Mammals Temporal range: See text PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Examples of various mammalian orders, click the image and scroll down for individual descriptions
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Infraphylum:	Gnathostomata
clade:	Eugnathostomata
clade:	Teleostomi
Superclass:	Tetrapoda
clade:	Amniota
clade:	Synapsida
Class:	Mammalia Linnaeus, 1758
Subgroups
Order Monotremata Clade Theriiformes Order †Triconodonta Order †Multituberculata Subclass Theria Infraclass Marsupialia Infraclass Placentalia

Mammals are members of class Mammalia ( /məˈmeɪli.ə/), air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young. Most mammals also possess sweat glands and specialised teeth. The largest group of mammals, the placentals, have a placenta which feeds the offspring during gestation. The mammalian brain, with its characteristic neocortex, regulates endothermic and circulatory systems, the latter featuring red blood cells lacking nuclei and a four-chambered heart. Mammals range in size from the 30–40 millimeter (1- to 1.5-inch) bumblebee bat to the 33-meter (108-foot) blue whale.

The word "mammal" is modern, from the scientific name Mammalia coined by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, derived from the Latin mamma ("teat, pap"). All female mammals nurse their young with milk, which is secreted from special glands, the mammary glands. According to Mammal Species of the World, which is updated through periodic editions, 5,676 species were known in 2005. These were distributed in 1,229 genera, 153 families and 29 orders.^[1] In 2008 the IUCN completed a five-year, 17,000-scientist Global Mammal Assessment for its IUCN Red List, which counted 5488 accepted species at the end of that period.^[2] In some classifications, the class is divided into two subclasses (not counting fossils): the Prototheria (order of Monotremata) and the Theria, the latter composed of the infraclasses Metatheria and Eutheria. The marsupials are the crown group of the Metatheria and therefore include all living metatherians as well as many extinct ones; the placentals are likewise the crown group of the Eutheria.

The classification of mammals between the relatively stable class and family levels has changed often; different treatments of subclass, infraclass and order appear in contemporaneous literature, especially for Marsupialia. Much recent change has reflected the results of cladistic analysis and molecular genetics. Results from molecular genetics, for example, have led to the adoption of new groups such as the Afrotheria and the abandonment of traditional groups such as the Insectivora.

Except for the five species of monotremes (which lay eggs), all living mammals give birth to live young. Most mammals, including the six most species-rich orders, belong to the placental group. The three largest orders, in descending order, are Rodentia (mice, rats, porcupines, beavers, capybaras, and other gnawing mammals), Chiroptera (bats), and Soricomorpha (shrews, moles and solenodons). The next three largest orders, depending on the classification scheme used, are the primates, to which the human species belongs, the Cetartiodactyla (including the even-toed hoofed mammals and the whales), and the Carnivora (dogs, cats, weasels, bears, seals, and their relatives).^[1]

The early synapsid mammalian ancestors were sphenacodont pelycosaurs, a group that also included Dimetrodon. At the end of the Carboniferous period, this group diverged from the sauropsid line that led to today's reptiles and birds. Preceded by many diverse groups of non-mammalian synapsids (sometimes referred to as mammal-like reptiles), the first mammals appeared in the early Mesozoic era. The modern mammalian orders arose in the Paleogene and Neogene periods of the Cenozoic era.

Varying definitions, varying dates[link]

In an influential 1988 paper, Timothy Rowe defined Mammalia phylogenetically as the crown group mammals, the clade consisting of the most recent common ancestor of living monotremes (echidnas and platypuses) and therian mammals (marsupials and placentals) and all descendants of that ancestor.^[3] A broader phylogenetic definition was provided in a 2004 book by Kielan-Jaworowska, Cifelli, and Luo, who defined Mammalia as the clade originating with the most recent common ancestor, not only of the monotremes and the therians, but also of Sinoconodon, the morganucodonts, and the docodonts.^[4] The morganucodonts and the docodonts, included by Rowe in the unranked clade Mammaliaformes, had a widespread distribution in the northern continents and had many of the characteristics that traditionally would have classified them as mammals.^[5] In particular, some docodonts were furry.

Mammalia, considered as the crown group, appeared in the Pliensbachian age of the early Jurassic period.^[6] In the broader sense given to the term by Kielan-Jaworowska et al., the group arose in the Norian age in the middle of the Late Triassic.^[4] Finally, some writers consider Adelobasileus to be a mammal; as this animal lived in the Carnian age at the beginning of the Late Triassic, this would mean that mammals appeared even earlier.^[7] In any case, the temporal range of the group extends to the present day.

Distinguishing features[link]

Living mammal species can be identified by the presence of sweat glands, including those that are specialized to produce milk. In classifying fossils, however, other features must be used, since soft tissue glands and many other features are not visible in fossils.

Among the many traits shared by all living mammals, but not present in any of the early Triassic synapsids, are:

• Jaw joint - The dentary (the lower jaw bone which carries the teeth) and the squamosal (another small skull bone) meet to form the joint. In most gnathostomes, including early therapsids, the joint consists of the articular (a small bone at the back of the lower jaw) and the quadrate (a small bone at the back of the upper jaw).

• Middle ear - Sound is carried from the eardrum by a chain of three bones, the malleus, the incus, and the stapes. Ancestrally, the malleus and the incus are derived from the articular and the quadrate bones that constituted the jaw joint of early therapsids.

• Tooth replacement - Teeth are replaced once or (as in toothed whales and murid rodents) not at all, rather than being replaced continually throughout life.^[8]

• Prismatic enamel - The enamel coating on the surface of a tooth consists of prisms, solid, rod-like structures extending from the dentin to the tooth's surface.

• Occipital condyles - Two knobs at the base of the skull fit into the topmost neck vertebra; most tetrapods, in contrast, have only one such knob.

For paleontologists who define Mammalia phylogenetically, no limit can be set on the features used to distinguish the group. Any feature may be relevant to a fossil's phylogenetic position. Paleontologists defining Mammalia in terms of traits, on the other hand, need only consider those features that appear in the definition. The dentary-squamosal jaw joint is generally included.

Classification[link]

Over 70% of mammal species are in the orders Rodentia (blue), Chiroptera (red), and Soricomorpha (yellow)

George Gaylord Simpson's "Principles of Classification and a Classification of Mammals" (AMNH Bulletin v. 85, 1945) was the original source for the taxonomy listed here. Simpson laid out a systematics of mammal origins and relationships that was universally taught until the end of the 20th century. Since Simpson's classification, the paleontological record has been recalibrated, and the intervening years have seen much debate and progress concerning the theoretical underpinnings of systematization itself, partly through the new concept of cladistics. Though field work gradually made Simpson's classification outdated, it remained the closest thing to an official classification of mammals.

