Mammalia

A mammal is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia. Mammals are characterized by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles and birds, from which their ancestors diverged in the Carboniferous period over 300 million years ago. Around 6,640 extant species of mammals have been described and divided into 27 orders. The study of mammals is called mammalogy.

Mammalia

ZKevinTheCat · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
mammalPBDB
Sits inside
MammaliaformesPBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Mammaliaformes
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Mammaliaformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 119 million years on record.

The record covers at least 119.57 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 125.77 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 31 of 12000 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 1294 of 12000 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 4116 of 12000 occurrencesEocene — about 5986 of 12000 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 37 of 12000 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 342 of 12000 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 81 of 12000 occurrencesPleistocene — about 97 of 12000 occurrences128–124 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences124–120 Mya — about 1 occurrence120–115 Mya — about 9 occurrences115–111 Mya — about 9 occurrences111–107 Mya — about 5 occurrences107–103 Mya — about 4 occurrences103–98 Mya — about 42 occurrences98–94 Mya — about 80 occurrences94–90 Mya — about 25 occurrences90–86 Mya — about 10 occurrences86–81 Mya — about 122 occurrences81–77 Mya — about 126 occurrences77–73 Mya — about 126 occurrences73–68 Mya — about 472 occurrences68–64 Mya — about 880 occurrences64–60 Mya — about 1530 occurrences60–56 Mya — about 2455 occurrences56–51 Mya — about 4765 occurrences51–47 Mya — about 614 occurrences47–43 Mya — about 102 occurrences43–38 Mya — about 6 occurrences38–34 Mya — about 40 occurrences34–30 Mya — about 17 occurrences30–26 Mya — about 16 occurrences26–21 Mya — about 15 occurrences21–17 Mya — about 11 occurrences17–13 Mya — about 69 occurrences13–8.6 Mya — about 160 occurrences8.6–4.3 Mya — about 108 occurrences4.3–0 Mya — about 180 occurrences119.57 Mya11.7 ka128 Mya0 Mya

12,000+ occurrences of Mammalia on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

12,000 occurrences read

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. The read hit its cap, so every figure above is a floor and the shares are of the occurrences read. More on what this infers.

