This is a list of the native wild mammal species recorded in Mexico. As of September 2014, there were 536 mammalian species or subspecies listed. Based on IUCN data, Mexico has 23% more noncetacean mammal species than the U.S. and Canada combined in an area only 10% as large, or a species density over 12 times that of its northern neighbors. Mexico's high mammal biodiversity is in part a reflection of the wide array of biomes present over its latitudinal, climatic and altitudinal ranges, from lowland tropical rainforest to temperate desert to montane forest to alpine tundra. The general increase in terrestrial biodiversity moving towards the equator is another important factor in the comparison. Mexico includes much of the Mesoamerican and Madrean pine-oak woodlands biodiversity hotspots. From a biogeographic standpoint, most of Mexico is linked to the rest of North America as part of the Nearctic realm. However, the lowlands of southern Mexico are linked with Central America and South America as part of the Neotropical realm. Extensive mixing of Nearctic and Neotropical mammal species commenced only three million years ago, when the formation of the Isthmus of Panama ended South America's long period of isolation and precipitated the Great American Interchange. Twenty of Mexico's extant nonflying species (opossums, armadillos, anteaters, monkeys and caviomorph rodents) are of South American origin. Most of the megafauna that formerly inhabited the region became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene about 10,000 years ago, shortly after the arrival of the first humans. Increasing alteration and destruction of natural habitats by expanding human populations during the last several centuries is causing further attrition of the region's biodiversity, as exemplified by the "hotspot" designations (by definition, such areas have lost over 70% of their primary vegetation).

The following tags are used to highlight each species' conservation status as assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature; those on the left are used here, those in the second column in some other articles:

EX Extinct No reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. EW Extinct in the wild Known only to survive in captivity or as a naturalized population well outside its historic range. CR Critically endangered The species is in imminent danger of extinction in the wild. EN Endangered The species is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild. VU Vulnerable The species is facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. NT Near threatened The species does not qualify as being at high risk of extinction but is likely to do so in the future. LC Least concern The species is not currently at risk of extinction in the wild. DD Data deficient There is inadequate information to assess the risk of extinction for this species. NE Not evaluated The conservation status of the species has not been studied.

Of the listed taxa, 7 are extinct, 1 (not recognized by the IUCN) is possibly extinct, 30 are critically endangered, 46 are endangered, 26 are vulnerable, and 23 are near threatened. These status tags were most recently updated in April 2011. Six of the extinct or possibly extinct taxa and 11 of the critically endangered taxa are insular (all but two of these are rodents); another 13 of the critically endangered species (all rodents or shrews) are montane. The only critically endangered species that are neither rodents nor shrews are the Cozumel Island raccoon and the vaquita. The vaquita population estimate has dropped below 100 as of 2014 and it is regarded as being in imminent danger of extinction.

Subclass: Theria

Infraclass: Metatheria

Order: Didelphimorphia (common opossums) Didelphimorphia is the order of common opossums of the Western Hemisphere. Opossums probably diverged from the basic South American marsupials in the late Cretaceous or early Paleocene. They are small to medium-sized marsupials, about the size of a large house cat, with a long snout and prehensile tail.

Family: Didelphidae (American opossums) Subfamily: Caluromyinae Genus: Caluromys Derby's woolly opossum, C. derbianus Subfamily: Didelphinae Genus: Chironectes Water opossum, C. minimus Genus: Didelphis Common opossum, D. marsupialis Virginia opossum, D. virginiana Genus: Marmosa Mexican mouse opossum, M. mexicana Genus: Metachirus Brown four-eyed opossum, M. nudicaudatus Genus: Philander Gray four-eyed opossum, P. opossum Genus: Tlacuatzin Grayish mouse opossum, T. canescens

Infraclass: Eutheria

Order: Sirenia (manatees and dugongs)

Sirenia is an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit rivers, estuaries, coastal marine waters, swamps, and marine wetlands. All four species are endangered. They evolved about 50 million years ago, and their closest living relatives are elephants. Manatees are the only extant afrotherians in the Americas. However, a number proboscid species, some of which survived until the arrival of Paleo-Indians, once inhabited the region. Mammoths, mastodons and gomphotheres all formerly lived in Mexico.

