Mammals are a group of animals that share some very important features . They are warm-blooded , which means their bodies make their own heat and stay at roughly the same temperature whatever the weather outside . They breathe air through lungs — even mammals that live in the sea, like whales , must come up to the surface to take a breath .
Scientists use a checklist of features to decide whether an animal is a mammal . Mammals are warm-blooded , breathe air with lungs , have a backbone , grow hair or fur at some point in their lives , and feed their babies with milk . An animal does not have to do all of these in an obvious way, but it ticks every box on the list .
📷 Internet Archive Book Images · No restrictions✨ Almost all mammals give birth to live young and feed their babies with milk . You are a mammal too!
🔗 Match each mammal feature to what it means.
Babies drink milk from the mother Helps keep the body warm Breathes air, even underwater mammals Body stays at a steady temperature
Babies drink milk from the mother Helps keep the body warm Breathes air, even underwater mammals Body stays at a steady temperature
Babies drink milk from the mother Helps keep the body warm Breathes air, even underwater mammals Body stays at a steady temperature
Babies drink milk from the mother Helps keep the body warm Breathes air, even underwater mammals Body stays at a steady temperature
Most mammals have hair or fur on their bodies . Fur traps a layer of warm air close to the skin , which helps keep heat in, and it can also provide camouflage . Even mammals that look bald have some hair : a whale's smooth skin still has a few bristles near its mouth — a clue that proves it is a mammal and not a fish .
📷 Pacific Southwest Region 5 · Public domain💡 A handy way to tell a whale or dolphin from a fish : mammals come up to breathe air and have a blowhole , while fish breathe underwater using gills .
🗂️ Sort each animal: mammal or not a mammal?
Mammal Not a mammal
Mammal Not a mammal
Mammal Not a mammal
Mammal Not a mammal
Mammal Not a mammal
Mammal Not a mammal
Mammals come in an astonishing range of sizes . The blue whale is the largest animal ever to have lived on Earth — up to 30 metres long and weighing as much as 24 elephants . At the other end, the bumblebee bat from Thailand is one of the smallest mammals , not much bigger than your thumb and lighter than a coin .
Mammals have spread into almost every habitat on the planet , and their bodies are adapted to suit . Dolphins are powerful swimmers with smooth bodies and flippers . Cheetahs are the fastest runners on land , reaching 100 kilometres per hour in short bursts . And bats are the only mammals that can truly fly, flapping wings made of skin stretched over long finger bones .
📷 South African Tourism from South Africa · CC BY 2.0✨ Bats are the only mammals that can truly fly. Their wings are actually very long finger bones covered in thin skin .
✍️ Fill in the mammal facts.
Mammals are _____ -blooded and feed their babies with _____ . The largest mammal of all is the blue _____ .
warm milk whale cold
🃏 Flip each card to check a mammal fact.
? Are mammals warm-blooded? Yes — their body temperature stays roughly the same.
? How do baby mammals feed? They drink milk from their mother.
? Which is the largest mammal? The blue whale.
? Which mammal can fly? The bat — it has wings made of skin.
Tap each card to see the answer.
