hair is composed of keratin and is modified epidermis. Mammalian hair is highly variable. It
varies in form, shape, density and color location not only within an organism but also throughout
the year. Most of this variability relates form and function. All hairs have a nerve plexus at their
base. Hair is categorized as vibrissae (whiskers), fur, or guard. Vibrissae are specialized tactile
organs that are long, thick and are typically straight or slightly bent. Vibrissae are usually few in
number and are typically found on the head or feet. Fur hairs are numerous, short, thin and are
typically found in a group. Guard hairs are longer, thick and are usually distributed within the fur.
Examine a few pelts and try to identify the three types. You may even notice more than three
types as some hairs in the fur are intermediate between guard and fur.

A Musk Ox, northernmost of hoofed The vibrissae of this harbor seal are attached
mammals. Their long, coarse guard hairs to a substantial nerve network. Tactile
and fine underfur exclude the arctic cold. information is transmitted from the vibrissae
to the brain.
Station 1C2. Mammalian Hair

HAIR FUNCTION
Two fundamental traits of mammals lie not in their skeletons, but at the boundaries to their
bodies - the skin. These two features are hair and skin glands, including the mammary glands
that secrete milk, and the sweat and sebaceous glands. None may seem spectacular, and some
or all may have evolved before the mammal-like reptiles crossed the official divide. But these
traits are associated with endothermy, a condition that affects every aspect of mammalian life.
Endothermic animals are those whose internal body temperature is maintained “from
within” (endo-) by the oxidation (essentially, the burning) of food within the body. Some
endotherms maintain a constant internal temperature (homoethermic), whereas that of others
varies (heterothermic). The temperature is regulated by a “thermostat” in the brain, situated
within the hypothalamus. In regulating their body temperature independent of the environment,
mammals (and birds) are unshackled from the alternative, ectothermic, condition typical of all
other animals and involving body temperatures rising and falling with the outside temperature.

A cross-section of the skin and fur of

a fur seal.
Station 1C3. Mammalian Hair

HAIR FUNCTION
Endothermy is costly. Mammals must work, expending energy either to warm or cool
themselves depending on the vagaries of their surroundings. There are many adaptations
involved in minimizing these running costs and the most ubiquitous is mammalian hair. The coat
may be adapted in many ways, but there is often an outer layer of longer, more bristle-like,
water-repellent guard hairs that provide a tough covering for densely packed, soft underfur. The
volume of air trapped amongst the hairs depend on whether or not they are erected by muscles
in the skin. Hair may protect the skin from the sun’s rays or from freezing wind, slowing the
escape of watery sweat in the desert or keeping aquatic mammals dry as they dive. Hairs are
waterproofed by sebum, the oil secretions of sebaceous glands associated with their roots.

Sea otter Fur seals

The skin plays an important part in maintaining a constant body temperature. Horses sweat
profusely over most of their bodies to cool themselves. The coyote sweats through its tongue by
panting and depends on its fur to prevent heat loss in cold weather. Mammals must eat regularly
to maintain their high temperatures.
Station 1D1. The Role of Scent

THE SCENT OF A MAMMAL

Mammals are unique among animals with backbones in the potency and social importance of
their smells. This quality also stems from their skin, wherein both sebaceous and sweat glands
become adapted to produce complicated odors with which mammals communicate. The sites of
scent glands vary between species: capybaras have them aloft their snout, mule deer have them
on the lower leg, elephants have them behind the eyes and hyraxes have them in the middle of
their back. It is very common for scent glands to be concentrated in the ano-genital region (urine
and feces also serve as socially important odors); the perfume gland of civets lie in a pocket
between the anus and genitals and for centuries their greasy secretions have been scooped out
to make the base of expensive perfumes. Glands around the genitals of Musk deer are a
similarly unwholesome starting point of other odors (musk) greatly prized by some people. Most
carnivores have scent-secreting anal sacs, whose function is largely unknown, although in the
case of the skunk it is quite clear enough. The evolution of scent glands has led to a multitude of
scent-marking behaviors. Scent marks have the advantage of being a long lasting form of
communication. Probably the messages being communicated include the sex, status, age and
diet of the sender. Most people are familiar with animals demarking their territory by leaving
traces of urine. Have you noticed a remarkable change in the smell of your urine after eating
asparagus? skunk Indian civet Musk deer
Station 1D2. The Role of Scent