McKenna/Bell classification[link]

In 1997, the mammals were comprehensively revised by Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell, which has resulted in the McKenna/Bell classification. Their 1997 book, Classification of Mammals: Above the species level,^[5] is the most comprehensive work to date on the systematics, relationships, and occurrences of all mammal taxa, living and extinct, down through the rank of genus, though recent molecular genetic data challenge several of the higher level groupings. The authors worked together as paleontologists at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. McKenna inherited the project from Simpson and, with Bell, constructed a completely updated hierarchical system, covering living and extinct taxa that reflects the historical genealogy of Mammalia.

The McKenna/Bell hierarchical listing of many terms used for mammal groups above the species includes extinct mammals, as well as modern groups, and introduces some fine distinctions such as legions and sublegions (ranks which fall between classes and orders) that are likely to be glossed over by the nonprofessionals.

The published reclassification forms both a comprehensive and authoritative record of approved names and classifications and a list of invalid names.

Extinct groups are represented by a dagger (†).

Class Mammalia

• Subclass Prototheria: monotremes: echidnas and the platypus
• Subclass Theriiformes: live-bearing mammals and their prehistoric relatives
  • Infraclass †Allotheria: multituberculates
  • Infraclass †Triconodonta: triconodonts
  • Infraclass Holotheria: modern live-bearing mammals and their prehistoric relatives
    • Supercohort Theria: live-bearing mammals
      • Cohort Marsupialia: marsupials
        • Magnorder Australidelphia: Australian marsupials and the monito del monte
        • Magnorder Ameridelphia: New World marsupials
      • Cohort Placentalia: placentals
        • Magnorder Xenarthra: xenarthrans
        • Magnorder Epitheria: epitheres
          • Grandorder Anagalida: lagomorphs, rodents, and elephant shrews
          • Grandorder Ferae: carnivorans, pangolins, †creodonts, and relatives
          • Grandorder Lipotyphla: insectivorans
          • Grandorder Archonta: bats, primates, colugos, and treeshrews
          • Grandorder Ungulata: ungulates
            • Order Tubulidentata incertae sedis: aardvark
            • Mirorder Eparctocyona: †condylarths, whales, and artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates)
            • Mirorder †Meridiungulata: South American ungulates
            • Mirorder Altungulata: perissodactyls (odd-toed ungulates), elephants, manatees, and hyraxes

Molecular classification of placentals[link]

Molecular studies based on DNA analysis have suggested new relationships among mammal families over the last few years. Most of these findings have been independently validated by retrotransposon presence/absence data. The most recent classification systems based on molecular studies have proposed four groups or lineages of placental mammals. Molecular clocks suggest that these clades diverged from early common ancestors in the Cretaceous, but fossils have not yet been found to corroborate this hypothesis. These molecular findings are consistent with mammal zoogeography:

Following molecular DNA sequence analyses, the first divergence was that of the Afrotheria 110–100 million years ago (mya). The Afrotheria proceeded to evolve and diversify in the isolation of the African-Arabian continent. The Xenarthra, isolated in South America, diverged from the Boreoeutheria approximately 100–95 million years ago. According to an alternative view, the Xenarthra has the Afrotheria as closest allies, forming the Atlantogenata as sister group to Boreoeutheria. The Boreoeutheria split into the Laurasiatheria and Euarchontoglires between 95 and 85 mya; both of these groups evolved on the northern continent of Laurasia. After tens of millions of years of relative isolation, Africa-Arabia collided with Eurasia, exchanging Afrotheria and Boreoeutheria. The formation of the Isthmus of Panama linked South America and North America, which facilitated the exchange of mammal species in the Great American Interchange. The traditional view that no placental mammals reached Australasia until about 5 million years ago, when bats and murine rodents arrived, has been challenged by recent evidence and may need to be reassessed. These molecular results are still controversial because they are not reflected by morphological data and therefore not accepted by many systematists. Further, there is some indication from retrotransposon presence/absence data that the traditional Epitheria hypothesis, suggesting Xenarthra as the first divergence, might be true. With the old order Insectivora shown to be polyphylectic and more properly subdivided (as Afrosoricida, Erinaceomorpha, and Soricomorpha), the following classification for placental mammals contains 21 orders:

• Clade Atlantogenata
  • Group I: Afrotheria
    • Clade Afroinsectiphilia
      • Order Macroscelidea: elephant shrews (Africa)
      • Order Afrosoricida: tenrecs and golden moles (Africa)
      • Order Tubulidentata: aardvark (Africa south of the Sahara)
    • Clade Paenungulata
      • Order Hyracoidea: hyraxes or dassies (Africa, Arabia)
      • Order Proboscidea: elephants (Africa, Southeast Asia)
      • Order Sirenia: dugong and manatees (cosmopolitan tropical)
  • Group II: Xenarthra
    • Order Pilosa: sloths and anteaters (neotropical)
    • Order Cingulata: armadillos (Americas)
• Clade Boreoeutheria
  • Group III: Euarchontoglires (Supraprimates)
    • Superorder Euarchonta
      • Order Scandentia: treeshrews (Southeast Asia).
      • Order Dermoptera: flying lemurs or colugos (Southeast Asia)
      • Order Primates: lemurs, bushbabies, monkeys, apes, human (cosmopolitan)
    • Superorder Glires
      • Order Lagomorpha: pikas, rabbits, hares (Eurasia, Africa, Americas)
      • Order Rodentia: rodents (cosmopolitan)
  • Group IV: Laurasiatheria
    • Order Erinaceomorpha: hedgehogs
    • Order Soricomorpha: moles, shrews, solenodons
    • Clade Ferungulata
      • Clade Cetartiodactyla
        • Order Cetacea: whales, dolphins and porpoises
        • Order Artiodactyla: even-toed ungulates, including pigs, hippopotamus, camels, giraffe, deer, antelope, cattle, sheep, goats
      • Clade Pegasoferae
        • Order Chiroptera: bats (cosmopolitan)
        • Clade Zooamata
          • Order Perissodactyla: odd-toed ungulates, including horses, donkeys, zebras, tapirs, and rhinoceroses
          • Clade Ferae
            • Order Pholidota: pangolins or scaly anteaters (Africa, South Asia)
            • Order Carnivora: carnivores (cosmopolitan), including cats and dogs

Evolutionary history[link]

Cladogram following,^[9] which takes Mammalia to be the crown group.

