What are Mammals? Mammals
are the animals most familiar to people. More than 400 mammal species are native to North
America and 88 are found in Kansas. Mammals are the only animals that have hair and feed
young with mother's milk. Other characteristics include being warm-blooded, having a
backbone, jaws with teeth and a four-chambered heart. Although large mammals may be the
most well known, the small and secretive species are the most abundant.
How are Mammals
classified? All mammals belong to the Class Mammalia. Within Kansas
are found representatives of eight Orders: Didelphimorphia (opossums), Insectivora (shrews
and moles), Chiroptera (bats), Xenartha (armadillos), Lagomorpha (rabbits, hares and
pikas), Rodentia (rodents), Carnivora (carnivores) and Artiodactyla (even-toed
ungulates).
A complete checklist of Kansas's mammals is found below. You may also download a
pdf version by clicking on this icon 
(97K).
This checklist is revised and updated from "A Checklist of the Vertebrate
Animals of Kansas" by George D. Potts, Joseph T. Collins and Kate Shaw, published by
Kansas Biological Survey (1999). The common and scientific names used for each species are
from the Revised Checklist of North American Mammals North of Mexico, 2003 by Baker et
al., published by the Museum of Texas Tech University, Occasional Papers Number 229
(2003).
The Mammal's Den
highlights 40 of the most visible and common species from this list. Click on the
links to learn more about them.
( * = Non-native T = Threatened E
= Endangered X = Extirpated from the wild )
