Mammal – noun (mam·mal | \ ˈma-məl \) Definition: any of a class (Mammalia) of warm-blooded higher vertebrates (such as placentals, marsupials, or monotremes) that nourish their young with milk secreted by mammary glands, have the skin usually more or less covered with hair, and include humans. (source: Merriam Webster) As a definition, it’s a […]
The other night, whilst reading through the introduction to the Britain’s Mammals; A Field Guide to the Mammals of Britain and Ireland by Messrs. Couzens, Swash, Still, & Dunn (more on that book soon…) I was struck by their explanation of just how much more it takes to make mammals mammals than simply the possession of mammary glands. However as their introduction was simply meant to be just that – an introduction – I began to contemplate the question in a larger frame of reference.