MAMMALS OF THE UPPER TEXAS COAST SO WHAT IS A MAMMAL? Have Backbones Warm Blooded Breath Air Nurse Young Have Hair Mammal Facts First Mammals arose 200 million years ago
About 4500 different species worldwide
Range from a shrew of 2inches to a whale of more then 120 feet in length Orders of Texas Mammals Order Didelphimorphia (opossum) Order Insectivora (shrews and moles) Order Chiroptera (bats) Order Xenarthra (armadillos) Order Lagomorpha (hares and rabbits) Order Rodentia (rodents) Order Carnivora (carnivores) Order Pinnipedia (seals) Order Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates) Order Sirenia (manatee) Order Cetacea (whales, porpoises, and dolphins) Virginia Opossum
Least and Short-Tailed (v) Shrew Eastern Mole Bats – 7species ? Eastern Pipistrelle Big Brown Bat Eastern Red Bat Hoary Bat Southern Yellow Bat Evening Bat Brazilian Free-tailed Bat 6% Nine-banded Armadillo Hansen’s 1 in 6 Nine-banded Armadillo 1914
Swamp Rabbit Eastern Cottontail Rabbit Black-tailed Jackrabbit Precocial vs.altricial Eastern Fox Squirrel Eastern Gray Squirrel Eastern Gray Squirrel Thirteen Lined Ground Squirrel Southern Flying Squirrel Southern Flying Squirrel 4:1 American Beaver Other Rodents Coyote Grey Fox Red Fox Red Fox Elephant Raccoon Raccoon Stripped Skunk
Spotted Skunk River Otter Mink Bobcat
White-tailed Deer 3.6 M TX
Marine Mammals
Caribbean Monk Seal West Indian Manatee 9 species of Dolphin 17 species of Whale
Many based on one documented sighting Introduced Mammals Nutria 1940 Feral Hogs 2.6 M Feral Cats
Outdoor and feral cats kill between 1.3 billion and 4.0 billion birds in a year in U.S. - Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute Humans 27M TX, 2x 35 yrs Extirpated Mammals Cougar Jaguar Ocelot Ringtail Red Wolf Red Wolf Bison Black Bear Muskrat Questions?