MAMMALS

MAMMALS (Mammalia), a class of vertebrates. There are about 20 orders known with more than 4500 species. In the RB there are 85 species of 6 orders (rodents, hares, insectivores, artiodactyla, chirop- tera and carnivores). Their bodies, have the length of 4 cm to a few meters, is covered with fur. They have numerous body parts and glands. Warm‑blooded animals which take care of their offspring. At the onset of unfavorable conditions some species fall into winter hibernation (marmots, ground squirrels) or long sleep (brown bear), and make seasonal migrations (pipistrelles). They eat animal and plant food. Terrestrial, sub‑terrestrian, aquatic and semiaquatic animals. M. are the important component of ecosystems. Many domestic (sheep, goats, pigs), laboratory (rats, mice), game (wolf, white rabbit, wild boar, moose, etc), and fur (ordinary squirrel, river beaver, raccoon dogs, pine marten, mink, etc) animals are M. Some species cause damage to the farming industry, transmit human and animal infections. There are 18 M. species included in The Red List of the RB (brown bats, marals, pipistrelles, etc), Russian musk‑rat is also included in The Red List of the RF.