BIOLOGY
BIRDS TO MAMMALS OUTLINE
I.
Birds (AVES)
A. Beaks and feet are adapted for survival needs
B. Bodies are mostly fat (fat weighs less than muscle)
C. Ornithology – study of birds
D. Flight muscles make up 50% of weight
E. Only animals with feathers
F. Have wings made of feathers (modified front legs)
1. contour feathers – for flight
2. down feathers for insulation
G. Four chambered heart
H. Feet adapted for many purposes
1. climbing (toes are 2-front, 2 in back
2. perching (3 front – 1 back)
3. swimming (webbed)
4. catching food (talons)
I. Endothermic (warm blooded)
J. Tongue has a bone in it
K. Hollow bones
L. Mostly use keen eyesight to find food
M. Eat: insects, worms, small mammals, fish, grain, nectar, microscopic blue-green bacteria,
seeds, fruit, insects, other birds, mice monkeys and remains of dead animals
N. Feathers made out of dead cells
O. Internal fertilization
P. Most are intelligent
Q. Some have lost flying ability (Penguins, Ostriches)
R. Lay hard shell eggs
1. embryo: organism in early development
2. Yolk – food for embryo
3. albumin – liquid environment for embryo
S. Some think birds are closely related to reptiles
T. Many migrate for food supply and climate protection
U. Many migrate by magnetic sense
V. First fossil bird: archaeopteryx ( 147 million years ago)
W. Beak shape determines food source
X. Molt about once per year
Y. Has extra eyelid
Z. Well developed brain
AA. All have a crop for storing food
BB. Eat rocks for gizzard to work
CC. All have a gizzard for grinding food
DD. Have extra air sacks to keep them in better oxygen supply
EE. Have a Keel – a modified sternum
FF. Preen – distribute oil on feathers
GG.
Largest: ostrich (non-flighted) and condor (flighted) smallest: hummingbirds
HH. Colorado State Bird: Lark Bunting
II. Types
1. Tropical
a. usually very colorful (both male and female)
b. found in tropical environment
c. not migrators
d. examples: Mawcaws, African Grey’s, parrots
2. Flightless
a. Examples: Ostrich, penguins, rheas
b. Forewings have lost ability to fly, most are either fast runners or swim
c. Often aquatic birds
d. All 17 species live south of the equator
3. Perching song birds
a. fly at altitudes of 150 feet or less
1
4.
5.
6.
7.
II.
b. make up nearly 60% of world’s birds
c. have 3 toes in front, one in back
d. have complex songs
e. greatest range of adaptations
f. fly slower than other bird (23-30 miles per hour)
g. males are more brightly colored
h. usually seed or insect eaters
i. are most endangered group of birds
j. examples: cardinals, , sparrows, robins, jays etc
Waterfowl
a. live on water
b. webbed feet
c. eat fish, shrimp or microscopic marine life
d. examples: pelican, seagull, flamingo, ibis
Game birds
a. example: geese, prairie chicken, pheasant, chicken
b. live in tall or short grasses
c. often used as food for humans
d. short rounded wings
e. short, rapid bursts of flight
f. strongly developed keel (sternum)
g. young hatch fully covered in down and able to run and feed
Shore birds
a. long beaks and legs
b. drink salt water, but have a special gland to regulate uptake
c. usually live over ocean
d. examples: pelicans, seagulls
Birds of Prey (raptors)
a. Have best vision of any animal
b. Have sharp talons
c. Regurgitate bones of their meat
d. Have curved pointed beaks
e. Peregrine falcon can reach speeds over 200 miles per hour in a dive
f. Examples: hawks, eagles and falcon
Mammals
A. Have hair
B. Ex. Cats, whales, moles, bats, horse, people, platypus
C. Live everywhere
D. Endothermic (warm blooded)
E. Most provide some care for offspring
F. Produce milk to feed young
G. Many have scent glands that are used for marking territories or defense
H. Have mammary glands
I. Specialized teeth which are replaced only once in a lifetime
J. Herbivores, carnivores and omnivores
K. Four chambered heart
L. Sexual fertilization by internal fertilization
M. Most have sweat glands and sebaceous (fat secreting) glands
N. Highly developed brain and nervous system
O. Most lack color vision
P. 3 middle ear bones
Q. external ear flaps
R. smallest: a bat weighing .05 oz
S. largest: blue whale
T. Three Groups
1. Monotremes
a. egg laying mammals
b. nurse young
c. no nipple to nurse from
d. first mammals to evolve during the Triassic
e. all endothermic
2
f. leathery egg shells