Synapsida, the group which contains mammals and their extinct relatives, originated during the Pennsylvanian subperiod, when they split from the lineage that led to reptiles and birds. Nonmammalian synapsids are sometimes called "mammal-like reptiles",^[10][11] although they are usually no longer considered reptiles. Crown group mammals evolved from earlier mammaliaforms during the Early Jurassic.

Evolution from amniotes in the Paleozoic[link]

The original synapsid skull structure contains one temporal opening behind the orbitals, in a fairly low position on the skull (lower right in this image). This might have assisted in the containing the jaw muscles of these organisms that could have increased their biting strength.

The first fully terrestrial vertebrates were amniotes. Like their amphibian predecessors, they have lungs and limbs. Amniotes' eggs, however, have internal membranes which allow the developing embryo to breathe but keep water in. Hence, amniotes can lay eggs on dry land, while amphibians generally need to lay their eggs in water.

The first amniotes apparently arose in the Late Carboniferous. They descended from earlier reptiliomorph amphibians,^[12] which lived on land already inhabited by insects and other invertebrates, and by ferns, mosses and other plants. Within a few million years, two important amniote lineages became distinct: the synapsids, which include mammals; and the sauropsids, which include turtles, lizards, snakes, crocodilians, dinosaurs and birds.^[13] Synapsids have a single hole (temporal fenestra) low on each side of the skull.

One synapsid group, the pelycosaurs, included the largest and fiercest animals of the early Permian.^[14]

Therapsids descended from pelycosaurs in the middle Permian, about 265 million years ago, and took over their position as the dominant land vertebrates.^[10] They differ from pelycosaurs in several features of the skull and jaws, including: larger temporal fenestrae and incisors which are equal in size.^[15] The therapsid lineage leading to mammals went through a series of stages, beginning with animals that were very like their pelycosaur ancestors and ending with probainognathian cynodonts, some of which could easily be mistaken for mammals. Those stages were characterized by:

• gradual development of a bony secondary palate.^[16]
• Progress was made towards an erect limb posture, which would increase the animals' stamina by avoiding Carrier's constraint. But this process was slow and erratic: for example, all herbivorous nonmammaliaform therapsids retained sprawling limbs (some late forms may have had semierect hind limbs); Permian carnivorous therapsids had sprawling forelimbs, and some late Permian ones also had semisprawling hindlimbs. In fact, modern monotremes still have semisprawling limbs.
• The dentary gradually became the main bone of the lower jaw and, in the Triassic, progressed towards the fully mammalian jaw (the lower consisting only of the dentary) and middle ear (which is constructed by the bones that were previously used to construct the jaws of reptiles).
• There is some evidence of hair in Triassic therapsids but none for Permian therapsids.
• Some Triassic therapsids also show signs of lactation.

The mammals appear[link]

The Permian–Triassic extinction event, which was a prolonged event due to the accumulation of several extinction pulses, ended the dominance of the carnivores among the therapsids. In the Early Triassic, all the medium to large land carnivore niches were taken over by early archosaurs, which over an extended period of time (35 million years) evolved into crocodilians, pterosaurs, dinosaurs and birds. By the Jurassic, the dinosaurs had come to dominate the large terrestrial herbivore niches as well.

The first mammals (in the sense given to the term by Kielan-Jawarowska et al.)^[4] appeared in the Late Triassic epoch (about 210 million years ago), 60 million years after the first therapsids. They expanded out of their nocturnal insectivore niche from the mid-Jurassic onwards; Castorocauda, for example, had adaptations for swimming, digging and catching fish.^[17]

The majority of the mammal species that existed in the Mesozoic Era were multituberculates, triconodonts and spalacotheriids.^[18]

The earliest known monotreme is Teinolophos, which lived about 123 million years ago in Australia. Monotremes have some features which may be inherited from the original amniotes:

• They use the same orifice to urinate, defecate and reproduce ("monotreme" means "one hole") – as lizards and birds also do.
• They lay eggs which are leathery and uncalcified, like those of lizards, turtles and crocodilians.

Unlike other mammals, female monotremes do not have nipples and feed their young by "sweating" milk from patches on their bellies.

The earliest known metatherian is Sinodelphys, found in 125 million-year-old Early Cretaceous shale in China's northeastern Liaoning Province. The fossil is nearly complete and includes tufts of fur and imprints of soft tissues.^[19]

The oldest known fossil among the Eutheria ("true beasts") is the small shrewlike Juramaia sinensis, or "Jurassic mother from China," dated to 160 million years ago in the Upper Jurassic.^[6] A later eutherian, Eomaia, dated to 125 million years ago in the Lower Cretaceous, possessed some features in common with the marsupials but not with the placentals, evidence that these features were present in the last common ancestor of the two groups but were later lost in the placental lineage.^[20] In particular:

• Epipubic bones extend forwards from the pelvis. These are not found in any modern placental, but they are found in marsupials, monotremes, and nontherian mammals like the multituberculates as well as in Ukhaatherium, an Upper Cretaceous animal in the eutherian order Asioryctitheria.^[21] They are apparently an ancestral feature which subsequently disappeared in the placental lineage. These epipubic bones seem to function by stiffening the muscles of these animals during locomotion, reducing the amount of space being presented, which placentals require to contain their fetus during gestation periods.

• A narrow pelvic outlet indicates that the young were very small at birth and therefore pregnancy was short, as in modern marsupials. This suggests that the placenta was a later development.

When true placental mammals evolved is uncertain – the earliest undisputed fossils of placentals come from the early Paleocene, after the extinction of the dinosaurs.^[22]

Rise to dominance in the Cenozoic[link]

Mammals took over the medium- to large-sized ecological niches in the Cenozoic, after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event emptied ecological space once filled by reptiles.^[23] Then mammals diversified very quickly; both birds and mammals show an exponential rise in diversity.^[23] For example, the earliest known bat dates from about 50 million years ago, only 15 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs.^[24]

Recent molecular phylogenetic studies suggest that most placental orders diverged about 100 to 85 million years ago and that modern families appeared in the period from the late Eocene through the Miocene.^[25] But paleontologists object that no placental fossils have been found from before the end of the Cretaceous.^[22]

During the Cenozoic, several groups of mammals appeared which were much larger than their nearest modern equivalents, but none was even close to the size of the largest dinosaurs with similar feeding habits.

Earliest appearances of features[link]

Hadrocodium, whose fossils date from the early Jurassic (approximately 195 million years ago, in the Lower Jurassic), provides the first clear evidence of a jaw joint formed solely by the squamosal and dentary bones; there is no space in the jaw for the articular, a bone involved in the jaws of all early synapsids.

