Mammals Of Utah PDF Download

Excerpt from Mammals of Utah Constituting the highest class of vertebrates, the Mammalia includes man and all other warm-blooded animals that nourish their young with milk. They are (except the monotremes) viviparous; that is, their young are brought forth alive as distinguished from existence as eggs. In all except the cetaceans the skin is covered with hair, which is the outgrowth of the epidermis only and contains neither blood vessels nor nerves. The class possesses, moreover, these noticeable characters; "mammary glands; the mandible articulating directly with the squamosal; the ankle joint when present crurotarsal; a chain of small separate ear bones; brain with four optic lobes; a muscular diaphragm separating the heart and lungs from the abdominal cavity; a left aortic arch only; and red blood corpuscles without nuclei (except in the fetus)." Some mammals such as whales, manatees and seals, are aquatic; the bats are aerial; but most are either terrestrial or arboreal. A semi-arid, mountainous, inland region like Utah is favorable, to only the terrestrial and aerial forms. As probably the highest aim of knowledge is the welfare of mankind, the ascertainment of the economic status of our various wild mammals must at all times be of primary importance. As closely related species and even genera may have almost identical food habits, it is deemed advisable to give here a resume under broad groups of the habits of our mammals as they benefit or injure man. Of the Ungulata, or hoofed quadrupeds, elk, mule, deer, moose, mountain sheep and prong-horned antelopes, subsist on vegetation gathered in wild, uncultivated regions; and hence are in no sense harmful. When under protective laws that happy time is reached when the white-tailed deer or even the elk become so tame and numerous that they do eat cultivated crops to some extent (a condition which actually obtains in some of the most thickly populated Eastern states) prompt reimbursement can and should be made by the state legislature. The food value of these animals is so high that the most casual observer should not only appreciate it but also actively engage in encouraging the increase of animals valuable both as food and as a constant stimulus to that physical recreation which the average American too truly needs. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.