My own Mammalogy exam 2 study guide

The order of mammals known as bats, characterized by their unique ability of powered flight. The name "Chiroptera" means "hand wing."

A sophisticated method used by bats to navigate and locate resources by emitting sound waves and interpreting the echoes.

Bats are predominantly active during the night, making them nocturnal animals.

Some bats hibernate during periods of low food availability or cold weather, reducing their metabolic rate and conserving energy.

Bats exhibit a wide range of life strategies, including feeding on insects, fruits, nectar, and even blood, depending on the species.

Bats provide large economic benefits to humans, such as pest control through insect consumption and pollination of plants.

Also known as echolocating or micro bats, these bats are generally small in size, use echolocation, and primarily feed on insects.

Also known as old world fruit bats or flying foxes, these bats are generally large in size, do not echolocate, and predominantly feed on fruits and nectar.

Bats can have various feeding strategies, including being insectivores, frugivores, carnivores, sanguinivores, nectarivores, or piscivores.

The aspect ratio and wing loading of bats' wings determine their flight characteristics, such as speed, maneuverability, and habitat preference.

Bats use echolocation to perceive their environment and locate resources, while non-echolocating bats rely on vision and smell, particularly when consuming fruits and nectar.

Bats face various threats, including white-nose syndrome, wind turbine collisions, pesticides, habitat conversion, and artificial light. Conservation efforts include education, habitat protection, cave closures, research, wind energy technology advancements, monitoring, and citizen science initiatives.

Monotremes are a group of mammals that lay eggs and have unique reproductive and anatomical characteristics, including cloacas, internal testes, and lack of nipples.

Marsupials are mammals that give birth to relatively undeveloped young, which then climb into a pouch to continue their development. They have multiple vaginas, forked penises, and scrotums.

Afrotheria is a superorder of mammals that originated in Africa and includes two main clades, Afroinsectiphilia (mostly insectivorous) and Paenungulata (herbivores).

Also known as elephant shrews, these mammals have a proboscis, large hind limbs, large ears, and are mostly insectivorous or omnivorous.

Afrosoricida is an order of insectivorous mammals that show convergent evolution with other groups.

Also known as aardvarks, these mammals are insectivorous, have a long, sticky tongue, peg-like teeth, and are strong diggers.

Proboscidea includes elephants, characterized by their large proboscis (trunk), large ears, sparse fur, and fatty cushioned feet.

Hyracoidea includes hyraxes, which have three hind toes with hoof-like nails, glandular pads for climbing, and are herbivorous and colonial.

Sirenia includes manatees and dugongs, which are fully aquatic herbivorous mammals found in shallow waters.

Xenarthra is a superorder of mammals found in the western hemisphere, characterized by their unique joints, low metabolic rate, and lack of incisors and canines.

Scandentia includes tree shrews, which have a small body size, arboreal habits, and are omnivorous.

Dermoptera includes colugos or flying lemurs, which have a gliding membrane and are arboreal herbivores.

Order of mammals that includes sloths and anteaters.

Feeding behavior of sloths, which consume plant material.

Feeding behavior of anteaters, which consume ants and termites.

Physical characteristic of Pilosa species, used for climbing and feeding.

Digestive system of sloths that aids in breaking down plant material.

Physical characteristic of anteaters, as they have adapted to consume ants and termites.

Order of mammals that includes armadillos.

Feeding behavior of armadillos, which consume ants and termites.

Dental characteristic of Cingulata species, with all teeth having the same shape.

The motivation for the study was to understand why three-toed sloths descend trees to defecate despite the risk of predation.

The study found that the moths living in the fur of three-toed sloths provide benefits in the form of lipids and nutrients, creating a three-way commensalism between moths, sloths, and algae.

Refined hands and digits with nails, binocular stereoscopic vision, postorbital bar or plate, long-lived with slow reproduction and extended developmental time, spectrum of social systems, omnivorous dentition, reduced rostrum and sense of smell, large brain size.