It has been suggested that the original function of lactation (milk production) was to keep eggs moist. Much of the argument is based on monotremes (egg-laying mammals).^[26][27][28]

The earliest clear evidence of hair or fur is in fossils of Castorocauda, from 164 million years ago in the Middle Jurassic. In the past, some scientists interpreted the foramina (passages) in the maxillae (upper jaws) and premaxillae (small bones in front of the maxillae) of cynodonts as channels which supplied blood vessels and nerves to vibrissae (whiskers) and suggested that this was evidence of hair or fur.^[29][30] Foramina do not necessarily show that an animal had vibrissae, however; the modern lizard Tupinambis has foramina which are almost identical to those found in the nonmammalian cynodont Thrinaxodon.^[11][31]

The evolution of erect limbs in mammals is incomplete — living and fossil monotremes have sprawling limbs. Some scientists think that the parasagittal (nonsprawling) limb posture is a synapomorphy (distinguishing characteristic) of the Boreosphenida, a group which contains the Theria and therefore includes all eutherians (including the placentals).^[32] Since Juramaia, the earliest known eutherian, lived about 160 million years ago in the Jurassic, this implies that erect limbs must have evolved before then.

When endothermy first appeared in the evolution of mammals is uncertain. Modern monotremes have lower body temperatures and more variable metabolic rates than marsupials and placentals,^[33] but there is evidence that some of their ancestors, perhaps including ancestors of the therians, may have had body temperatures like those of modern therians.^[34] Some of the evidence found so far suggests that Triassic cynodonts had fairly high metabolic rates, but it is not conclusive. For small animals, an insulative covering like fur is necessary for the maintenance of a high and stable body temperature.

Anatomy and morphology[link]

Skeletal system[link]

The majority of mammals have seven cervical vertebrae (bones in the neck), including bats, giraffes, whales, and humans. The exceptions are the manatee and the two-toed sloth, which have only six cervical vertebrae, and the three-toed sloth with nine cervical vertebrae.^[35]

Respiratory system[link]

The lungs of mammals have a spongy texture and are honeycombed with epithelium having a much larger surface area in total than the outer surface area of the lung itself. The lungs of humans are typical of this type of lung.

Breathing is largely driven by the muscular diaphragm, which divides the thorax from the abdominal cavity, forming a dome with its convexity towards the thorax. Contraction of the diaphragm flattens the dome, increasing the volume of the cavity in which the lung is enclosed. Air enters through the oral and nasal cavities; it flows through the larynx, trachea and bronchi and expands the alveoli. Relaxation of the diaphragm has the opposite effect, passively recoiling during normal breathing. During exercise, the abdominal wall contracts, increasing visceral pressure on the diaphragm, thus forcing the air out more quickly and forcefully. The rib cage itself also is able to expand and contract the thoracic cavity to some degree, through the action of other respiratory and accessory respiratory muscles. As a result, air is sucked into or expelled out of the lungs, always moving down its pressure gradient. This type of lung is known as a bellows lung as it resembles a blacksmith's bellows. Mammals take oxygen into their lungs, and discard carbon dioxide.

Nervous system[link]

All mammalian brains possess a neocortex, a brain region unique to mammals. Placental mammals have a corpus callosum, unlike monotremes and marsupials. The size and number of cortical areas (Brodmann's areas) is least in monotremes (about 8-10) and most in placentals (up to 50).

Integumentary system[link]

The integumentary system is made up of three layers: the outermost epidermis, the dermis, and the hypodermis.

The epidermis is typically 10 to 30 cells thick; its main function is to provide a waterproof layer. Its outermost cells are constantly lost; its bottommost cells are constantly dividing and pushing upward. The middle layer, the dermis, is 15 to 40 times thicker than the epidermis. The dermis is made up of many components, such as bony structures and blood vessels. The hypodermis is made up of adipose tissue. Its job is to store lipids, and to provide cushioning and insulation. The thickness of this layer varies widely from species to species.

Although other animals have features such as feathers, whiskers, setae, or cilia that superficially resemble it, no animals other than mammals have hair. It is a definitive characteristic of the class. Though some mammals have very little, careful examination reveals the characteristic, often in obscure parts of their bodies.

Some primates and marsupials have shades of violet, green, or blue skin on parts of their bodies.^[36] The two-toed sloth and the polar bear sometimes appear to have green fur, but this color is caused by algae growths.

Reproductive system[link]

Goat kids will stay with their mother until they are weaned.

Most mammals are viviparous, giving birth to live young. However, the five species of monotreme, the platypuses and the echidnas, lay eggs. The monotremes have a sex determination system different from that of most other mammals.^[37] In particular, the sex chromosomes of a platypus are more like those of a chicken than those of a therian mammal.^[38]

The mammary glands of mammals are specialized to produce milk, a liquid used by newborns as their primary source of nutrition. The monotremes branched early from other mammals and do not have the nipples seen in most mammals, but they do have mammary glands. The young lick the milk from a mammary patch on the mother's belly.

Viviparous mammals are in the subclass Theria; those living today are in the marsupial and placental infraclasses. A marsupial has a short gestation period, typically shorter than its estrous cycle, and gives birth to an undeveloped newborn that then undergoes further development; in many species, this takes place within a pouch-like sac, the marsupium, located in the front of the mother's abdomen. The placentals give birth to complete and fully developed young, usually after long gestation periods.

Physiology[link]

Endothermy[link]

Nearly all mammals are endothermic ("warm-blooded"). Most mammals also have hair to help keep them warm. Like birds, mammals can forage or hunt in weather and climates too cold for nonavian reptiles and large insects.

Endothermy requires plenty of food energy, so mammals eat more food per unit of body weight than most reptiles. Small insectivorous mammals eat prodigious amounts for their size.

A rare exception, the naked mole rat, produces little metabolic heat, so it is considered an operational poikilotherm. Birds are also endothermic, so endothermy is not a defining mammalian feature.

Intelligence[link]

In intelligent mammals, such as primates, the cerebrum is larger relative to the rest of the brain. Intelligence itself is not easy to define, but indications of intelligence include the ability to learn, matched with behavioral flexibility. Rats, for example, are considered to be highly intelligent, as they can learn and perform new tasks, an ability that may be important when they first colonize a fresh habitat. In some mammals, food gathering appears to be related to intelligence: a deer feeding on plants has a brain smaller than a cat, which must think to outwit its prey.^[39]

Social structure[link]

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Locomotion[link]

Mammals evolved from four-legged ancestors. They use their limbs to walk, climb, swim, and fly. Some land mammals have toes that produce claws and hooves for climbing and running. Aquatic mammals like whales and dolphins have flippers which evolved from legs.

