Page 46 - Mammal (DK Eyewitness)

Keeping clean

The mammal’s furry coat is fine for keeping the animal warm
and dry. But it is a dirt trap, and a paradise for parasites,
which feed on shed skin or the nutritious blood flowing just
beneath. Licking, scratching, combing, shaking, wallowing,
bathing, rubbing, picking, and nibbling are some of the
techniques that mammals use to maintain personal hygiene,
reduce the risks of disease, and ensure any wounds are kept
YOU SCRATCH MY BACK...
clean as they heal. Many animals clean themselves, but social Social grooming in baboons not only keeps
grooming, where one these mammals clean, it also establishes each
individual cleans animal’s position in the group.
another of the same species, is widespread among
mammals. Social grooming has several functions.
One of course is cleanliness: a helper can more
easily reach those awkward places such as the neck
and back. Another is social organization: dominant
individuals may demand to be groomed by lower-
ranking ones. Grooming also spreads the group’s
scent to all members,
allowing them to
identify each
other and
ATTENTIVE MOTHER
Young mammals cannot clean pick out
themselves, especially baby rodents, which are born intruders.
naked and helpless (p. 32). This mother hamster is licking
her offspring clean. Its fur must be kept clean and dry; if it
gets damp, the fur lies flat and cannot trap body heat, The neck and
which for such a small animal means rapid cooling and top of the head
the risk of hypothermia (lowered body temperature). are cleaned by
the front paws

NOT A “DIRTY RAT”
Even a “dirty” animal
such as a rat spends much
time grooming its fur and
cleaning its skin. Rats kept
domestically are exceptionally
clean and make fine pets. The teeth act
as a comb to unsnag and brush out the fur,
Paws can reach and teeth and claws scratch off lice and dead skin.
difficult places Wild rats do carry parasites, especially fleas. In
Teeth are used to 1346-49, rat fleas that bit humans spread the bacteria
“comb” fur that caused the bubonic plague - the Black Death - in
which perhaps half the people in Europe died.

The rat finds a safe, quiet place in which to groom - it does not want
to be caught by a predator. It reaches around to its back and flanks,
cleaning by nibbling and combing.

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