Michael Hawkins, Age 10, Of Mebane, N.C.., for his question:

How many animals belong in the mummal group?

Suppose a noah's ark train arrived in burlington, n.c.., carrying one of each kind of mammal in the world. When the excitemlent died down, naturally everyone would want to adopt this one or that one. And every family in town could have its own individual mammal.

Burlington, NC.,, is home to more than 24,000 people. These peop1e would make up some 6000 family units of two parents and two children. There are some 12,000 different mammals in the world    which is two for each human family. The browns could adopt a whale and a mouse, the smiths could have a bat and an armadillo, the bakers could make pet of a lion and a lamb.

We think of the mammals as being very different from all the other animals. And so they are. We think of the mammals as being very much like each other. It is true that they sham certain features, but the differences between them are astounding. The giant, sea going blue whale tips the scales at around 150 tons while the mousy little shrew weighs no more than a dime. The came1 copes with the scorching desert, the polar bear thrives in the frigid arctic. The mole burrows under the ground while the bat flies through the air like a bird. there are about one million members of the animal kingdom, and half of them are Bugs. The mammals are backboned animals, but so are almost half a million other Creatures, including snakes and lizards, birds and fishes. The mammals breathe air, but So do many other vertebrate animals, such as toads and snakes. The mammals are warm blooded animals, but so are all the birds. No other animals, however, have Hair though the hair of some mammals is hardly recognizable.

The armadillo is armor plated like a tortoise, yet he is a mammal. The porcupine is spiked with prickles like a sea urchin, yet he is a mammal. The bat flies like a bird, the seal swims better than many fishes and the platypus lays eggs somewhat like the eggs of a snake. Yet all these animals are mammals.

All mammals, however, have one feature that sets them apart from all other members of the animal kingdom. Every baby mammal is fed on mother's milk and nursed at its mother's breast. Even the infant platypus who hatches from a round, soft shel1ed egg is fed on a formula of mother's milk.

Fishes, snakes and other non mammals can lay their eggs and leave them to take their chances in the hungry world. But the mother mammal and her babies must be very close. Often both parents lavish loving affection upon the furry youngsters long after they have outgrown the need for mother’s milk. Most mammal parents tend and protect their growing children and spend patient weeks and even years educating them to be proper bears or lions, porcupines or armadillos.