ABSTRACT
Ecological conditions in urban environments may favor mammals with a fast pace-of-life – those with a life-history strategy consisting of a short lifespan and a high reproductive rate. Food availability is probably the most attractive urban attribute for both urban exploiters and transient visiting mammals. Species thriving in urban areas can be characterized by at least five phenotypic features that enable them to successfully pass through the urban filter. Urban environments are characterized by a high proportion of human-provided food. The complex and fragmented horizontal and vertical urban mosaic may dampen matrix permeability for dispersing organisms. The many forms of environmental change that constantly occur in patches in and around the edges of cities lead to consistent and directional changes in habitat and food sources along the rural–urban gradient. Urban-driven phenotypic and behavioral differences have been well described in birds and reptiles.
