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Discovering Mammals

A consortium of world-class academic and cultural institutions, Fathom creates high-quality online learning experiences. Developed with leading scholars and experts, Fathom content caters to your learning interests: from in-depth free seminars to shorter features, interviews and articles.

Learn more about hunters, tree-dwellers, and night-fliers, domesticated and wild species and intriguing mammal behavioural patterns in this collection of educational materials from Fathom.

Fathom's free seminars are in-depth learning experiences crafted around learning objectives and often accompanied by instructional video, slideshows, interactives or action points. Click on a link below to begin your learning experience:
A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals by Juliet Clutton-Brock, Cambridge University Press and The Natural History Museum Animals have always played a part in human society. At various times and places in history, some wild mammals formed particularly close relationships with human populations resulting in a range of biological and behavioural changes due to the process known as domestication. This process has significantly altered the lifestyles of both the mammals that were domesticated, and the humans that domesticated them. In this seminar Juliet Clutton-Brock explores the progress that has been made in understanding the origins of domestication and its spread, both biologically and culturally, across the world.	Behavioural Development in the Cat by Patrick Bateson, Cambridge University Press The cat is a much loved and well-known animal. In Western countries it has become one of the most popular pets, whilst on farms, its talent for catching rodents has been appreciated for centuries. Loved and familiar though the cat is, it remains an enigma. In Rudyard Kipling's phrase, the cat 'walks by himself', readily accepting the comforts of the human home and yet behaving as though its independence were total. In this seminar, Patrick Bateson analyses how kittens are affected by their social environments, what they learn from other individuals, and how development may be affected by alternative circumstances to the norm.
Mountain Gorillas of the Virungas by K. J. Stewart, P. Sicotte, and M. M. Robbins, Cambridge University Press For the past three decades the mountain gorillas of the Karisoke Research Center have been the subjects of many studies of their behavior and ecology. Mountain gorillas have also become the focus of intense conservation efforts which have become a model for conservation programs elsewhere. In this seminar, Kelly J. Stewart, Pascale Sicotte and Martha M. Robbins, who have all in their time carried out field research at Karisoke, chronicle the dramatic story of the center and its gorilla subjects. Founded by Dian Fossey in the late 1960s, Karisoke became one of the most successful primate study sites in the world in the 1970s, although its subjects were threatened by human incursion into their territories and the activities of poachers.	The Secret Life of Bats by Phil Richardson, The Natural History Museum Of the world's 4,800 or so species of mammals, nearly 1,000--almost one in five--are bats. They vary in size from minuscule, almost butterfly-sized creatures, to huge animals with wingspans of nearly two metres. Although they are linked in many people's minds with scary films, the truth about these amazing creatures' lives is very different. In this seminar, Phil Richardson, chairman of the Bat Conservation Trust in the UK, goes behind the scenes and reveals that bats have a complex lifestyle, a rich social life and senses that are almost beyond our comprehension.

Fathom works with the members of its consortium, such as Columbia University, the Natural History Museum, UK, Cambridge University Press and The New York Public Library to create free features, including interviews with faculty members and originally authored content.

BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition

by BBC Wildlife Magazine and The Natural History Museum

William MacGillivray: The Life and Art of a Forgotten Genius

by Harry J. Jerison, The Natural History Museum

The Genius of Joseph Wolf, Father of Modern Wildlife Art

by Jane Mainwaring, The Natural History Museum

Olly and Suzy Untamed

by Olly & Suzi, The Natural History Museum

A Nation of Herders

by Morris Rossabi, Columbia University

The Animal In Contemporary Art

by Steve Baker, The Natural History Museum

In Favor of Animal Consciousness

by Donald R. Griffin, University of Chicago Press

An Introduction to Illustrated Zoologies

by Miriam T. Gross, The New York Public Library

Human-Animal Relations in the Era of Postdomesticity

by Richard W. Bulliet, Columbia University

The Link Between Environmental Contamination and Animal Susceptibility

by Tracey Crago, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The Evolution of Modern Humans

by Chris Stringer, The Natural History Museum

African Primate Conservation

by John F. Oates, Columbia University

The Game of Evolution

by Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart, Cambridge University Press

Animal Diversity Web

by Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan

Sir David Attenborough presents the biggest ever wildlife series devoted entirely to mammals. The Life of Mammals website includes in-depth articles and behind-the scenes stories, plus games, competitions and webcams. The Life of Mammals is a BBC One 2002 programme.