ODOR IN RODENT REPRODUCTION

Reproduction - from initial sexual attraction and the advertisement of sexual status through
courtship, mating, the maintenance of pregnancy and the successful rearing of young - is influenced,
if not actually controlled, by odor signals.
Male rats are attracted to the urine of females that are in the sexually receptive phase of the
estrous cycle and sexually experienced males are more strongly attracted than naive males.
Furthermore, if an experienced male is presented with the odor of a novel mature female alongside
the odor of his mate he prefers the novel odor. Females, on the other hand, prefer the odor of their
stud male to that of a stranger. The male’s reproductive fitness is most improved by his seeking out
and impregnating as many females as possible. The female needs to produce many healthy young so
her fitness is maximized by mating with the best quality male who has already proved himself. The
otherwise solitary female Golden hamster must attract a male when she is sexually receptive. She
does this by scent marking with strong-smelling vaginal secretions in the two days before her peak of
receptivity. If no male arrives she ceases marking, to start again two days before the next peak.
In gregarious species such as the House mouse, a dominant male can mate with 20 females in 6
hours if their cycles are synchronized. The odor of urine of adult sexually mature male rodents (e.g.
mice, voles, deer mice) accelerates not only the peak of female sexual receptivity but also the onset
of sexual maturity in young females, and brings sexually quiescent females into breeding condition.
This effect is particularly strong in dominant males, whereas urine from castrated males has no such
effect. It would appear that the active ingredient - a pheromone - is made from, or dependent upon the
presence of, the male sex hormone testosterone. Male urine has such a powerful effect that if a newly
pregnant female mouse is exposed to the urine odor of a male who is a complete stranger to her she
will resorb her litter and come rapidly into heat. If she then mates with the stranger she will become
pregnant and carry the litter to term. The odor of the urine of females has either no effect upon timing
of the onset of sexual maturity in young females, or slightly retards it. If female mice are housed
together in groups of 30 or more and males are absent, the normal 4- or 5- day estrous cycles start to
lengthen and the incidence of pseudopregnancy increases, indicating the power of the odor of female
Station 1D3. The Role of Scent
urine. However, the presence of the urine odor of an adult male will regularize all the lengthened cycles
within 6-8 hours and the females will come into heat synchronously.
Female mice also produce a pheromone in the urine which has the effect of stimulating pheromone
production in the male, but the female pheromone is not under the control of the sex glands (ovaries).
It is not known what controls its production. A sexually quiescent female could stimulate pheromone
production in a male, which would then bring her into sexual readiness.
It is thought that the reproductive success of the House mouse owes much to this system of
pheromonal cuing. Although only the House mouse has been studied in such detail, parts of the model
have been discovered in other species and it may be of widespread occurrence.
About 8 days after giving birth, female rats start to produce a pheromone - an odor produced in the
gut and broadcast via the feces - which inhibits Wanderlust in the young. It ceases to be produced
when the young are 27 days old and almost weaned.
Finally, some studies have involved a surgical removal of part of the brain which is involved with
smell (the main accessory olfactory bulbs). Removal of the bulbs in the Golden hamster, irrespective of
previous sexual experience, brings an immediate cessation of all sexual behavior. In sexually
experienced rats ,the operation has little effect, but in sexually naive rats the effect is as severe as in
hamsters. Thus it appears that rats can learn to do without their sense of smell once they have gained
some sexual experience.