Terrestrial[link]

Arboreal[link]

Aquatic[link]

Whales and dolphins propel themselves through the water by moving their tail flukes up and down, adjusting the angle of the flukes as needed. The more massive front of the body contributes stability.^[40][41]

Aerial[link]

Feeding[link]

To maintain a high constant body temperature is energy expensive – mammals therefore need a nutritious and plentiful diet. While the earliest mammals were probably predators, different species have since adapted to meet their dietary requirements in a variety of ways. Some eat other animals – this is a carnivorous diet (and includes insectivorous diets). Other mammals, called herbivores, eat plants. A herbivorous diet includes subtypes such as fruit-eating and grass-eating. An omnivore eats both prey and plants. Carnivorous mammals have a simple digestive tract, because the proteins, lipids, and minerals found in meat require little in the way of specialized digestion. Plants, on the other hand, contain complex carbohydrates, such as cellulose. The digestive tract of an herbivore is therefore host to bacteria that ferment these substances, and make them available for digestion. The bacteria are either housed in the multichambered stomach or in a large cecum. The size of an animal is also a factor in determining diet type. Since small mammals have a high ratio of heat-losing surface area to heat-generating volume, they tend to have high energy requirements and a high metabolic rate. Mammals that weigh less than about 18 oz (500 g) are mostly insectivorous because they cannot tolerate the slow, complex digestive process of a herbivore. Larger animals, on the other hand, generate more heat and less of this heat is lost. They can therefore tolerate either a slower collection process (those that prey on larger vertebrates) or a slower digestive process (herbivores). Furthermore, mammals that weigh more than 18 oz (500 g) usually cannot collect enough insects during their waking hours to sustain themselves. The only large insectivorous mammals are those that feed on huge colonies of insects (ants or termites).^[39]

Specializations in herbivory include: Granivory "seed eating", folivory "leaf eating", frugivory "fruit eating", nectivory "nectar eating", gumivory "gum eating", and mycophagy "fungus eating".

See also[link]

• List of African mammals
• List of extinct mammals
• List of Indian mammals
• List of mammalogists
• List of mammal genera
• List of mammals
• Lists of mammals by region
• List of prehistoric mammals
• Mammal classification
• Mammals discovered in the 2000s
• Prehistoric mammals

Mammals portal

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Bergsten, Johannes. February 2005. "A review of long-branch attraction". Cladistics 21:163–193. (pdf version)
• Brown W.M. (2001). "Natural selection of mammalian brain components" (PDF). Trends in Ecology and Evolution 16 (9): 471–473. DOI:10.1016/S0169-5347(01)02246-7. http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~wmbrown/BROWN.TREE.pdf. 
• Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2006). Mammalia Palaestina: The Mammals of Palestine. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 55, July 2006. pp. 1–46.
• McKenna, Malcolm C., and Bell, Susan K. 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York, 631 pp. ISBN 0-231-11013-8
• Nowak, Ronald M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World, 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1936 pp. ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
• Simpson, George Gaylord (1945). "The principles of classification and a classification of mammals". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 85: 1–350. 
• William J. Murphy, Eduardo Eizirik, Mark S. Springer et al., Resolution of the Early Placental Mammal Radiation Using Bayesian Phylogenetics,Science, Vol 294, Issue 5550, 2348–2351, 14 December 2001.
• Springer, Mark S., Michael J. Stanhope, Ole Madsen, and Wilfried W. de Jong. 2004. "Molecules consolidate the placental mammal tree". Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 19:430–438. (PDF version)
• Vaughan, Terry A., James M. Ryan, and Nicholas J. Capzaplewski. 2000. Mammalogy: Fourth Edition. Saunders College Publishing, 565 pp. ISBN 0-03-025034-X (Brooks Cole, 1999)
• Jan Ole Kriegs, Gennady Churakov, Martin Kiefmann, Ursula Jordan, Juergen Brosius, Juergen Schmitz. (2006) Retroposed Elements as Archives for the Evolutionary History of Placental Mammals. PLoS Biol 4(4): e91."PLoS Biology – Retroposed Elements as Archives for the Evolutionary History of Placental Mammals". Biology.plosjournals.org. DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040091. http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0040091. Retrieved 2009-03-08. 
• David MacDonald, Sasha Norris. 2006. The Encyclopedia of Mammals, 3rd edition. Printed in China, 930 pp. ISBN 0-681-45659-0.

External links[link]

Find more about Mammal on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

Wikispecies has information related to: Mammalia

The Wikibook Dichotomous Key has a page on the topic of Mammalia

• BBC Wildlife Finder – video clips from the BBC's natural history archive
• Mammal Species Thousands of species, showing taxonomic classification, images, and other information, animalias.com
• GlobalTwitcher.com – All species in the world with distribution maps and images
• Paleocene Mammals, a site covering the rise of the mammals, paleocene-mammals.de
• Evolution of Mammals, a brief introduction to early mammals, enchantedlearning.com
• Tree of Life poster – Shows mammals' evolutionary relation to other organisms, tellapallet.com
• The Evolution of Mesozoic Mammals, a Rough Sketch, an informal introduction, home.arcor.de
• Carnegie Museum of Natural History, some discoveries of early mammal fossils, carnegiemnh.org
• High-Resolution Images of various Mammalian Brains, brainmaps.org
• Mammal Species, collection of information sheets about various mammal species, learnanimals.com
• Summary of molecular support for Epitheria, biology.plosjournals.org
• Mikko's Phylogeny Archive, fmnh.helsinki.fi
• European Mammal Atlas EMMA from Societas Europaea Mammalogica, European-mammals.org
• Marine Mammals of the World—An overview of all marine mammals, including descriptions, multimedia and a key, eti.uva.nl
• Mammalogy.org The American Society of Mammalogists was established in 1919 for the purpose of promoting the study of mammals, and this website includes a mammal image library

lez:Некхъвадайбур

This article is about the U.S. sociopolitical commentator. For other people with a similar name, see Brian Fisher (disambiguation).

Bryan J. Fischer is the Director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Association (AFA). He hosts the talk radio program Focal Point on American Family Radio and posts on the AFA-run blog Rightly Concerned.

