The Marine Mammal Center weaning. At the center, they receive specialized veterinary care; diagnosed, treated, rehabilitated, and ideally, released back into the wild. Animals in need of assistance are usually identified by a member of the public who has contacted the center. These animals represent the following major species: California sea lion, northern elephant seal, Pacific harbor seal, northern fur seal, and the southern sea otter. On a few occasions, the Marine Mammal Center has taken in Guadeloupe fur seals, Steller sea lions, and bottlenose/Pacific white-sided dolphins. The only non-mammals that the center takes in are sea turtles. The research team consists of veterinarians
Mammal destruction]], though there are efforts to combat this. [[File:Mammal species pie chart.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|The orders [[Rodent]]ia (blue), [[Chiroptera]] (red) and [[Soricomorpha]] (yellow) together make up over 70% of mammal species. Mammal classification has been through several iterations since [[Carl Linnaeus]] initially defined the class. No classification system is universally accepted; McKenna & Bell (1997) and Wilson & Reader (2005) provide useful recent compendiums. [[George Gaylord Simpson]]'s "Principles of Classification and a Classification of Mammals" (AMNH "Bulletin" v. 85, 1945) provides [[systematics]] of mammal origins and relationships that were universally taught until the end of the 20th century. Since Simpson's classification, the [[fossil