g. name means “one opening” for a cloaca (urinary and reproductive
opening is the same)
h. left and right side of brain are not connected
i. don’t have actual teeth
j. grind food with flat plates
k. have a 6th sense: can detect small electrical currents
l. example: duck billed platypus and echidna (also called spiny ant eaters)
1. Platypus
a. lives in burrows near fresh water lakes
b. babies called puggles
c. males have venomous spikes on back ankles
2. Echidna
a. have spines all over their body
b. can curl up into balls in self defense
c. dig for food, eating termites, ants and assorted invertebrates
d. have long mucus covered tongues
2. Marsupials
a. Off spring born prematurely
b. Baby crawls to mother’s mammary gland in a pouch
c. Finishes gestation at the mother’s teat
d. Left and right side of brain are not connected
e. Epibubic bones are usually present
f. Right aortic arch is absent and red blood cells lack nuclei
g. Herbivores
h. Examples: kangaroo, opossum, Tasmanian devil, koala
i. Live primarily in Australia, Tasmania, and New guinea
1. opossums
a. feed after dark
b. have a gestation period of only 11 to 12 weeks
c. young weigh 1/5 of a gram when born
d. have a prehensile tail
2. Kangaroos
a. more than 50 kinds
b. largest up to 6.5 feet
3. wombats
a. grows to 3 ft and weighs 88 pounds
b. tunnel through the ground
e. powerful digging muscles
4. Koalas
a. tree dwelling
b. only eat eucalyptus leaves
c. not related to bears
d. big claws for climbing
e. males have scent glands on chest to communicate with
other animals
3. Placentals
a. entire gestation is inside the mother
b. young are well developed at birth
c. embryo is fed from the mothers body
d. 16 orders – these are a few
1. Chiroptera: Bats
a. second largest order of mammals
b. wide variety of teeth – based on diet
c. examples: fruit bat, vampire bat
d. only flying mammals
e. most see by echo location
f. fly at speeds up to 65 km/hr
g. wing is a membrane attached from forelimb to hind limb
2. Carnivore
3
a. All eat meat
b. On top of the food chain
c. Examples: lions, tiger, bears, wolves, cheetah
d. Pacific northwest is carnivore territory
e. Canine teeth are prominent
f. Great sense of smell
g. learned to adjust to human presence
3. Ungulates
a. hoofed mammals
b. all grazing animals
c. flat grinding teeth
d. special digestive chamber for digesting plants (extra
stomach)
e. toes incased in a horny hoof
f. all are herbivores
g. two families
1) Artiodactyls
a) even number of toes
b) antelope, deer, pigs, hippos, camels
2) Perissodactyla
a) odd number of toes
b) horses, zebras, rhinos, tapirs
4. Rodentia
a. includes beavers, chipmunks, mice, porcupines, squirrel
b. produce large litters each year
c. large incisors that continue to grow though out life
d. have no canine teeth
e. largest class of mammals and most successful
f. most are omnivores
5. Cetaceans
a. smallest: dolphins and porpoises largest: whales
b. fastest: bull Orca
c. longest flippers: humpback wale
d. heaviest brain: sperm whale
e. narwhal has the biggest teeth
f. sperm whale dives the deepest
g. all must come out of water to breathe
h. blowholes identify them
i. Use echo-location to navigate and communicate
j. Must breathe air
k. Live in family groups called pods
6. Sirenia
a. means mermaid-like appearance (inspired by manatees
when seen from ships)
b. examples: manatees and dugong
c. herbivores
d. small bones
e. live entire life in water but must come up for air
f. can live up to 60 years
g. slow moving, barrel-like bodies with flipper-like forelimbs and
no hind limbs
h. gentle animals
i. endangered
7. proboscidea
a. elephants: African and Indian
b. extinct: mammoths and mastodons
c. largest land animals
d. muscular boneless trunks for spraying water, carrying food,
smelling, lifting,
e. tusks are extra long incisors on upper jaw
f. large ears
4
g. thick skin
8. primates
a. example: humans, apes, monkeys
b. all have opposable thumbs
c. binocular vision with eyes facing forward
d. usually no more than three offspring per year
e. visual acuity and color perception
f. fingernails as opposed to claws
g. nearly all live in tropical or subtropical parts of the world
9. Dermoptera (gliding lemurs)
a. membrane from neck to fore paws to back feet to tail
b. don’t fly – they glide from tree to tree
c. live in trees
d. diet is fruit and leaves
e. nocturnal
