Fischer Technical Company™ Mammals Poster Set of 4, Laminated

Description

• Includes four 24 x 36 in
• content intensive laminated posters
• Titles included: Primates, Carnivora, Ungulates, and Marsupials
• A251 Primates - This order includes the lemurs, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes
• Most live in tropical or subtropical regions of the Americas, Africa, and Asia
• Fossil evidence indicates that Plesiadapis may have been their ancient ancestor
• It looked somewhat like a squirrel, and it lived in North America and Europe around 55 million years ago
• Scientists have long recognized that the animals in this group are still evolving
• This is reflected in the classification system that divides the order or clade into two groups: (1) the primitive Prosimians, which have physical characteristics found in the earliest known species, including the lemurs, lorisiforms, aye-aye, and tarsiers; and (2) the more advanced simians, which include the monkeys and apes
• A252 Carnivora - Carnivore means meat-eater, and all of the animals in this order do just that
• The sole exception is the herbaceous panda, which, because of its physical features, is classified as a bear
• The animals in this order vary in size from the tiny Least Weasel (Mustela nivalis), at 0.88 ounces and 4.3 inches, to the huge Southern Elephant Seal (Mirounga leonina) at 11,000 pounds and 23 feet
• There are 13 families containing 260 species
• A253 Ungulates - Ungulates are hoofed animals
• Most use the tips of their toes to sustain their entire body weight while moving
• Under the Linnaeus classification system, all were originally classified into one order, Ungulata
• It was later split into two orders: (1) the Perissodactyla, or odd-toed ungulates, which includes horses, tapirs, and rhinoceri totaling 15 living species; and (2) the Artiodactyla, or eventoed ungulates
• It contains about 220 species that includes pigs, camels, hippopotamuses, chevrotains, deer, giraffes, sheep, goats, cattle, and America's unique pronghorn antelope, the sole species in its family
• There is controversy regarding classification
• Some scientists maintain that ungulates are a cladistic (evolution-based) group
• Others argue that they are a phenetic group or folk taxon (similar, but not necessarily related) because not all ungulates appear as closely related as once believed
• Whatever the outcome of this dispute, it is fairly certain that regardless of whatever classification system eventually prevails, it will almost surely contain the same species
• This poster is divided into two sections, one for each of the two orders
• Within them, all of the families are explored
• A254 Marsupials - Marsupials are a clade of mammals characterized by a distinctive pouch (called the marsupium) in which females carry their young through early infancy
• There are 334 species
• Around 200 are native to Australia and neighboring northern islands
• They include the most well-known, such as the kangaroos and the koala
• The 100 or so New World species are generally small animals
• There is only one marsupial native to North America, the Virginia Opossum
• No one knows how it got here.