Animals

The mammals that I have chosen are hyraxes and marsupials. These two mammals come from two different classes of mammals one being hyraxes come from the hyracoidean and the marsupials come from metatheria. Hyraxes are jack-rabbit sized animals with short tails and peculiar, 3-toed hind feet with almost hoof-like nails on two of the toes; the inner toe has a claw. The forefeet have 5 toes. The marsupials today are mostly found in Central and South America and Australasia are all together there is about 270 species. In Australia were rhinoceros-sized marsupial herbivores, kangaroos nearly 10 feet tall and carnivorous lion-like forms with shearing teeth and retractile claws. In South America, where parallel radiations of large placental herbivores may have denied these herbivorous niches to marsupials, marsupials filled many carnivore niches and many rodent-like forms. In searching these two mammals I found that there was no characteristics that are shared between these two mammals other than they are both mammals. The differences in these two mammals are: the hyraxes have only seven species and the marsupials have two hundred and seventy. Then the hyraxes eat leaves, bark, grass, and insects and the marsupials are omnivore, insectivore, carnivores, and herbivores. The hyraxes are in the Hyracoidea order and the marsupials are in the Metatheria infraclass. The insects that I have chosen are beetles and mayflies. The beetle has the largest number of known species and about 40% of insects are beetles. The mayfly has several different species and live all over the world although from country to country its different species. Both the beetle and the mayfly can live on land or in the water they also both lay eggs when it is time to reproduce and the mayfly can lay their eggs in the water and they can last up to a year. The beetles have over 400,000 species and the may fly has about 2,500 with about 630 in North America. The beetle can live up to weeks and even years depending on the species and the mayfly can only live up to one day. The beetle is in the Coleoptera order and the mayfly is in the Ephemeroptera order. The birds that I have chosen are pelicans and penguins. The pelican is a large water bird and has a large pouch under its mouth and has eight different species. The penguin is also an aquatic bird but in different climates and has 17 to 20 different species. The pelican and the penguin both eat mainly fish but the penguin also eats crustaceans. The pelicans are found on all continents while the penguin is found mainly in Antarctica. The pelican likes warmer climates while the penguin likes it colder. The pelican is both in the water and on land and so is the penguin. The pelican is Pelecaniformes order and the penguin is in the Sphenisciformes order.