Wild Animals

The Animal World in Pictures Order Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates) Giraffes Roosevelt Elk Types of Goats Types of Pigs Order Carnivora (carnivores) Pictures of Bears Wild Cats Types of Tigers Long-tailed Weasel Raccoon Red Panda Bearded Seal California Sea Lion Elephant Seal Harbor Seal Sea Otter Stellar Sea Lion Order Cetacea (dolphins, porpoises, whales) Bottlenose Dolphin Types of Whales Order Cingulata (armadillos) Nine-banded Armadillo Order Didelphimorphia Opposum Order Lagomorpha (rabbits and hares) Types of Rabbits Order Primates (primates) Monkey Pictures Order Rodentia (rodents) Squirrel Pictures

The term animals generally refers to members of the Class Mammalia, better known as mammals, and defined by their shared physical characteristics of body hair (at some point in time) and mammary glands, to produce milk for their young.

Scientists organize their thinking and research about mammals by further dividing them into orders, or groups, that share additional physical characteristics. Depending on the source used, anywhere from twenty six to twenty nine orders of mammals live on earth constituting approximately 5,500 species.

Some mammal orders are better known that others, and from a cultural perspective, some mammal orders are more revered than others.

Rodentia or rodents (approximately 2,200 species) and Chiorptera or bats (approximately 1,100 species) are the two largest mammal orders, constituting around sixty percent of all mammal species.

Proboscidea or elephants (3 species) and Sirenia or manatees (5 species) are the two smallest mammal orders.

Many of the larger animals of the world, bears, big cats, primates and elephants, for example, are endangered, with habitat loss commonly cited at the major stress factor. The article Endangered Species provides background information on the topic.

Dealing with endangered species on a global level presents coordination difficulties, often because of cultural, economic and insitutional differences among states.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is the global fourm created to help deal with coordination problems. The article Elephants, Ivory Trade and CITES provides a good example of how member states work to save a species.

The articles covering:

• Endangered Bats Face Many Problems
• Bear Research: URSUS Review
• Bear Safety
• Black Bear Hunting in New Jersey
• Canadian Lynx Research Hijinks
• Endangered Primates
• Mountain Lions Roaring Back in the United States
• Northern Flying Squirrel
• Snakehead Fish Watch

address species survival from different points of view.

© 2009 Patricia A. Michaels