Description: Neotamias rufus (Hoffmeister & Ellis, 1979) - Hopi chipmunk in Utah, USA. (photo by Mary Ellen St. John) Mammals are the dominant group of terrestrial vertebrates on Earth today. The group is defined based on a combination of features: endothermic (= warm-blooded), air-breathing, body hair, mother's milk, four-chambered heart, large brain-to-body mass ratio, two teeth generations, differentiated dentition, and a single lower jawbone. Almost all modern mammals have live birth - exceptions are the duck-billed platypus and the echidna, both of which lay eggs. Mammals first appear in the Triassic fossil record - they evolved from the therapsids (mammal-like reptiles). Mammals were mostly small and a minor component of terrestrial ecosystems during the Mesozoic. After the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction at 65 million years ago, the mammals underwent a significant adaptive radiation - most modern mammal groups first appeared during this radiation in the early Cenozoic (Paleocene and Eocene). Three groups of mammals exist in the Holocene - placentals, marsupials, and monotremes. Other groups, now extinct, were present during the Mesozoic. Classifiation: Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Mammalia, Rodentia, Sciuridae Locality: Canyonlands National Park, southeastern Utah, USA. Date: Taken on 3 September 2011, 17:35. Source:
Neotamias rufus (Hopi chipmunk) (Canyonlands National Park, Utah, USA). Author:
James St. John.
