classifications of mammals: hair and fur
classifications of mammals: hair and fur
Submitted by Tim on 12/17/04 at 8:32 PM. ( ) 154.5.3.86
I have a question about the classifications of mammals and about hair and fur.
1) I know all mammals are warm blooded. Is this the only characteristic that all and only mammals have?
2) I was looking at my mammal taxidermy manual and saw that mammals such as the raccoon have both fur and hair, and there IS a diffrance. I was examining a deer hide and saw that they seem to have both hair and fur, interesting because I had always considered them non-furbearing mammals. I have also read that whales and dolphins are born with a moustache. But is this moustache only hair (and therefore not a characteristic that all mammals have) or is it fur.
Or is it wiskers and what are wiskers classified as?
Main question: Do ALL mammals have FUR, if not can I have an example of one that does not?
P.S. I know this isn't exactly taxidermy but you guys/gals are so knolegable I thought this would be a good place to ask.
Thanks!
Hair, warm blood AND...
This response submitted by Raven on 12/17/04 at 8:55 PM. ( ) 24.150.199.145
All mammals have hair as you mentionned... even the large cetacea have coarse hairs at birth - saort of like what you mentionned in the smaller dolphins.
Of course all mammals are warm blooded.
The key thing though - and the root of the name - comes from the feeding of young wherein they feed on milk produced from the mothers mammaries... see the connection? Mammary? Mammal? From pygmy shrews to blue whales, the feeding on mothers milk is THE key feature and the name sake of the group.
The Boneless Chickens
This response submitted by Glen Conley on 12/17/04 at 9:03 PM. ( g.conley@verizon.net ) 70.104.96.167
of Arkansas are also warm blooded, as are their bony counterparts, and the rest of the birds.
I re-read your post
This response submitted by Raven on 12/17/04 at 9:19 PM. ( ) 24.150.199.145
I re-read your post and have a couple more things...
hair and fur are the same thing essentially - keratin, dead cells, protein etc that grows out of follicles. Dunno about in taxidermy terms - but in biology, a siginifacnt difference between the two is that 'fur' is the common name applied when multiple hairs erupt from asingle follicle, whilst 'hair' is when a single hair erupts from a follicle. You wanted an example of a mammal that does not have 'fur'? Humans. Our follicles produce a single hair each.
Like Glen pointed out - Birds are warm blooded. So while Mammals have warm blood - it is not an exclusive characteristic to them alone.
Also non exclusive is the live birth thing which many associate with being mammalian, as some mammals (monotremes) do not give birth to live young. Some people confuse certain snakes with giving live birth - but they are actually developed in eggs as normal - then hatch from the eggs inside the mother before being 'born'.
Hair and fur
This response submitted by cur on 12/17/04 at 9:33 PM. ( ) 4.227.11.74
I am sure that the writer of that text you mentioned meant UNDERfur and not hair or fur. Many species of mammals, especially those that live in colder climes, have dense underfur and longer "guard hairs" so their coat is made up of two or more types of hair. Normally animals that have dense underfur are called, "furbearing" species- especially if their pelts are used by another hairy mammal....US.
The basic three indicators are as stated: Warm blooded, nursing the young with milk from mammary glands, and hair. You already know about the porpoise's moustache.
Now, there are other traits that all mammals have in common too. First of all, they all breath air. And, only three species of mammals in two genera do not give birth to live young. The platypus and the echidna or spiny anteater from Australia and New Zealand think they are reptiles because the do not share other mammal traits like live birthing and teeth. The echidnas and the platypus lay eggs. They are called Monotremes, and while they are considered mammals, they do not quite fit.
So, with the exception of the Monotremes, all the other mammals share five traits:
Hair
Breathe air
Warm blooded
In addition, all mammals, even monotremes have a single lower jaw bone.....In fact, the single jaw bone is one of the membership cards the echidna and platypus have for the Mammal Kingdom.
And the other membership card they carry is that all mammals share one more common trait. That is all mammals have three inner ear bones. Fused or not, the inner ear bones are the most common demoninator among mammals.
Glen
This response submitted by cur on 12/17/04 at 9:36 PM. ( ) 4.227.8.239
Those little chickens would break your heart, floppin around in the dust. Makes a feller want to become a vegetarian.
Thanks, so ...
This response submitted by Tim on 12/17/04 at 9:53 PM. ( ) 154.5.3.86
Thank you Raven, your second post nailed it. Also thanks to Glen.
So since humans, being mammals have no fur:
-The charicteristics that all and ONLY mammals have is mammaries and hair. (No bird, fish or reptile have hair or fur, right?)
-And the charicteristics that all mammals have is mammaries and hair and warm blood.
again...
This response submitted by Tim on 12/17/04 at 10:41 PM. ( ) 154.5.3.86
And thanks cur.
This response submitted by KB on 12/17/04 at 11:34 PM. ( ) 66.139.154.84
Differentiated teeth and a diaphragm to aid in respiration are two not mentioned above.
