Mammals
Although mammals represent less than 10 percent of all living vertebrates (animals with backbones), they are perhaps the most diverse in both their body forms and the environments they inhabit. Some mammals fly, some live exclusively in trees or underground, and some never leave the water during their entire lives. More than ninety species of mammals inhabit Georgia, from the coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean to the mountains of northeast Georgia at elevations of more than 4,700 feet. Georgia's mammals range in size from the pygmy shrew, weighing less than one-quarter of an ounce, to the North Atlantic right whale, capable of weighing as much as 100 tons. Many mammals familiar to people, such as the white-tailed deer, live in the state; however about half of the area's mammals are rodents or bats, which are seldom seen and often unknown to most people.
Although mammals represent less than 10 percent of all living vertebrates (animals with backbones), they are perhaps the most diverse in both their body forms and the environments they inhabit. Some mammals fly, some live exclusively in trees or underground, and some never leave the water during their entire lives. More than ninety species of mammals inhabit Georgia, from the coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean to the mountains of northeast Georgia at elevations of more than 4,700 feet. Georgia's mammals range in size from the pygmy shrew, weighing less than one-quarter of an ounce, to the North Atlantic right whale, capable of weighing as much as 100 tons. Many mammals familiar to people, such as the white-tailed deer, live in the state; however about half of the area's mammals are rodents or bats, which are seldom seen and often unknown to most people.