Fischer opposes abortion, national health care, gay adoption,^[2] and same-sex marriage.^[3] Fischer's controversial comments on racial and ethnic minorities were cited by Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in explaining the hate group designation they gave to the AFA in November 2010.^[4]

Biography[link]

Fischer has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Stanford University, and holds a graduate degree in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. Fischer served at the Cole Community Church in Boise, Idaho and founded the Cole Center for Biblical Studies and was the church's director for thirteen years. Fischer then founded Community Church of the Valley and was senior pastor for twelve years. Before joining the board of directors of American Family Association, Fischer was also executive director of Idaho Values Alliance.^[3]

In 2004, he co-founded the Keep the Commandments Coalition, a group dedicated to keeping a Ten Commandments monument in Julia Davis Park in Boise, Idaho. From 2000 to 2005, he served as a commissioner for the city's Park and Recreation Department.^[3]

In November 2010, the SPLC changed their listing of the AFA from a group that used hate speech to the more serious one of being designated a hate group.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} The SPLC's Mark Potok said that the AFA's "propagation of known falsehoods and demonizing propaganda" was the basis for the change.^[10][11] Fischer's anti-gay comments were given as an example by SPLC in support of the hate group designation.^[4]

Recently, Fischer has become a supporter of the AIDS denial movement. His guest on the January 3, 2012 edition of Focal Point was prominent AIDS denialist Peter Duesberg. On that show, Fischer strongly supported Duesberg's contention that AIDS is not caused by HIV, but by recreational drug use.^[12][13] Fischer expanded on this further in a post on Rightly Concerned, saying that it isn't possible for a virus to remain dormant for a long period of time. He cited as an example Magic Johnson, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 and has remained healthy for over 20 years. This is despite overwhelming scientific consensus that HIV can stay dormant for several years before the onset of AIDS. In Fischer's view, HIV is a hoax that was concocted by cancer researchers who needed an excuse to keep their grants.^[14] He has also expressed support for tax protester theory; on the April 17, 2012 edition of Focal Point he made the common tax protester argument that the 16th Amendment does not count wages and salaries as income.^[15]

MormonVoices, a group associated with Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research, included Fischer on its Top Ten Anti-Mormon Statements of 2011 list for saying "Mormonism is not an orthodox Christian faith. It just is not ... It's very clear that the Founding Fathers did not intend to preserve automatically religious liberty for non-Christian faiths."^[16]

References[link]

1. ^ Adler, Ben (January 18, 2011). "The Liberal Media's Conservative of the Month". Newsweek.
2. ^ Fischer, Bryan (June 15, 2011). "Homosexual adoptions victimize children". http://afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147508635. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Biography at American Family Association. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
4. ^ ^{a b} Potok, Mark (December 15, 2010). "SPLC Responds to Attack by FRC, Conservative Republicans". Hatewatch. Southern Poverty Law Center. http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/12/15/splc-responds-to-attack-by-frc-conservative-republicans/. Retrieved April 26, 2011. 
5. ^ Schlatter, Evelyn (Winter 2010). "18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda | Southern Poverty Law Center". Splcenter.org. http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/winter/the-hard-liners. Retrieved December 17, 2010. 
6. ^ Waddington, Lynda (November 23, 2010). "Groups that Helped Oust Iowa Judges Earn 'Hate Group' Designation; SPLC Adds American Family Association, Family Research Council to List". Iowa Independent. http://iowaindependent.com/47947/groups-that-helped-oust-iowa-judges-earn-hate-group-designation. Retrieved November 25, 2010. 
7. ^ "SPLC's Anti-Gay Hate List Compiled With Diligence and Clear Standards | Southern Poverty Law Center". Splcenter.org. December 23, 2010. http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-s-anti-gay-hate-list-compiled-with-diligence-and-clear-standards. Retrieved March 19, 2011. 
8. ^ Eichler, Alex (November 23, 2010). "13 New Organizations Added to Anti-Gay 'Hate Groups' List". The Atlantic Wire. The Atlantic Monthly Group. http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2010/11/13-new-organizations-added-to-anti-gay-hate-groups-list/22153/. Retrieved April 22, 2011. 
9. ^ Benen, Steve (December 18, 2010). "This Week in God". Political Animal. Washington Monthly. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_12/027153.php. Retrieved April 22, 2011. 
10. ^ Banks, Adele M. (November 29, 2010). "Religion News Service: Hate group watchdog adds Family Research Council to its list". The Pew Forum. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. http://pewforum.org/Religion-News/RNS-Hate-group-watchdog-adds-Family-Research-Council-to-its-list.aspx. Retrieved April 22, 2011. 
11. ^ Nelson, Josh (November 29, 2010). "Judge-ouster supporters blast 'hate' label". WCFCourier.com. http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_0d224deb-9ca4-5f17-9ae0-cdd5c98e47f5.html. Retrieved April 22, 2011. 
12. ^ Part 1 of Fischer interview with Duesberg from AFA YouTube channel
13. ^ Part 2 of Fischer interview with Duesberg from AFA YouTube channel
14. ^ Fischer, Bryan. "Why is Magic Johnson healthy as a horse? HIV does NOT cause AIDS". American Family Association, January 5, 2012.
15. ^ "16th Amendment exempts wages and salaries from taxation" (video). American Family Association. 2012-04-17. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58YvmJHCZ10. 
16. ^ Walker, Joshua (January 8, 2012). "Group lists Top Ten Anti-Mormon Statements of 2011". Deseret News. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/700213557/Group-lists-Top-Ten-Anti-Mormon-Statements-of-2011.html. 

External links[link]

• American Family Association

George Galloway MP
Galloway at a Stop The War protest in London, 24 February 2007
Member of Parliament for Bradford West
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 March 2012
Preceded by	Marsha Singh
Majority	10,140 (16.7%)
Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow
In office 5 May 2005 – 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Oona King
Succeeded by	Rushanara Ali
Majority	823 (1.9%)
Member of Parliament for Glasgow Kelvin
In office 1 May 1997 – 5 May 2005
Preceded by	Constituency created
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Majority	7,260 (27.1%)
Member of Parliament for Glasgow Hillhead
In office 11 June 1987 – 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Roy Jenkins
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Majority	4,826 (12.3%)
Personal details
Born	(1954-08-16) 16 August 1954 (age 57) Dundee
Citizenship	British
Political party	Respect (2004–present) Labour (1967–2003)
Residence	London
Website	www.georgegalloway.com

George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, author, journalist, and broadcaster, and the Respect Member of Parliament (MP) for Bradford West. He was previously an MP for the Labour Party, for Glasgow Hillhead and then its successor constituency Glasgow Kelvin from 1987 until 2005. He was expelled from the Labour Party in October 2003 because of his strident public opposition to the Iraq War.^[1] He subsequently became a founding member of the left-wing Respect Party, and was elected as the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in 2005.^[2] In 2010, Galloway unsuccessfully contested the seat of Poplar and Limehouse, and in 2011 he unsuccessfully contested the Glasgow list for the Scottish Parliament, before being elected as an MP in the Bradford West by-election, 2012.^[3][4]