f. endangers
g. also called colugo
10. Insectivores
a. moles and shrews
b. all eat ONLY insects
c. sharp claws and teeth
d. pointed noses used to catch insects
11. Edentates
a. giant anteaters, armadillos and tree sloth
b. have NO teeth but still feed on insects
12. Lagomorphs
a. hares, rabbits and pikas
b. have long ears
c. powerful hind legs
d. clawed toes are herbivores
e. teeth different from rodents
f. can gnaw or chew with mouth closed
g. one large rodent-like tooth with another peg-like tooth
5
BIRDS
Beaks and feet are adapted for Bodies are mostly fat (fat
survival needs
weighs less than muscle
Ornithology – study
of birds
Flight muscles make u 50% of
weight
Only animals with feathers
Have wings made of
feathers (modified
front legs)
Contour feathers – for flight
Down feathers for insulation
Four chambered
heart
Feet adapted for many
purposes
Climbing feet – toes are 2-front
and 2 in back
Perching – three toes
in front and one on
back
Swimming feet are webbed
Feet for catching food called
talons
Endothermic
Tongue has a bone in it
Hollow bones
Mostly use keen
eyesight to find food
Eat: insects, worms, small
mammals, fish, grain, nectar,
seeds, fruit insects, other
birds, mice, monkeys and
remains of dead animals
Most are intelligent
Feathers made out of dead
cells
Embryo: organism in early
development inside egg
Yolk – food for the embryo
Internal fertilization
Lay hard shell eggs
Some have lost flying ability
6
Albumin – liquid
environment for
embryo
Some think birds are closely
related to reptiles
Many migrate for food supply
and climate protection
Many migrate by
magnetic sense
First fossil of bird:
archaeopteryx (147 mya)
Beak shape determines food
source
Molt about once per
year
Have extra eyelid
Well developed brain
All have crop for
storing food
Eat rocks for gizzard to work
All have gizzard for grinding
food
Have extra air sacks
Largest: ostrich(non-flighted)
to keen them in better and condor (flighted
oxygen supply
Smallest: hummingbirds
TROPICAL
Usually very colorful (both
male and female)
Found in tropical environment
Not migrators
Examples: Mawcaws, African
grey, parrots
FLIGHTLESS
Examples: ostrich,
penguins, rheas
Forewings have lost ability to
fly
Most are either fast runners or
swim
Often aquatic birds
All 17 species live south of the
equator
PERCHING SING BIRDS
7
Fly at altitudes of 150
feet or less
Make up nearly 60% of world’s
birds
Have three toes in front and
one in back
Have complex songs
Greatest range of adaptations
Fly slower than other birds
(23-30 miles per hour)
Males are more
brightly colored
Usually seed or insect eaters
Are most endangered group
Examples: cardinals, WATERFOWL/SHOREBIRDS
sparrows, robins, jays
etc
Live on water
Webbed feet
Eat fish, shrimp or microscopic
marine life
Examples: pelican, seagull,
flamingo, ibis
GAME BIRDS
Example: geese, prairie
chicken, pheasant, chicken
Live in tall or short grasses
Often used as food
for humans
Short rounded wings
Short, rapid bursts of flight
Strongly developed
keel (sternum)
Young hatch fully covered in
down and able to run and feed
WATERFOWL/SHOREBIRDS
Long beaks and legs
Drink salt water, but have a
special gland to regulate
uptake of salt
Usually live over ocean
8
BIRDS OF PREY
Have best vision of any animal
Have sharp talons
Regurgitate bones of
their meat
Have curved pointed beaks
Peregrine falcon can reach
speeds of over 200 miles per
hour in a dive
Examples: hawks,
eagles and falcon
MAMMALS
Have hair
Example cats,
whales, moles, bats,
horses, people
platypus
Live everywhere
Endothermic
Most provide some
care for offspring
Produce milk to feed young
many have scent glands that
are used for marking territories
or defense
Have mammary glands
Specialized teeth
which are replaced
only once in a lifetime
Herbivores, carnivores and
omnivores
Four chambered heart
Sexual fertilization by
internal fertilization
Most have sweat glands and
sebaceous (fat secreting)
glands
Highly developed brain and
nervous system
Most lack color vision
3 middle ear bones
External ear flaps
Smallest: a bat
weighing .05 oz
Largest: blue whale
Three groups
9
MONOTREMES
Egg laying mammals
Nurse young
No nipple to nurse
from
First mammals to evolve
during the Triassic
All endothermic
Leathery egg shells
Name means “one opening”
for a cloaca (urinary and
reproductive opening is the
same)