a Golden hamster carrying a baby a house mouse

Station 2. Aquatic Adaptations

WHALES, DOLPHINS, and PORPOISES

ORDER: CETATEANS
The cetaceans, which total approximately 75 species, are exclusively aquatic, more completely so
than any other mammals; at no stage of life do they leave the water. Cetaceans range in size from the
gigantic Blue Whale, believed to be the largest animal that has ever existed, to medium-sized dolphins
and porpoises, some of which are only about 3 feet long. Typically a cetacean’s head is joined to its
body without a distinct neck. Except in a few species, the head cannot be turned independently.
Characteristic of mammals, however, cetaceans do possess seven neck vertebrae, though much
compressed. In some larger whales these are fused into a single disc only a few inches thick.
A cetacean’s body is streamlined, and in some species the head is extended into a “beak.” Many
have a definite dorsal fin consisting of a thick folded ridge of skin without a bony support, adding to
their general fishlike appearance. A cetacean’s front legs are flippers, with no exposed claws or digits.
A much reduced bony structure for a pelvic girdle is still in evidence internally, but external hind limbs
are lacking. The tail, which provides the principal driving force for swimming, is extended into a broad
horizontal appendage, separated into two flukes by a notch in the middle. The thin skin lacks hairs
except for a few bristles around the mouth and on the belly in some species. Underneath the skin is a
thick layer of blubber (mostly fat) that serves as a heat insulator as well as a
food reserve. Blubber may be 2 feet thick in some of the larger whales and
may account for more than 40 percent of the animal’s total weight.
7 neck vertebrae

a full thickness of
blubber from an Orca
dorsal fin

blowhole

flukes

flipper Rudimentary pelvic girdle of a whale

Station 2. Aquatic Adaptations

BALEEN WHALES
SUBORDER: MYSTICETI
Whales of this suborder (about 15 species) do not have functional teeth. Instead they have baleen,
or “whalebone,” frayed, flexible horny sheets of oral epithelium suspended from the hard palate. Made
of keratin, baleen can be white, black, yellowish, or two-toned. In a large whale, more than 300 plates
of baleen hang down like stiff curtains from the upper jaw on each side of the mouth. A plate may be as
much as 12 feet long, and a foot or more in width. The outer edge (or tongue side) is extended into
bristles that form a hair-like fringe of thin tubes. Baleen continues to grow throughout the whale’s life,
replacing material worn away by the action of water and the tongue.
When feeding, a whale swims into a swarm of small crustaceans
with its mouth open. As it closes its mouth, water is forced out at the
sides and through the sieve-like screen of baleen. Small crustaceans or
even small fish become caught on the bristly fringes. The whale then
uses its tongue to move them into its throat for swallowing. Even the
largest whale has a throat passageway not much larger than an orange
- not large enough to accommodate anything the size of the Bible’s
Jonah.
The tough, pliable baleen was one of the highly valued commercial
products obtained from whales. It was used in corsets and in similar
products in which stiffness with flexibility was important. Today, these
products typically use plastics decreasing the need to harvest whales.
Baleen whales can be distinguished from the toothed whales by
having two blowholes instead of one. When they blow, the twin spouts
are distinctive. In contrast to toothed whales, baleen whales do not
echolocate. Instead they often vocalize, such as the unique and
complex songs of Humpback whales. Baleen whales are gentle giants
of the ocean.!
Station 2. Aquatic Adaptations

THE BLUE WHALE

The Blue Whale, the largest animal that has ever lived on land or in the sea, can measure
more than 100 feet long and weigh as much as 200 tons. Females are slightly larger than the
males. A Blue Whale’s gigantic head is about a quarter of the animal’s total length.
Because of its streamlined body, the Blue Whale appears to be a fast swimmer. Ordinarily its
top speed is only about 15 miles per hour, and
it can continue swimming at this speed for two
hours or longer. Harpooned whales, however,
have been known to go twice as fast, though
they cannot maintain this faster speed for a
long time.

Only a few thousand Blue Whales still exist. Whaling has

reduced their numbers from an estimated 250,000. They
are now protected by international agreements, but not all
countries abide by the regulations. Unfortunately, the
regulations are not always based on the best biological
data, and represent the interests of whalers as much as, or
more than, the welfare of the whales.