Galloway is well known for his campaigns in support of the Palestinians in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. In the late-1980s Hansard records him delivering a ferocious assault on the Ba'ath regime, and Galloway opposed Saddam's regime until the United States-led Gulf War in 1991.^[5] Galloway is known for a visit to Iraq where he met Saddam Hussein, and delivered a speech, which ended in English with the statement "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability."^[6] He has always stated that he was addressing the Iraqi people in the speech.^[7] Galloway testified to the United States Senate in 2005 over alleged illicit payments from the United Nations' Oil for Food Programme.^[8]

Early and personal life[link]

Galloway was born in the Lochee area of Dundee to a Scottish trade unionist father and Irish republican mother.^[9][10] He describes himself as "born in an attic in a slum tenement in the Irish quarter of Dundee, which is known as Tipperary".^[11][12] He grew up in Charleston and attended Charleston Primary and then Harris Academy, a non-denominational school. During his school years at Charleston Primary and Harris Academy, he used to play football for the school team. As an amateur footballer, he went on to play for West End United U12s, Lochee Boys Club U16s and St Columbus U18s.^[13]

From 1979 to 1999, he was married to Elaine Fyffe, with whom he has a daughter. In 1994, he married Amineh Abu-Zayyad as a second wife in a Muslim ceremony (later after his divorce from his first wife, he and Abu-Zayyad also undertook a civil ceremony); Zayyad filed for divorce in 2005. In 2005, Galloway married as his third wife Rima Husseini, a Lebanese woman and former researcher, also in a Muslim ceremony. She gave birth to their first son in May 2007, and a second son in December 2011. In March 2012, Galloway married Putri Gayatri Pertiwi, a consultant with a Dutch research firm.^[14]

Galloway was raised as a Roman Catholic.^[12] By his own account he decided, at the age of 18, never to drink alcohol. He disapproves of it and describes it as having a "very deleterious effect on people".^[9][15] He stated at a March 2012 rally "We stand for justice and haqq" and "A Muslim is somebody who is not afraid of earthly power but who fears only the Judgment Day. I’m ready for that, I’m working for that and it’s the only thing I fear".^[16]

In a April 2012 New Statesman magazine interview with Galloway, Jemima Khan asserted that the politician had become a Muslim sometime around 2000, but had not advertised this fact.^[17] Galloway subsequently denied a ceremony had taken place: "I have never attended any such ceremony in Kilburn, Karachi or Kathmandu. It is simply and categorically untrue."^[18]

Labour Party organiser[link]

Galloway joined the Labour Party at 13 years old and, within five years, was secretary of the Dundee West Constituency Labour Party. His enthusiasm led him to become Vice-Chairman of the Labour Party in the City of Dundee and a member of the Scottish Executive Committee in 1975. On 5 May 1977, he contested his first election campaign in the Scottish district elections, but failed to hold the safe Labour seat at Gillburn, Dundee. He was defeated by the Independent candidate Bunty Turley. Galloway became the secretary organiser of Dundee Labour Party—the youngest ever Scottish chairman—in March 1981 at 26 years old.^[19]

In his mid-20s after a trip to Beirut in 1977,^[12] he became a passionate supporter of Palestine stating "barely a week after my return I made a pledge to devote the rest of my life to the Palestinian and Arab cause". He supported Dundee City Council which flew the Palestinian flag inside the City Chambers and was involved in the twinning of Dundee with Nablus in 1980,^[20] although he did not take part in the visit of Lord Provost Gowans, Ernie Ross MP and three City Councillors to Nablus and Kuwait in April 1981.^[19]

In 1981, Galloway wrote an article in Scottish Marxist supporting Communist Party affiliation with the Labour Party. In response, Denis Healey, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, tried and failed to remove Galloway from the list of Prospective Parliamentary Candidates. Healey lost his motion by 13 votes to 5.^[21] Galloway had argued that this was his own personal viewpoint, not that of the Labour Party. He once quipped that, in order to overcome a £1.5 million deficit which had arisen in the city budget, he, Ernie Ross and leading Councillors should be placed in the stocks in the city square: "we would allow people to throw buckets of water over us at 20p a time."^[22]

Galloway stood for a place on the Labour Party National Executive Committee in 1986; in a large field of candidates he finished second from the bottom. At the 1986 Labour Party Conference, he made a strong attack on the Labour Party's Deputy Leader and Shadow Chancellor Roy Hattersley for not favouring exchange controls.

War on Want[link]

From November 1983 to 1987, Galloway was General Secretary of War on Want, a British charity that campaigns against poverty worldwide. In this post he was much travelled, writing eye-witness accounts of the famine in Eritrea in 1985 which were published in The Sunday Times and The Spectator.^[23]

The Daily Mirror accused him of living luxuriously at the charity's expense.^[24] An independent auditor cleared him of misuse of funds,^[25] though he did repay £1,720 in contested expenses.^[26] He later reportedly won £155,000 from "The Mirror in an unrelated libel lawsuit.^[27]

More than two years after Galloway stepped down to serve as a Labour MP, the UK Government investigated War on Want. It found accounting irregularities from 1985 to 1989, but little evidence that money was used for non-charitable purposes. The commission said responsibility lay largely with auditors, and did not single out individuals for blame.^[25]

Reported Break In[link]

In an article published by the Daily Mail at the beginning of May 2012, it was asserted that staff at his £1.4 million London home had discovered items had been moved and curious objects were found in the house such as an empty bottle of gin and a gay pornographic video stashed in a closet. The culprit is thought to have been an unidentified homeless man.^[28] Galloway has increased security at his home to prevent any more homeless intruders.

Parliamentary career[link]

Member of Parliament for a Glasgow seat[link]

In the 1987 election, Galloway won Glasgow Hillhead constituency for the Labour Party from Roy Jenkins of the Social Democratic Party (who had briefly led that Party earlier in the decade) with a majority of 3,251. Although known for his left-wing views, Galloway was never a member of Labour's leftist groupings of MPs, the Tribune Group or the Socialist Campaign Group. In 2002, Galloway stated "I am on the anti-imperialist left... If you are asking did I support the Soviet Union, yes I did. Yes, I did support the Soviet Union, and I think the disappearance of the Soviet Union is the biggest catastrophe of my life."^[29]

Asked about a War on Want conference on Mykonos, Greece during his previous job, the new MP replied "I travelled and spent lots of time with people in Greece, many of whom were women, some of whom were known carnally to me. I actually had sexual intercourse with some of the people in Greece."^[30] The statement put Galloway on the front pages of the tabloid press and in February 1988 the Executive Committee of his Constituency Labour Party passed a vote of no confidence in him.^[30]

He gained re-selection when challenged by Trish Godman (wife of fellow MP Norman Godman) in June 1989, but failed to get a majority of the electoral college on the first ballot. This was the worst result for any sitting Labour MP who was reselected; 13 of the 26 members of the Constituency Party's Executive Committee resigned that August, indicating their dissatisfaction with the result.^[31]

In 1990, a classified advertisement appeared in the Labour-Left weekly Tribune headed "Lost: MP who answers to the name of George", "balding and has been nicknamed gorgeous", claiming that the lost MP had been seen in Romania but had not been to a constituency meeting for a year. A telephone number was given which turned out to be for the Groucho Club in London, from which Galloway had recently been excluded (although subsequently readmitted). Galloway threatened legal action and pointed out that he had been to five constituency meetings. He eventually settled for an out-of-court payment by Tribune.

