The science of Mammalogy

1
The science of Mammalogy

• A very brief history
• chapters 1 and 2

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Age of Exploration and Discovery1700s to early
1800s

• The very strange animals in Australia
• No country ever produced a more extraordinary
  assemblage of indigenous productions 1818-1822
• In this remote part of the earth, Nature (having
  made horses, oxen, ducks, geese, oaks, elms, and
  all regular productions for the rest of the
  world) seems determined to have a bit of play,
  and to amuse herself as she pleases 1819

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Examplethe duck-billed platypusOrnithorhynchus
anatinus
egg-laying mammal??
venemous spur
bird-like bill

• Was this a real animal, or a hoax??
• first specimens to European museums - 1799

4
North American MammalogyStage 1 mammalogy as
discoveryLewis and Clark expedition1803-1806

• Discovered a Village of Small animals that
  burrow in the grown...Killed one and Caught one a
  live by poreing a great quantity of Water in his
  hole we attempted to dig to the beds of one of
  those animals, after digging 6 feet, found by
  running a pole down that we were not half way to
  his Lodge...The Village of those animals Covd.
  about 4 acres of Ground...and Contains great
  numbers of holes on the top of which those little
  animals Set erect, make a Whistleing noise and
  whin allarmed Step into their hole. we pord into
  one of those holes 5 barrels of Water without
  filling it.

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Black-tailed prairie dogCynomys ludovicianus

• a keystone species of enormous ecological
  importance in short-grass prairie ecosystems

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North American MammalogyStage 2 mammalogy as
resources

• Trappers
• Fur Traders
• Whalers

Beaver Castor canadensis another keystone
species of enormous ecological importance in
riparian ecosystems
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North American MammalogyStage 3 mammalogy as
add-ons to expeditions with other objectives

• Army and Railroad Survey Expeditions
• Spencer Baird 1859, General Report on
• North American Mammals
• Edgar Mearns 1907, Mammals of the
• Mexican Boundary of the United States

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North American MammalogyStage 4 mammalogy as
systematic inventories

• Bureau of Biological Survey
• C. Hart Merriam 1889,
• North American Fauna series began
• Vernon Bailey 1891, Death Valley Expedition
  (including Las Vegas Valley)
• Nelson and Goldman 1922, Lower California and
  its Natural Resources (from 1905-1906 expeditions)

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North American MammalogyStage 4 mammalogy as
systematic inventories

• Bureau of
• Biological
• Survey
• Vernon Bailey, C. Hart Merriam, T.S. Palmer, A.K.
  Fisher

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North American MammalogyStage 4 mammalogy as
systematic inventories

• Bureau of
• Biological
• Survey

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North American MammalogyStage 5 mammalogy as
science

• American Society of Mammalogists - 1919
• Journal of Mammalogy

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North American MammalogyStage 6 modern mammalogy
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Lecture, Textbook, other resources

• Always attend the lecture
• Supplement the lecture with the text and other
  resources
• Syllabus Organization
• first part Evolution, Biogeography
• second part Taxonomically, by clades
• Core chapters (11-20)
• Chapters with additional information

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Evolution of Modern Mammalsfundamental key
innovations that define a mammal

• cranial
• locomotor
• physiology
• central nervous system
• sensory
• reproduction

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Mammals vs. ReptilesMetabolic Rate
Nagy 2005
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Mammals vs. ReptilesHair
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Mammals vs. ReptilesReproduction
Placenta
Mammary Glands
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Mammals vs. ReptilesBrain Size
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Evolution of Modern Mammals

• First mammals were very small
• what does body size suggest about key
  innovations in the evolution of mammals?
• First topic for next week...