me in the I'm Ada Osprey Senior Librarian of the Eagle Eyed Explorer Club Years ago the club recruited me as one of its special agents code mame Agent Osprey Most days you'll find basement of the library organizing the atlases But I always keep my rucksack at the ready in case the club needs me for one of its urgent missions I never know when to expect a call 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 12 11 9 My latest mission is not only top secret but very dangerous so keep it hush hush The club has ordered me to file a report on the entire history of mammals as soon as possible It looks like I'll need to go back millions of years in time 4
SUPERASER EXPLORATIONS EXPLORER MAMMALS ON EARTH HAPPENED I'll need to fill out a Journal to keep track of my discoveries I'm also drawing up a Timeline to show the life story of mammals from their ancient ancestors to the present day No time to waste Are you feeling brave Let's go 5
EAGLE EYED LIBRARY 1 WHAT ARE MAMMALS What does a wolf have to do with a walrus What’s the link between a monkey and a mouse How can a cheetah be related to a bottlenose dolphin It’s our job to find out the answers to all these questions as we explore mammals Scaly ancestors The ancient ancestors of modern mammals didn’t look much like the furry creatures which roam the Earth today 280 million years ago huge Dimetrodon plodded through the undergrowth on the hunt for prey Giant sails waggled on their backs as they chased down reptiles to eat Dimetrodon were enormous lizard like creatures They could grow over 12ft-long with scaly skin and snouts full of sharp teeth They were part of an animal group called synapsids which includes the ancestors of the mammals we know today Long before the dinosaurs existed these synapsids were Earth’s top land predators The ancestors of mammals 6 But then came the worst extinction the world has ever seen Extinction is when species die out completely During this period the climate began to change rapidly Nine out of 10 species died out Lots of synapsids went extinct but one group clung on through the disaster They were much smaller than hefty predators like Dimetrodon and some of them even had fur and whiskers Over time these animals developed into the first mammals around 200 million years ago Today mammals can be found deep in the oceans and on every continent except Antarctica survived the extinction DIMETRODON
All in order But what are mammals Where do they live and how do they survive Mammals live in all sorts of different habitats on dry land in the sea even in the air Some have shaggy fur others have smooth skin Some eat meat some eat plants some will eat anything To make sense of this variety scientists put mammals into special groups Many meat eating mammals are put in a big group called Carnivora To make things even clearer scientists put different members of Carnivora into smaller groups One type of a smaller group is a genus Canis is the genus which includes wolves and dogs for example But not all wolves and dogs are the same either so scientists break the groups down again into species Creatures in a species all share similar characteristics One species can’t breed with another Canis lupus is the species name for the gray wolf Canis tells us this creature is a wolf or a dog and lupus tells us precisely which species MAMMAL GROUP CARNIVORA EXPLORER NOTES This large mammal group contains many meat eating predators CARNIVORA Feliforms Hyenas mongooses tigers lions and other cats Caniforms Wolves dogs foxes bears and seals Evolution But how are mammals related to scaly Dimetrodon in the first place Evolution is the process where all living things change over thousands of years These changes happen slowly when a new generation is born The babies may have more fur than their parents for example or sharper claws Some changes can help them survive When they reproduce their own babies may have the same features These features are called adaptations Warm fur sharp teeth and keen eyesight are just a few adaptations that may help mammals to survive Over thousands of years entirely new species can evolve This is how completely new types of animal might develop from creatures like Dimetrodon Mammals have evolved into lots of different species discover about more to page the Turn what makes mammals special 7