Platypus have mammary glands w/ no teats. Mother sweats milk from her belly and the young lick it from the fur.
you guys missed a big one
This response submitted by Bill Yox on 12/18/04 at 2:02 AM. ( ) 66.133.135.238
Mammals are all in it together because of a four chambered heart too. Im not too sure theyre classified based on fur vs hair, though. Grey fox, for example, has what is referred to as pelage. Its a very coarse hair or guard hair, if you prefer, plus the dense fur. This is even in summer, but of course less dense. Theres certainly exceptions in the animal world, like those egg laying mammals, or snakes that lay eggs while others bear live young. Those eggs are like a birth sac, though. Theyre all exceptions, but true mammals share all those traits mentioned so far.
Birds too, Bill
This response submitted by KB on 12/18/04 at 8:55 AM. ( ) 66.139.154.84
Birds being warm blooded, share the 4-chambered heart characteristic. This allows them to keep oxygenated blood apart from deoxygenated blood most efficiently. Even crocodilians have 4-chambered heart with an incomplete septum wall. Many snakes are oviparous (egg-laying) and many are viviparous (bearing live young). Egg-laying with snakes is by far not an exception.
Omitted
This response submitted by cur on 12/18/04 at 12:03 PM. ( ) 4.227.11.162
Omitted, not forgot the four-chambered heart, Tweety has one too. That would be a key in a fossil find, however, the presence of auxillary air sacs (caudal, etc) would differentiate. Birds do not have diaphragms, that is correct, they breathe with their ribs, and have a much more efficient oxygen exchange apparatus than do mammals.
Integument
This response submitted by cur on 12/18/04 at 2:11 PM. ( ) 4.253.65.65
The integument, or pelage, is the covering of any mammal, haired or not. The skin of a whale is it's pelage. Pelage is usually used to describe the outer coverage of animal species, while integumen may be used for both flora and fauna.
nope
This response submitted by Bill Yox on 12/18/04 at 5:21 PM. ( ) 67.138.8.108
We already said birds lay eggs, snakes can too, some animals can bear live young and not be mammals. You all didnt see my point. What makes mammals a mammal is that they SHARE ALL THOSE FEATURES. The EXCEPTIONS share one trait WITH mammals. When you bear live young AND have a 4 chambered heart AND produce milk AND are warm blooded, you aint a bird, a plane, or anything other than a mammal.
Pelage, fur, hair, or definitions aside...mammals are not divided into categories based on hair types. That was my only point.
?
This response submitted by Tim on 12/18/04 at 9:06 PM. ( ) 154.5.3.86
The charicteristics that ALL and ONLY mammals have is a diaphragm and hair. Correct?
(I omitted mammaries because the male would not have them)
ONE thing
This response submitted by Raven on 12/18/04 at 10:01 PM. ( ) 24.150.199.145
Lots of similarities and lots of little differences amongst critters in the aniaml kingdom. Weed everything out and there is but ONE thing that ultimately decides what makes 'mammals' to which there is NO variation.
Mammaries. Yes males have them too - they just arent developed or milk producing as in females - but males for exmaple can still develope breast cancer.
The ultimate one thing that decides mammals or not, is like I mentioned above to which there are no exceptions, is the presence of mammary glands. Again - this is why we are called Mammals; because of our mammaries. We're not Diaphramals or Warmbloodamals or Hairamals... we're Mammals.
As young we are raised on mothers milk from her mammaries. Everything else is irrelevant. While we may or may not have common characteristics with other critters, in the taxonomy of it all - it simply doesn't matter.
We have mammaries and are raised on milk. All mammals do - and no other critter does. It is THE thing that sets everything else apart.
Heres an exerpt from one of my biology books;
MAMMARY GLAND (Lat. mamma), or female breast, the organ by means of which the young are suckled, and the posession of which, in some region of the trunk, entitles the animal bearing it to a place in the order of Mammalia.
Order Columbiformes
This response submitted by KB on 12/18/04 at 11:08 PM. ( ) 66.139.154.84
is an Avian order that produces a milk-like fluid from the crop. These are Pigeons and Doves. Just thought I would throw that in. These birds produce a fluid similar to milk to feed their young. Though the milk does not come from mammary glands.
Thanks
This response submitted by Tim on 12/19/04 at 12:23 AM. ( ) 154.5.3.86
OK, thank you all.
which came first?
This response submitted by cur on 12/19/04 at 12:37 AM. ( ) 4.227.99.87
Mammal, or mammary gland? Look that up in your Funk and Wagnall's, Raven. Exclusive traits and shared traits are very different. A recent fossil dinosaur find had a four chambered heart. The first key to a mammal is the three inner ear bones. Following that, the single mandible bone. After that, the rest is moot, or the echidna and the platypus wouldn't be considered mammals, despite the remainder of the keys. As far as teeth are concerned, there are toothless mammals.
Speculators should speculate, and leave taxonomy and biology to those disciplined in the sciences. Frankly, I am educated in the sciences, and sometimes those definitive boys in taxonomy confuse me with their BS.
?
This response submitted by Tim on 12/20/04 at 2:13 AM. ( ) 154.5.3.86
Do whales have three inner ear bones?
Could you name a toothless mammal?
Anteaters
This response submitted by KB on 12/20/04 at 8:29 AM. ( ) 66.139.154.84
The Order Edentata refers to "toothless", in all actuality, anteaters are the only "toothless" member of the order. Other members are armadillos & sloths.