Mammal Diversity and Evolution

This four-credit course focuses on the anatomical and taxonomic diversity of mammals in an evolutionary context. The emphasis is on living (extant) mammals, but extinct mammals are also discussed. Weekly meetings include two student-led seminars (Tu/Th from 2:30-3:45 PM) and one lab (Wednesday from 3:20-6:00 pm). There is also one weekend field trip to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. The course satisfies a laboratory requirement for the biology major and is an approved elective for the evolutionary biology major. BIOL 214 (Genes, Evolution and Ecology) is a prerequisite. It is offered as ANAT 345 and BIOL 345 (undergraduates) and ANAT 445 (graduate students). Upon completion of this course, a student will be able to:

describe the key anatomical and physiological features of mammals
name and describe all orders and most families of living mammals
identify an unknown mammal skull to order and family
explain how to create and interpret a phylogenetic tree
discuss major historical patterns in mammal diversity and biogeography as revealed by the fossil record
read and critique a scientific paper dealing with mammal evolution

A detailed course syllabus is available here.

Online resources developed for this course:

List of mammal orders and families with recordings of their pronunciation
Photographic database of mammal skulls (CWRU community only)

Other useful mammal web sites (suggestions welcome)

Animal Diversity Web (U. of Michigan): lots of information on specific taxa plus general information on teeth, bones, etc.
Digimorph (U. of Texas): NSF-supported site with digitally rendered CT images of many animals, including mammals
ESkeletons (U. of Texas): NSF-supported site with photos of primate postcranial bones and some skulls
Extreme Mammals (American Museum of Natural History): an excellent exhibit highlighting mammalian diversity
Fauna of Australia: Mammals (Australian Government): PDFs of Australian mammal families with nice images and references
Lists of Mammal Species
- How many species of mammals are there? 2018 list published by Burgin et al. (Journal of Mammalogy open access)
- Mammal Diversity Database (American Society of Mammalogists): Includes searchable database and comparisons of different compilations.
- Mammal Species of the World (Bucknell): taxonomy of extant mammal species based on 2005 Wilson and Reeder compilation. Includes detailed taxonomic notes.
Mammal Crania (Dokkyo U.): photo archive with lots of mammal crania, many of very high resolution
Mammal Image Library (American Society of Mammalogists): many excellent mammal photos
Ohio Mammals (Ohio DNR): nice descriptions of Ohio’s more common mammals
Tooth Morphology: good pictures and explanations of teeth from the Animal Diversity Web (see above)
Will’s Skull Page (individual): lots of good mammal skull photos (many of British mammals) and descriptions