Mammals

Mammals are warm-blooded animals. This means that their body temperature stays the same wherever they are. For example, a polar bear and a camel are both mammals and they live in extremely cold and hot places, respectively.

After fertilization, the young of a mammal develops and grows inside the female mammal’s body. The period of the young’s development and growth inside the mother’s body and the number of offspring produced vary among different animals. Some mammals like horses, cows, and monkeys produce only one young at each birthing. Other mammals like dogs, cats, and whales have two or more young at each birthing.

After giving birth, female mammals nurse their young. Unlike other animals, female mammals produce milk in their mammary glands and use this to nourish their young.

The young mammal looks like the adult mammal but is much smaller. Most mammals look after and train their young for some time until the latter are fully grown and are ready to reproduce, then the life cycle is repeated.