Mammals

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Smilodon floridanus
Smilodon floridanus
© 2005 University of California Museum of Paleontology

Stegomastodon
Stegomastodon
© 2001 Arthur H. Harris

Mammuthus columbi
Mammuthus columbi
© 2010 The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs

What are Mammals? Mammals are amniotes like their relatives and reptiles. They all share certain features in the skull, jaws, and teeth. All mammals are warm-blooded, have hair, and produce milk through mammary glands, which is how they got their name. Humans are mammals, as are many of the animals that share our lives as pets or farm animals. Many of the earliest mammals were tiny and are represented in the fossil record only by teeth, the most durable parts of the mammalian skeleton. The first mammals appear in the Late Triassic.

First known fossil occurrence: Triassic.

Last known fossil occurrence: Quaternary. This group has living relatives.

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See Mammals from the:

Quaternary
Tertiary
Cretaceous
Jurassic
Triassic
Permian
Carboniferous
Devonian
Silurian
Ordovician
Cambrian
Precambrian
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