Flencing of a sperm whale (stripping

the blubber from the body) in 1958.
Station 2. Aquatic Adaptations

WALRUSES, SEALS and SEA LIONS

SUPERFAMILY: PINNIPEDIA
Pinnipeds include walruses (Family Odobenidae), earless (true) seals (Family Phocidae), and
eared seals (Family Otariida). On land, eared seals are much more agile than the other groups.
When moving, the weight of the body is supported off the ground by the outwardly turned
foreflippers, and the hindflippers are flexed forwards under the body. When the animal is moving
slowly, the foreflippers are moved alternately and the hindflippers advanced on the opposite side.
Only the heel of the foot is placed on the ground, the digits being held up. As its speed
increases, first the hindflippers and then the foreflippers are moved together, the animal moving
forward in a gallop. In this form of locomotion, the counterbalancing action of the neck is very
important, the body being balanced over the foreflippers. It has been suggested that if the neck
were only half its length, eared seals would be unable to move on land. Walruses move in a
similar, though much more clumsy, manner.
On land, true seals crawl along on their bellies, humping along by
flexing their bodies, taking the weight alternately on the chest and
pelvis. Some, such as the elephant seal or Grey seal, use the
foreflippers to take the weight of the body. Grey seals may also use the
terminal digits of the foreflippers to produce a powerful grip when
moving on rocks. Other true seals, such as the Weddell seal, make no
use of the foreflippers. Ribbon and Crabeater seals can make good
progress over ice or compacted snow by Sea lion (eared seal) on land
supporting weight with
alternate backwards strokes of the foreflippers foreflippers and hindflippers
and vigorous flailing movements of the turned out for walking.
hindflippers and hind end of the body, almost as
though they were swimming on the surface of Weddell seals (true seal) on
the ice. land with full weight on torso.
Station 2. Aquatic Adaptations

Grooming, which is an important subsidiary function of the limbs, is generally carried out by
the hindflippers in eared seals and by the foreflippers in true seals. How the Ross seal, which
has practically no claws, grooms itself is a mystery.
The anatomical differences of eared and true seals is also reflected in different swimming
techniques. The main source of power in the eared seal comes from the front end of the body,
and it is here that the main muscle mass is concentrated. True seals, on the other hand, have
their main muscles in the lumbar region. The muscles of the hindlimb itself are mainly
concerned with orientation of the limb and spreading and contracting the digits. They propel
themselves forward by moving their hind flippers left and right.

A Grey seal (earless/true seal) swimming, with most

of propulsive force coming from its lumbar region and
hind flippers.

Sea lion (eared seal, note the ears in the photo)

swimming, with most of propulsive force coming from its
hindlimbs.
Station 3. Primates

SKELETAL ADAPTATIONS of PRIMATES

BIPEDAL vs. ARBOREAL
Skeletons: The quadrupedal lemurs and most monkeys, like the guenons, retain the basic
shape of early primates - a long back, a short, narrow rib-cage, long narrow hip bones, and legs
as long as or longer than the arms. Most live in trees and move about by running along or
leaping between branches. Their long tail serves as a rudder or balancing aid while climbing
and leaping. Ground-living monkeys, such as the baboons, generally have more rudimentary
tails.
Neither apes nor the slower-moving Prosimians have tails. In the orangutan and other apes,
the back is shorter, the rib cage broader and the pelvis bones more robust - features related to a
vertical posture. Arms are longer than legs, considerably so in species, such as the gibbons and
orangutan, that move by arm-swinging (brachiation). Further dexterity of the hands has
accompanied the development of the vertical posture in apes, some of which (and more rarely
some monkeys) may at times move about bipedally like man.

Skeleton of a guenon Skeleton of an orangutan

Station 3. Primates

BODY PLAN of PRIMATES

Teeth: Insectivorous precursors of primates had numerous
teeth with sharp cusps. In Prosimians (lower primates) such
as Lemur, the first lower premolar is almost canine-like in Lemur
form, while the crowns of the lower incisors and canines lie
flat to form a tooth-comb, as in bush babies, which is used in
feeding and grooming. In leaf-eating monkeys of the Old
World, such as Presbytis, the squared-off molars bear four
cusps joined by transverse ridges on the large grinding Presbytis
surface that helps break up the fibrous diet. In apes such as
the gorilla, the lower molars have five cusps and a more
complicated pattern of ridges.
Gorilla

Brain weight relative to body size

man
Capuchin monkey
Relative brain size: The degree of flexibility in the behavior of a

Talapoin monkey
species is related to both absolute and relative brain size. It is no

Average for all mammals

Ring-tailed lemur

Chimpanzee
surprise that in terms of actual brain weight, the great apes are

Baboon
closest to man. But when comparison is based on brain size

Gorilla
relative to body size it is the versatile Capuchin monkey that turns
out to be closest to man.