Found in

at least 162 formations

Willwood — 44.78°N, 108.97°WWillwood — 44.30°N, 109.00°WWillwood — 44.82°N, 109.05°WWillwood — 43.95°N, 107.57°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.00°N, 108.00°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.54°WWillwood — 44.60°N, 108.32°WWillwood — 44.64°N, 108.43°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.39°WWillwood — 44.53°N, 108.32°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 109.93°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.86°WWillwood — 44.49°N, 108.54°WWillwood — 44.42°N, 108.69°WWillwood — 44.38°N, 108.80°WWillwood — 44.44°N, 108.63°WWillwood — 44.49°N, 108.81°WWillwood — 44.50°N, 108.67°WWillwood — 44.56°N, 108.70°WWillwood — 44.59°N, 108.62°WWillwood — 44.65°N, 108.76°WFort Union — 47.60°N, 107.00°WFort Union — 47.10°N, 104.80°WFort Union — 47.80°N, 106.10°WFort Union — 43.85°N, 108.35°WFort Union — 43.70°N, 108.70°WFort Union — 44.30°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 46.05°N, 104.48°WFort Union — 45.80°N, 104.40°WFort Union — 41.70°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 41.30°N, 107.74°WFort Union — 44.50°N, 108.00°WFort Union — 45.80°N, 109.80°WFort Union — 46.70°N, 101.80°WFort Union — 48.50°N, 101.90°WFort Union — 46.90°N, 101.50°WFort Union — 46.59°N, 101.74°WFort Union — 46.90°N, 103.90°WFort Union — 45.80°N, 110.50°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.38°WFort Union — 44.68°N, 108.32°WFort Union — 45.20°N, 109.00°WFort Union — 44.89°N, 108.93°WFort Union — 43.20°N, 107.10°WFort Union — 45.10°N, 106.90°WFort Union — 45.40°N, 105.60°WFort Union — 43.45°N, 109.16°WFort Union — 41.92°N, 108.56°WFort Union — 44.72°N, 108.62°WFort Union — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 110.70°WWasatch — 41.27°N, 110.33°WWasatch — 43.25°N, 110.42°WWasatch — 42.70°N, 110.10°WWasatch — 40.60°N, 108.10°WWasatch — 41.70°N, 109.00°WWasatch — 41.80°N, 107.00°WWasatch — 41.20°N, 110.50°WWasatch — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWasatch — 40.00°N, 107.90°WWasatch — 42.07°N, 109.10°WDeBeque — 40.00°N, 107.90°WDeBeque — 39.20°N, 108.20°WDeBeque — 39.27°N, 108.18°WDeBeque — 39.70°N, 107.60°WDeBeque — 38.70°N, 107.60°WWind River — 43.20°N, 107.10°WWind River — 44.00°N, 106.60°WWind River — 43.20°N, 108.20°WWind River — 41.60°N, 105.80°WWind River — 41.80°N, 107.00°WHell Creek — 47.63°N, 106.20°WHell Creek — 47.55°N, 107.12°WHell Creek — 47.62°N, 107.32°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 107.00°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.10°WHell Creek — 47.65°N, 106.65°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 106.98°WHell Creek — 46.30°N, 104.50°WHell Creek — 47.57°N, 107.10°WHell Creek — 45.50°N, 103.10°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 106.40°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 106.38°WHell Creek — 47.58°N, 106.30°WHell Creek — 47.55°N, 107.25°WHell Creek — 47.87°N, 106.18°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 107.18°WHell Creek — 47.53°N, 106.92°WHell Creek — 47.65°N, 106.20°WHell Creek — 47.07°N, 106.92°WHell Creek — 47.10°N, 104.80°WHell Creek — 47.70°N, 106.55°WHell Creek — 47.73°N, 106.50°WHell Creek — 45.40°N, 105.60°WHell Creek — 46.10°N, 103.30°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 107.23°WHell Creek — 47.68°N, 106.43°WHell Creek — 46.90°N, 101.50°WHell Creek — 47.80°N, 106.21°WNacimiento — 36.30°N, 108.20°WNacimiento — 36.31°N, 108.00°WNacimiento — 35.70°N, 107.00°WNacimiento — 36.57°N, 107.97°WNacimiento — 36.18°N, 107.58°WNacimiento — 36.27°N, 107.76°WBridger — 42.70°N, 110.10°WBridger — 41.20°N, 110.50°WBridger — 41.50°N, 110.60°WBridger — 41.70°N, 109.00°WPaskapoo — 51.00°N, 114.10°WPaskapoo — 51.90°N, 113.30°WPaskapoo — 53.23°N, 114.70°WPaskapoo — 52.40°N, 113.80°WPaskapoo — 52.30°N, 113.80°WPaskapoo — 52.20°N, 113.70°WPaskapoo — 51.10°N, 114.50°WPaskapoo — 51.18°N, 114.43°WPaskapoo — 52.60°N, 114.10°WPaskapoo — 52.00°N, 114.30°WPaskapoo — 52.20°N, 113.60°WPaskapoo — 51.50°N, 112.30°WPaskapoo — 52.40°N, 116.10°WPaskapoo — 54.80°N, 115.46°WPaskapoo — 54.80°N, 115.80°WPaskapoo — 51.20°N, 112.50°WLance — 43.18°N, 104.53°WLance — 43.00°N, 104.50°WLance — 43.10°N, 104.60°WLance — 41.57°N, 108.67°WLance — 43.15°N, 104.57°WLance — 43.25°N, 104.65°WLance — 44.94°N, 108.85°WLance — 43.30°N, 104.37°WLance — 43.13°N, 104.49°WLance — 43.25°N, 104.52°WLance — 43.80°N, 104.62°WSan Jose — 36.50°N, 107.00°WSan Jose — 35.70°N, 107.00°W"Wasatch" — 44.50°N, 108.00°W"Wasatch" — 40.20°N, 109.90°W"Wasatch" — 44.00°N, 106.60°W"Wasatch" — 43.90°N, 105.70°WFerris — 41.94°N, 106.88°WFerris — 41.80°N, 107.00°WFerris — 41.96°N, 106.89°WFerris — 41.94°N, 106.85°WNorth Horn — 39.00°N, 111.00°WNorth Horn — 39.17°N, 111.27°WNorth Horn — 39.10°N, 111.80°WRavenscrag — 49.50°N, 109.20°WRavenscrag — 49.60°N, 108.70°WRavenscrag — 49.70°N, 110.10°WRavenscrag — 49.06°N, 102.75°WJudith River — 47.70°N, 110.70°WJudith River — 46.42°N, 109.27°WJudith River — 48.92°N, 110.58°WJudith River — 46.46°N, 109.41°WJudith River — 48.57°N, 109.68°WJudith River — 47.81°N, 109.59°WJudith River — 48.98°N, 110.52°WJudith River — 46.10°N, 109.10°WJudith River — 46.47°N, 109.30°WJudith River — 48.93°N, 110.65°WCedar Mountain — 39.00°N, 111.00°WCedar Mountain — 38.66°N, 111.24°WCedar Mountain — 38.94°N, 111.08°WBlack Peaks — 29.20°N, 103.20°WBlack Peaks — 29.28°N, 103.55°WBlack Peaks — 29.42°N, 103.10°WBlack Peaks — 29.46°N, 103.15°W"Fort Union" (= Lebo) — 46.20°N, 109.90°W"Fort Union" (= Lebo) — 45.80°N, 109.80°WLower Variegated Sequence — 43.90°N, 110.80°WLower Variegated Sequence — 43.20°N, 108.20°WHanna — 41.80°N, 107.00°WScollard — 52.33°N, 113.12°WScollard — 51.91°N, 112.97°WScollard — 51.80°N, 113.00°WNagri — 32.77°N, 72.50°EFrenchman — 49.50°N, 109.10°WFrenchman — 49.40°N, 107.40°WFrenchman — 49.30°N, 108.40°WFrenchman — 49.50°N, 109.20°WFrenchman — 49.20°N, 109.20°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Mammalia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. The read hit its cap, so each count is a floor. 138 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1,538 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

1,779 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 452 sites for Mammalia, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

at least 626 references

Each of the 12,000 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. That read hit its cap, so each count is a floor. 614 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Mammalia

Credit
ZKevinTheCat
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMammaliaformes through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)