Studying mammals: A winning design

The term mammal encompasses a huge variety of animals, including humans. But what makes a mammal a mammal? This free course, Studying mammals: A winning design, explores some of the features, such as reproduction, lactation and thermoregulation methods, that mammals have in common. It is the first in a series of ten Studying mammals courses.NOTE: The Studying mammals series is gradually being updated and replaced. You can study an improved freestanding version of this course, titled Introducing mammals, here:https://www.open.edu/openlearn/nature-environment/introducing-mammals/content-section-0

• Introduction
• Learning outcomes
• 1 Overview
• 1 Overview
• 2 How should we think of monotremes?
• 2 How should we think of monotremes?
• 3 Reproduction in marsupials
• 3 Reproduction in marsupials
• 4 Milk production (lactation)
• 4 Milk production (lactation)
• 5 Metabolism and body temperature
• 5 Metabolism and body temperature
• 5.1 Warm-blooded vs cold-blooded
• 5.2 Metabolism
• 5.3 Heat production
• 5.4 Coping with heat
• 6 Thermoregulation and mammalian fur
• 6 Thermoregulation and mammalian fur
• 7 What's special about placental mammals?
• 7 What's special about placental mammals?
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements