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Mammals

What are mammals? Without going into a lot of explanation, they are a family made up of many species that have adapted to survive in very different environments. Some, like the squirrel, are primarily arboreal, meaning they live in trees. Moles and shrews, meanwhile, spend a good amount of their time underground. Others, like the beaver and muskrat, have adapted to spend most of their time in the water (non-midwestern mammals like the dolphin spend all their time there.) Mammals are so diverse, in fact, that there's only a few traits they hold in common:

• All mammals are warm-blooded, meaning they can generate their own body heat (some animals, like reptiles and amphibians, rely solely on the sun or ambient temperature of their surroundings.)
• All mammals have spines.
• All mammals have hair.
• Most mammals give birth to live young (instead of laying eggs).

Beaver, American Bison Brown Bat Chipmunk, Eastern Deer, White-tailed Fox, Red Mouse, White-footed Muskrat, Common Opossum, Virginia Otter, River Prairie Dog Raccoon Rabbit, Cottontail Squirrel, Gray Squirrel, Red     Woodchuck

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