Suborder of primates characterized by a postorbital plate, relatively short rostrum, and continuous upper incisors.

Suborder of primates characterized by a postorbital bar, relatively long rostrum, and a gap in the upper incisors.

Habitat loss from deforestation, exploitation (pet trade, food, medical research), and climate change.

Derived from Latin "rodere" (to gnaw) and "dentis" (tooth), single pair of large ever-growing incisors, diastema, different suborders have distinct skull and mandible morphologies.

Protragomorphous, hystricomorphous, sciurmorphous, and myomorphous skull morphologies, sciurognathous and hystricognathous mandible morphologies.

Fenestrated maxilla, cecal/hindgut fermenters, second set of peg-like incisors.

Ochotonidae (pikas) and Leporidae (rabbits and hares).

Offspring precocial vs. altricial, postorbital process extension to parietal vs. not, triangular interparietal bone vs. absence.

Well-developed canines, carnassial pair teeth, well-developed facial musculature, large c-shaped mandibular fossa, anal scent glands.

Caniformes have a longer rostrum and no transbullar septae, while Feliformes have a shorter rostrum and transbullar septae. Caniformes lack retractable claws, while most Feliformes have retractable claws.

Carnivores eat meat and are higher up in the trophic pyramid, requiring more space to obtain sufficient energy.

When a larger carnivore is removed from an area, smaller carnivores become more numerous and prey on small prey species, causing declines in their population.

Indirect interactions between carnivores and plants mediated by direct interactions between carnivores and herbivores.

Habitat loss and fragmentation, conflict with human interests such as livestock production and competition for prey species, and negative perceptions of large carnivores.

Family of mammals that includes cats.

Pantherinae (big cats) and Felinae (small cats).

Pantherinae can roar but not purr, while Felinae can purr but not roar.

Various sounds, highly sensitive whiskers, foreshortened skull, carnassials and canines for shearing flesh, well-developed sagittal crest, digitigrade, retractable claws, intervertebral discs with extra cushioning, free-floating scapula, tapetum lucidum in eyes, papillae on tongue, vomeronasal organ, short digestive tract, solitary social structure.

Walk on tips of toes with hoofs, reduced number of toes, calcaneum articulates with astragalus, specialized digestion.

Perissodactyla have an odd number of toes, while Cetartiodactyla have an even number of toes. Perissodactyla have hindgut fermentation and upper incisors, while most Cetartiodactyla have ruminant digestion and no upper incisors.

Equidae, Tapiridae, Rhinocerotidae.

Cannon bone, feeding strategies, distribution, and threatened or endangered status.

Ruminantia and Suina.

Horns or antlers, global distribution, economic importance.

Two families (Suidae and Tayassuidae), habitat generalists, omnivorous, monogastric digestion, upper incisors, tusks, large litter size.

Three-chambered stomach, distribution in deserts and arid grasslands, soft hooves, adaptation for walking in sand.

Aquatic mammals known as "river horses".

Molars with low, rounded cusps, characteristic of hippopotamuses.

A behavior exhibited by hippos where they defecate while submerged in water.

Referring to a group that was once more diverse in terms of species.

The evolutionary transition of land-dwelling mammals to fully aquatic animals, such as whales and dolphins.

A bone in the ankle joint that is present in the semi-aquatic ancestors of cetaceans.

A streamlined body shape that is advantageous for swimming in water.

A thick layer of fat beneath the skin that provides insulation and buoyancy for cetaceans.

A skull structure where the posterior bones are compressed and overlap, protecting the head during dives.

The proportion of red blood cells in the blood, which is higher in cetaceans for efficient oxygen transport.

A protein in muscle cells that helps store and transport oxygen, contributing to high oxygen efficiency in cetaceans.

Different stages of plant growth and development, which influence the nutritional quality of plants.

The principle that larger herbivores forage on older phenological stages of plants, while smaller herbivores forage on earlier stages.