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When you want to move, you have many choices. Do you like to jump, skip, or roll? All mammals like to move in their own special ways. Some creep along quite slowly. Others swim, fly, hop, or run at great speed. In the African grasslands, cheetahs race along at up to 70 miles per hour (95 km/h). Kangaroos are the fastest mammals on two legs—and they are champion hoppers. Killer whales are the fastest mammals in the oceans, swimming up to 34 miles per hour (55 km/h).

Verreaux’s sifaka, a type of lemur, is equally agile in the trees and on the ground.

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SWEET FEET Mammals have differently shaped feet that help them to move about in their surroundings. Elephants have pillar-like legs and feet to support their great weight. A sloth’s curved claws are ideal for hooking around branches. Moles have front feet shaped like shovels that help them burrow through soil.

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