24 465 165 420 39 80 1330

Actual brain weight (grams)
Station 3. Primates

BODY PLAN of PRIMATES

Hands and feet: The structure of primate hands and feet varies
according to the ways of life of each species.

PLEISTO
2 MYA -CENE

PLIOCENE
7 MYA

Baboon: long
slender foot of Siamang and orangutan; broad
Gibbon: short foot with long grasping big toe
ground-living opposable thumb PROSIMIANS ANTHROPOIDS MIOCENE

monkey. for climbing.

well distant from
26 MYA
arm-swinging
(brachiating) grip Earliest
apes
of fingers.
OLIGOCENE

Hand of a spider
38 MYA
Macaque: short monkey, showing
opposable thumb in the much reduced
hand adapted for Gorilla: thumb thumb of an arm
walking with palm -swinging species. EOCENE
opposable to
flat on ground. other digits, allows
Earliest true primates
precision grip. 54 MYA
Insectivores

Tamarin: long foot of branch-running PALEOCENE

species with claws on all digits except big 65 MYA

Insectivore-like primates
toes for anchoring (all other monkeys and
CRETACEOUS
apes have flat nails on all digits)
Station 4. Feeding

UNGULATES
Ungulates ("hoofed animal") are mammals that use the tips of their toes, usually hoofed, to sustain their
bodyweight while moving. They comprise the majority of large land mammals. In addition to hooves, most
ungulates have reduced canine teeth, bunodont molars (molars with low, rounded cusps), and an astragalus
(one of the ankle bones at the end of the lower leg) with a short, robust head. Another characteristic of most
ungulates is the fusion of the radius and ulna along the length of the forelimb. This fusion prevents an
ungulate from rotating its forelimb. Absorption of
fermentation products
Even-toed ungulates’ (Artiodactyla) weight is borne roughly equally by
the third and fourth toes. The appearance and spread of coarse, hard-to
-digest grasses favored the development of their complex digestive reticulum omasum abomasum colon

systems. Pigs and hippos have short legs, four toes of fairly equal size,
simpler molars, and canine teeth that are often enlarged to form tusks.
Camels and ruminates tend to be longer-legged, walk on the central two
toes, and have more complex teeth suited to grinding up tough grasses.
They have a multi-chambered stomach called a rumin, which allows them rumen small
cecum
intestine
to digest cellulose with the aid of fermenting microorganisms. Ruminates
Food is chewed several times. It takes
(cattle, goats, deer) “chew the cud”, which means they regurgitate and approximately 80 hours for digestion, and
rechew partly-digested food. about 60% of the cellulose is used.

Absorption of
fermentation products

small
intestine cecum
The progress of food through the four stomach chambers of a cow is indicated in black. The vegetation is swallowed after
being only partially chewed. It goes into two connecting chambers, the rumen and the reticulum, where it is broken down
into pulp by bacteria and then regurgitated as cud. After rechewing, it is passed to the other two chambers, the omasum
and the abomasum where it is worked on by gastric juices before entering the intestine.

Odd-toed ungulates (Perissodactyla) are hindgut fermenters; that is,

they digest plant cellulose in their intestines rather than their stomach. They stomach colon

include fast runners with long legs and only one toe like the horse, zebra, and Food is chewed once. It takes about
donkey, as well as heavier, slower animals with several functional toes like 48 hours for digestion, and about 45%
of the cellulose is used.
tapirs and rhinoceroses.
Station 4. Feeding

MAMMAL TEETH incisors

canines

Diet greatly influences teeth form and function. Carnivores have large,
sharp canine teeth used for stabbing and tearing meat. Their premolars and molars

premolars and molars have been adapted for shearing rather than
grinding. Wolf
(carnivore)

Ruminates have teeth adaptations for grinding grasses. Primitive

herbivorous mammals have molars with separate cusps (bunodont),
designed to pulp and crush relatively soft food. Fibrous vegetation is incisors
canines
tough and ungulates have developed modifications of the bunodont
premolars and molars

pattern. In addition to their bunodont molars, these grazers have

Deer
replaced their canines and incisors in the upper jaw with a horny pad. (ruminate)
They use this together with the lower front teeth for cropping
vegetation. Bunodont In horses the lophs are very
molar seen in complex and folded
pigs. (hypsodont).

