What do you have in common with your hamster, a whale, a bat, a giraffe, and the kid who packs your groceries? Everyone is a mammal — a hairy, warm-blooded, milk-drinking vertebrate, just like you.
- Pronunciation: /ˈmæməl/
- English Description: a type of animal that drinks milk from its mother's body when it is young. Humans, dogs, and whales are mammals.
- Chinese Translation: 哺乳动物(Bu3 Ru3 Dong4 Wu4)
- Spanish Translation: mamíferos
- STORY: All mammals are part of the scientific class mammalian, which got its name from the mammary glands used to nourish mammal babies. A note of interest: although a characteristic of mammals is that babies are born live, there’s a group of mammals called monotremes, like the platypus, that lay eggs; but whose young’uns, after they hatch, still get fed mama’s milk. Go figure.
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
- The insect lives on small mammals and birds.