Left and right side of brain are
not connected
Don’t have actual
teeth
Grind food with flat plates
Have a 6th sense: can detect
small electrical currents
Example: duckbilled
platypus and echidna
(also called spiny ant
eaters)
Platypus
Lives in burrows near fresh
water lakes
Babies called
puggles
Males have venomous spikes
on back ankles
Echidna
Have spines all over
their body
Can curl up into balls in self
defense
Dig for food, eating termites,
ants and assorted
invertebrates
Have long mucus
covered tongues
MARSUIALS
Offspring born prematurely
Baby crawls to
mother’s mammary
gland in a pouch
Finishes gestation at the
mother’s teat
Left and right side of brain are
not connected
10
Epipubic bones are
usually present
Right aortic arch is absent and
red blood cells lack nuclei
Herbivores
Examples: kangaroo,
opossum, Tasmanian
devil, koala
Live primarily in Australia,
Tasmania, and New Guinea
Opossums
Feed after dark
Have a gestation period of
only 11 to 12 weeks
Young weigh 1/5 of a gram
when born
Kangaroo
More than 50 kinds
Largest up to 6.5 feet
Wombats
Grow to 3 ft and weigh 88
pounds
Tunnel through the ground
Powerful digging
muscles
Koalas
Tree dwelling
Only eat eucalyptus
leaves
Not related to bears
Big claws for climbing
Males have scent
glands on chest to
communicate with
other animals
PLACENTALS
Entire gestation is inside the
mother
Young are well
developed at birth
Embryo is fed from the
mothers body
16 orders
11
Chiroptera: Bats
Second largest order of
mammals
Wide variety of teeth – based
on diet
Examples fruit types
and vampire types
Only flying mammals
Most see by echolocation
Fly at speeds up to
65 mph
Wing is a membrane attached
from forelimb to hind limb
Carnivore
All eat meat
On top of the food chain
Examples: lions, tiger, bears,
wolves cheetah
Pacific northwest is
carnivore territory
Canine teeth are prominent
Great sense of smell
Learned to adjust to
human presence
Ungulates
Hoofed mammals
All grazing animals
Flat grinding teeth
Special digestive chamber for
digesting plants (extra
stomach)
Toes encased in a
horny hoof
All are herbivores
Two families
12
Artiodactyla
Even number of toes
Antelope deer, pigs, hippos,
camels
Perissodactyla
Odd number of toes
Horses, zebras, rhinos, tapirs
Rodentia
Includes beavers, chipmunks,
mice, porcupines, squirrel
Produce large litters each year
or more often
Large incisors that
continue to grow
throughout life
Have no canine teeth
Largest class of mammals and
most successful
Largest class of
mammals and most
successful
Most are omnivores
Cetaceans
Smallest: dolphins
and porpoises
largest: whales
Fastest: bull Orcas
Longest flippers: humpback
whale
Narwhal has the
biggest teeth
Sperm whale dives the
deepest
All must come out of water to
breathe
Blowholes identify
them
Use echo-location to navigate
and communicate
Must breathe air
Live in family groups
called pods
Serena
Means mermaid-like
appearance (inspired by
manatees when seen from
ships)
13
Examples: manatees
and dugong
Herbivores
Small bones
Live entire life in
water but must come
u for air
Can live up to 60 years
Slow moving, barrel-like
bodies with flipper-like
forelimbs and no hind limbs
Gentle animals
Endangered.
Proboscides
Elephants: African
and Indian
Extinct: mammoths and
mastodons
Largest land animals
Muscular boneless
trunks for spraying
water, carrying food
smelling lifting
Tusks are extra long incisors
on upper jaw
Large ears
Thick skin
Primates
Example: humans, apes,
monkeys
All have opposable
thumbs
Binocular vision with eyes
facing forward
Usually no more than three
offspring per year
Visual acuity and
color perception
Fingernails as opposed to
claws
Nearly all live in tropical or
subtropical parts of the world
Dermoptera (gliding
lemurs)
Membrane from neck to fore
paws to back feet to tail
Don’t fly – they glide from tree
to tree
14
Live in trees
Diet is fruit and leaves
Nocturnal
Endangered
Also called colugo
Insectivores
Moles and shrews
All eat ONLY insects
Sharp claws and teeth
Pointed noses used
to catch insects
Edentates
Giant anteaters, armadillos
and tree sloths
Have NO teeth but
still feed on insects
Lagomorphs
Hares, rabbits and pikas
Have long ears
Powerful hind legs
Clawed toes are herbivores
Teeth different from
rodents
Can gnaw or chew with mouth
closed
One large rodent-like tooth
with another peg-like tooth
15