In perissodactyls, such as the rhinoceros,

shearing edges (lophs) have formed by a
In ruminant artiodactyls, such as
coalescing of the cusps to form two
the ox, the cusps take on a
crosswise lophs and one lengthwise crescent shape (selenodont)
(lophodont).

Rodents have no canines at all. The gap left by their absence is called
the diastema. Rodent’s most prominent teeth are long, self incisors
-sharpening incisors used for gnawing. Mouse-like rodents lack diastemas premolars and molars

premolars, but squirrel- and cavy-like rodents have one or two on

Porcupine
each side. (rodent)
Station 4. Feeding - Bats

CHIROPTERA
There are two suborders of bats: megabats and microbats. The major distinctions are that:
* Microbats use echolocation, whereas megabats do not (except for Rousettus and relatives).
* Microbats lack the claw at the second toe of the forelimb.
* The ears of microbats do not form a closed ring, but the edges are separated from each other at the base of the
ear.
* Microbats lack underfur; they have only guard hairs or are naked.
* Megabats eat fruit, nectar or pollen while microbats eat insects, small amounts of blood, small mammals, and fish.

knee Major variations in the tail shape of bats:

wrist

elbow
tail
propatagium
uropatagium
calcar ear

tragus

Foot with five toes

humerus
radius
plagiopatagium
Sheath-tailed bat Free-tailed bat Mouse-tailed bat

thumb
Fifth finger

Second finger
dactylopatagium
Third finger
Fourth finger

Mouse-eared bat Tube-nosed fruit bat Flying fox

Station 4. Feeding - Bats

FEEDING TYPES:
Bloodsuckers and Nectar Drinkers
In evolution, the “success” of a species or group of species is measured by its ability to survive.
Survival is made more likely by a process known as adaptive radiation - the branching out of a group
of animals into a variety of niches not previously occupied. Bats started out as insect eaters, and
although the majority are still insectivorous, there are now bats that live on fruit, fish, nectar, blood,
rodents, frogs and even other bats. With this great variability in their way of life, bats have become
the second largest mammalian order and are now spread over most of the globe.

An Epauletted fruit bat feeding

on wild figs.

A nectar eating bat’s tongue can be as much as 150% as

A fringe-lipped bat eating a long as its body - the longest of any mammal. Nectar
túngara frog. These bats learn droplets cling to the tip of the tongue when it is withdrawn
socially the call of new prey from a flower.
frogs through acoustic cues.

Vampire bats gently scrapes the skin

of sleeping mammals and birds, and
laps up the oozing blood.
Station 4. Feeding - Bats

INSECTIVORY AND ECHOLOCATION

Sonograms show the search, approach and terminal phases of the hunt in two species of bat.
(a) The North American big brown bat produces frequency modulated (FM) calls steeply
sweeping from 70-30 kHz. While foraging the bat emits 5-6 pulses per second, each of about 10
milliseconds (msec) duration until an insect is located. Immediately the pulse rate increases, duration
shortens, with the frequency sweep starting at a lower frequency. As an insect is caught (or just missed) the
repetition rate peaks at 200 per second, with each pulse lasting about 1 msec.
(b) Hunting horseshoe bats produce their long (average 50 msec) constant frequency (CF) calls
at a rate of 10 per second. They often feed among dense foliage. A problem facing a bat is how to
distinguish fluttering insect wings from leaves and twigs oscillating in the wind. While foliage produces a
random background scatter of echoes, the insect with a relatively constant rapid wing beat frequency will
appear like a flashing light to a bat using a CF component. As the bat closes on the insect, the CF
component of each pulse is suppressed in amplitude and reduced to under 10 msec while the amplified
terminal FM sweep is used for critical
location and capture of the prey.

A Greater horseshoe swoops on a butterfly. Such a battle is not necessarily one-sided.

Some moths and butterflies have evolved listening membranes that detect the bat’s
sonar pulses giving the moth opportunity to escape. To counter this some tropical bats
only send out signals at wavelengths that cannot be detected by the moths.