EVOLUTION OF MAMMALS

• They have backbone

• Warm blood and a constant body temperature

• High metabolic rate and unique homeostatic mechanisms that

go with it

• Mammalian brain are large

• Distinctive method of reproduction, including lactation

• Powerful jaw and a set of relatively durable teeth

 How mammals evolved

• 10 mya reptiles started to differentiate

• Various group evolved including group of animals called

mammals like reptiles

• Oldest reptiles having mammal-like feature ”synapsids”

• Synapsids occur in rocks of Pennsylvanian age about 305mya

• First mammals appear until late Triassic time about 210mya

 First Mammals
• Small insectivorous, nocturnal, hairy and warm-blood

• Evolved towards the end of the Triassic period from therapsid

• They went extinct in the mid-Jurassic period

• Some therapsid had evolved various proto-mammalian traits

 How did mammals evolve after extinction of
dinosaurs?

• After the mass extinction of dinosaurs and other life forms

• Mammal evolution did not happen gradually, but in fits and

start

• 54mya, during the tertiary period (approximately 65m to

3mya) mammals evolve rapidly

• Ancestor of porpoises, dolphins and whales populated the

ocean

• Early hoofed mammals ancestor of horse, pigs and sheep

roamed on land
• Three groups of modern-day mammals arose from a common
therian ancestor

• Monogram's became distinct about 170mya

• Marsupials evolved as a distinct line between 100-150mya

• Eutherian mammals (placental mammals) evolved rapidly

between about 100mya and 60mya