My Simple Classifications

My list is basically separated into the simple classification system I use all the time for the mammals of the Metazoic. Though I tend to also use the popular system around today, I have 5 major groups I separate the animals typically in. They are:



The large grazers (grazers over 5 feet long)

The predators (mammals that are for the most part, carnivorous).

The small grazers (grazers 5 feet long or less)

The pentadactyls (what we today know as 'primates')

The flying mammals (mammals that mostly fly or glide).



This simplifies everything because each group can contain several different orders. Though some are varying degrees of each group. For example, the armadillos of the Metazoic are all opportunists, they feed on anything. Yet I put them in the large grazers group. Most of them are less than 5-feet long too. I mix everything up according to how many species of each family represents each group. For instance, I place the true rat and mouse family (Pseudomyidae) in the small grazer group. Yet it is a highly varied family. There are some species in the family that are much more than 5-feet long, and there are also some that are carnivorous. But the majority of the family are of the small grazer type, so that is why I place them in this group. Key word being "majority".



The carnivores of the Metazoic are among the most interesting from my POV! If the predators (of any age) were to be measured like we measure the force of tornados, it would be interesting. For example, Deinognathus would measure out as an F5. They feed on any animal, moving or not, and have no predators, except other Deinognathus. The only examples of an F5 predator today would be orcas and great white sharks. Lions of today would be an F4, they feed on anything, but they do have some predators. Wolves of today would be an F3, they feed on anything, but have also been known to get themselves clobbered by some predators, more than lions would. This is the way I see classifying tomorrow's predators (using the same scale to measure storms with). The highest (F5) would be those who eat any creature they can find, and have no enemies or contemporaries in their range. The lowest (F1) are the small predators with limited abilities, like those only capable of bringing down prey smaller than themselves, and have lots of predators that hunt them. Much like the raccoons.



F1- raccoons, shrews, Harundopeds, small carnivorous rats.

F2- Parasitic shrews, small felines.

F3- bear-dogs, predatory squirrels, larger predatory rats, Bromista, Tyrannopithecus and other carnivorous lemurs.

F4- Phobocebus, large viverrids, smaller-to-medium-sized Deinognathids like Tamanoa, larger foxes like Velocitherium.

F5- Deinognathus, Ictocamelus, Daspletarctos, Spathodon, Galiditherium, Monarchomys, Smilomys, Eufoedes, Columpiphonium, Cercomoloch, Pterdraco, Carnophalanger.



There are also some top-knotch scavengers. They are in the families Ruonidae, Zouphionidae, and Cloacariidae. In these families, most (if not all) the species are scavengers who pick up after the predators. Particularly the kills of those predators in the F4/F5 category. But anyway, that's just pretend, not scientific. However if you ask me, it should be applied to animals of today and tomorrow.

Anyway, there is also a new group listed, based on the family I discussed for last week, the ant-hogs. They can be viewed at this link: http://www.metazoica.com/Hogs.html.