Mammals

What Makes a Mammal a Mammal?

Tigers

Elephants

Word of the Week

Endotherm

An endotherm is an animal that can regulate its own body temperature! This means their body temperature is the same when it is hot or cold it is outside. We sometimes call endothermic animals warm-blooded.


Mammals and birds are examples of endotherms.

Species Spotlight

African Bush Elephant

Loxodonta africana

African bush elephants are the largest land animal in the world! Males grow larger than females, sometimes weighing up to 14,000-lbs and standing 13-ft tall. Like all elephants, African bush elephants are herbivores and commonly eat grass, leaves, roots, and fruit. An adult elephant can eat up to 300-lbs of food in one day! They spend most of the day feeding and traveling, but will occasionally take short naps to recharge. African bush elephants will commonly use their trunks to spray mud and dirt onto their backs which helps to keep them cool and works like sunscreen! 


Elephants often live in large groups, called herds, to keep their young safe and protected from predators, like lions and hyenas. As young elephants grow older, females will stay with their herds while males often go off to live alone or in small groups with other males. In the right conditions, African bush elephants live up to 60 years. Their populations are heavily threatened by poaching and habitat loss causing them to be listed as vulnerable by the IUCN.

Keep Learning
Conservation Corner

Poaching

When animals are hunted or captured illegally, we call it poaching. African bush elephants and many other species are hunted for their body parts, like their tusks. This may seem like an issue that is far away, but the United States purchases the second-highest amount of ivory, following China. Elephant tusks are used to make trinkets and jewelry, while rhinoceros horns and tiger bones are thought to have medical powers.


Poaching also includes capturing live animals for the wildlife trade. Animals are often trapped and sold to people who collect rare animals. While most of us do not poach animals or buy illegal animal parts, there are still things we can do to help! We can support organizations like CITES who work to stop the illegal trade of animals and animal parts. We can also petition our local or federal governments to put more restrictions in place!

BRAIN BLAST

Write a letter to your local government to encourage them to help stop the illegal wildlife trade. What incentives can they offer to encourage the protection of wild animals? How can they work to educate the public? It is important that policy makers understand what is important to the people who live in their community.

Mammal Mix-Up

Below is a list of amazing animals! Identify if they are mammals or non-mammals by dragging them to the correct box.

Mammal Mix-Up Printable

Camouflage Conquest

There are many species of mammals that benefit from camouflage!


Mammals, like tigers and leopards, use their stripes and spots to blend into tall grasses or trees. Other mammals, like zebras, use their camouflage to blend into each other, which makes the herd look larger and makes it harder for a predator to pick out just one.


Each digital flashcard below shows of a mammal that uses camouflage. On each flashcard, find the hidden animal (or animals!) then click "flip" to test your work. If you got it right, click the green checkmark to move on.

Camouflage Conquest Printable

Elephant Extravaganza

Elephants are one of the world's most iconic mammals! As the largest land animal, African elephants flaunt a few characteristics their Asian elephant relatives lack.


Test your elephant knowledge using the activity below! For each photo, determine if it is an African or Asian elephant by clicking the blue and red buttons.

Elephant Extravaganza Printable

Mammal Challenge

Move Like a Mammal

For this challenge, you are going to learn how to move like a mammal! Cutout the dice template below and tape or paste it together. Take turns rolling the die and move like the mammal you rolled! Use just one or both dice.

Dice Templates

Our Favorite Mammal Videos

Learn More!

Glossary

Adaptation

The process by which a species becomes more fit for its environment over the course of several generations. It is a result of natural selection.

Basking

[For ectotherms (cold-blooded animals)]: To lay out in the sun or other warm area to increase body temperature.

Camouflage

The ability for an organism to blend into their surroundings usually to hide from prey or predators.

Carnivore

An animal that eats other animals.

Ectotherm

An animal that relies on the outside temperature to regulate their body temperature (reptiles and amphibians). Also known as cold-blooded.

Endotherm

An animal that regulates their body temperature internally (mammals and birds). Also known as warm-blooded.

Extinct

A species that once existed that has no living individuals.

Herbivore

An animal that eats mostly plants.

Invertebrate

An animal that has no bones.

Keratin

A structural protein that makes up hair, nails, feathers, horns, and claws.

Mammal

A group of endothermic (warm-blooded) vertebrates that are covered in hair, produce milk for offspring,  and generally give birth to live offspring.

Natural Selection

The theory that nature favors individuals in a species who have traits that make them more successful.

Omnivore

An animal that eats both plants and animals.

Palm Oil

Oil produced from the fruit of the African oil palm tree generally in Southeast Asia and Africa that is used in many everyday products.

Predator

An animal that hunts other animals for food.

Prey

An animal that is hunted and eaten by another animal.

Species

A closely related group of animals with similar characteristics that are capable of reproducing (example: tigers).

Subspecies

A group of animals within a species that are genetically different from other groups in the same species (there are 6 subspecies of tigers).

Theory

An explanation of a natural phenomenon that is supported by facts and hypotheses.

Vertebrate

An animal that has a backbone.

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