The leadership election of the Labour Party in 1992 saw Galloway voting for the eventual winners, John Smith for Leader and Margaret Beckett as Deputy Leader. In 1994, after Smith's death, Galloway declined to cast a vote in the leadership election (one of only three MPs to do so). In a debate with the Leader of the Scottish National Party Alex Salmond, Galloway responded to one of Salmond's jibes against the Labour Party by declaring "I don't give a fuck what Tony Blair thinks."^[31]

Although facing a challenge for the Labour nomination for the seat of Glasgow Kelvin in 1997, Galloway defeated Shiona Waldron. He was unchallenged for the nomination in 2001.

In the 1997 and 2001 elections Galloway was the Labour candidate for the seat of Glasgow Kelvin, winning with majorities of over 16,000 and 12,000 respectively. During the 2001 Parliament, he voted against the Whip 27 times. During the 2001–02 session he was the 9th most rebellious Labour MP.

Expulsion from the Labour Party[link]

Galloway became the Vice President of the Stop the War Coalition in 2001. He is actively involved, often speaking on StWC platforms at anti-war demonstrations. From this position Galloway made many aggressive and controversial statements in opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. These were the formal reasons for his expulsion from the Labour Party. He reportedly said in a 28 March 2003 interview with Abu Dhabi TV that Tony Blair and George W. Bush had "lied to the British Air Force and Navy, when they said the battle of Iraq would be very quick and easy. They attacked Iraq like wolves...." and added, "... the best thing British troops can do is to refuse to obey illegal orders."^[32] He called the Labour Government "Tony Blair's lie machine."^[33] The Observer reported in 2003 that the Director of Public Prosecutions looked at a request by the solicitor Justin Hugheston-Roberts to pursue Galloway under the Incitement to Disaffection Act, 1934,^[34] though no prosecution occurred.

On 18 April, The Sun published an interview with Tony Blair who said: "His comments were disgraceful and wrong. The National Executive will deal with it." The General Secretary of the Labour Party, citing Galloway's outspoken opinion of Blair and Bush in their pursuit of the Iraq war, suspended him from holding office in the party on 6 May 2003, pending a hearing on charges that he had violated the party's constitution by "bringing the Labour Party into disrepute through behaviour that is prejudicial or grossly detrimental to the Party". The National Constitutional Committee held a hearing on 22 October 2003, to consider the charges, taking evidence from Galloway himself, from other party witnesses, viewing media interviews, and hearing character testimony from Tony Benn, among others. The following day, the committee found the charge of bringing the party into disrepute proved, and so expelled Galloway from the Labour Party. Galloway called the Committee's hearing "a show trial" and "a kangaroo court".^[35]

2005 election[link]

In January 2004, Galloway announced he would be working with members of the Socialist Alliance in England and Wales, and others, under the name Respect – The Unity Coalition, generally referred to simply as Respect.

Galloway later announced that he would not force a by-election and intended not to contest the next general election in Glasgow. Galloway's Glasgow Kelvin seat was split between three neighbouring constituencies for the May 2005 general election. One of these, the new Glasgow Central constituency, might have been his best chance with a relatively large Muslim vote. However, his long-time friend Mohammad Sarwar, the first Muslim Labour MP and a strong opponent of the Iraq War also intended to go for it; Galloway did not wish to challenge him. After the European election results became known, Galloway announced that he would stand in Bethnal Green and Bow, the area where Respect had its strongest election results and where the sitting Labour MP, Oona King, supported the Iraq War. On 2 December, despite speculation that he might stand in Newham, he confirmed that he would be the candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow.

The ensuing electoral campaign in the seat proved to be a difficult one with heated rhetoric. The BBC reported that Galloway had himself been threatened with death by extreme Islamists from the banned organisation al-Ghurabaa. All the major candidates united in condemning the threats and violence.^[36] On 5 May, Galloway won the seat by 823 votes and made a fiery acceptance speech, saying that Tony Blair had the blood of 100,000 people on his hands and denouncing the returning officer over alleged discrepancies in the electoral process. When challenged in a subsequent televised interview by Jeremy Paxman as to whether he was happy to have removed one of the few black women in Parliament, Galloway replied "I don't believe that people get elected because of the colour of their skin. I believe people get elected because of their record and because of their policies."^[37] Jeremy Paxman during the same BBC interview accused Galloway of being a demagogue.^[37]

Oona King later told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that she found Paxman's line of question inappropriate. "He shouldn't be barred from running against me because I'm a black woman. ... I was not defined, or did not wish to be defined, by either my ethnicity or religious background."^[38]

"It's good to be back", Galloway said on being sworn in as MP for Bethnal Green after the May election. He pledged to represent "the people that New Labour has abandoned" and to "speak for those who have nobody else to speak for them."^[39]

Parliamentary participation statistics[link]

After he was suspended and later expelled from the Labour Party, Galloway's participation in Parliamentary activity fell to minimal levels. After speaking in a debate on Iraq on 25 March 2003, Galloway did not intervene in any way in Parliamentary debates or ask any oral questions for the remainder of the Parliament and his participation in House of Commons divisions was among the lowest of any MP.^[40]

Following the 2005 election, his participation rate remained low, and at the end of the year he had participated in only 15% of Divisions in the House of Commons since the general election, placing him 634th of 645 MPs. Of the eleven MPs below him in the rankings, one was the then Prime Minister Tony Blair, five were Sinn Féin members who have an abstentionist policy toward taking their seats, three were the speaker and deputy speakers and therefore ineligible to vote, and two had died since the election. Galloway claims a record of unusual activity at a "grass roots" level. His own estimate is that he made 1,100 public speeches between September 2001 and May 2005.^[41]

In September 2009, he still had one of the lowest voting participation records in parliament at 8.4% as a total of 93 votes out of a possible 1,113 divisions.^[42]