Family: Trichechidae Genus: Trichechus West Indian manatee, T. manatus

Order: Cingulata (armadillos)

Armadillos are small mammals with a bony armored shell. Two of twenty-one extant species are present in Mexico; the remainder are only found in South America, where they originated. Their much larger relatives, the pampatheres and glyptodonts, once lived in North and South America but went extinct following the appearance of humans. Family: Dasypodidae (long-nosed armadillos) Subfamily: Dasypodinae Genus: Dasypus Nine-banded armadillo, D. novemcinctus Family: Chlamyphoridae (armadillos) Subfamily: Tolypeutinae Genus: Cabassous Northern naked-tailed armadillo, C. centralis

Order: Pilosa (anteaters, sloths and tamanduas)

The order Pilosa is extant only in the Americas and includes the anteaters, sloths, and tamanduas. Their ancestral home is South America. Numerous ground sloths, some of which reached the size of elephants, were once present in both North and South America, as well as on the Antilles, but all went extinct following the arrival of humans.

Suborder: Vermilingua Family: Cyclopedidae Genus: Cyclopes Common silky anteater, C. didactylus Central American silky anteater, C. dorsalis Family: Myrmecophagidae (American anteaters) Genus: Tamandua Northern tamandua, T. mexicana

Order: Primates

The order Primates includes the lemurs, monkeys, and apes, with the latter category including humans. It is divided into four main groupings: strepsirrhines, tarsiers, monkeys of the New World (parvorder Platyrrhini), and monkeys and apes of the Old World. Mexico's 2 genera of nonhuman primates compares to 6 in Central America, 20 in South America, 15 in Madagascar, 23 in Africa and 19 in Asia. Mexican and Central American monkeys are recent immigrants from South America, where their ancestors arrived after rafting over from Africa roughly 25 million years ago. Southeastern Mexico is the northernmost limit of the distribution of New World monkeys, which are restricted to tropical rainforest habitat. Suborder: Haplorrhini Infraorder: Simiiformes Parvorder: Platyrrhini Family: Atelidae Subfamily: Alouattinae Genus: Alouatta Mantled howler, A. palliata Guatemalan black howler, A. pigra Subfamily: Atelinae Genus: Ateles Geoffroy's spider monkey, A. geoffroyi

Order: Rodentia (rodents)

Rodents make up the largest order of mammals, with over 40% of mammalian species. They have two incisors in the upper and lower jaw which grow continually and must be kept short by gnawing. Most rodents are small, although the capybara can weigh up to . According to the IUCN listing, Mexico has more rodent species (236 as of April 2011) than any other country in the world (Brazil is second with 222). Of Mexico's rodents, 2% are caviomorphs, 14.5% are sciurids, 25.5% are castorimorphs and 58% are cricetids. This distribution is fairly similar to that of the remainder of North America (although sciurids are relatively twice as abundant to the north, at the expense of cricetids), but is very different from that of South America, where the corresponding figures are 36%, 3%, 1% and 60%. Of Mexico's cricetids, 17% are sigmodontine, while the figure for South America is 99.5%. Mexico's caviomorphs are recent immigrants from South America, where their ancestors washed ashore after rafting across the Atlantic from Africa about 40–45 million years ago. Conversely, South America's sciurids, castorimorphs and cricetids are recent immigrants from Central America (with sigmodontines getting a head start on the others).

Suborder: Hystricomorpha Family: Erethizontidae (New World porcupines) Subfamily: Erethizontinae Genus: Erethizon North American porcupine, E. dorsatum Genus: Coendou Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine, Coendou mexicanus Family: Dasyproctidae (agoutis and pacas) Genus: Dasyprocta Mexican agouti, Dasyprocta mexicana Central American agouti, Dasyprocta punctata Family: Cuniculidae Genus: Cuniculus Lowland paca, Cuniculus paca Suborder: Sciuromorpha Family: Sciuridae (squirrels) Subfamily: Sciurinae Tribe: Pteromyini Genus: Glaucomys Southern flying squirrel, Glaucomys volans Tribe: Sciurini Genus: Sciurus Abert's squirrel, Sciurus aberti Allen's squirrel, Sciurus alleni Arizona gray squirrel, Sciurus arizonensis Mexican gray squirrel, Sciurus aureogaster Collie's squirrel, Sciurus colliaei Deppe's squirrel, Sciurus deppei Western gray squirrel, Sciurus griseus Mexican fox squirrel, Sciurus nayaritensis Fox squirrel, Sciurus niger Peters's squirrel, Sciurus oculatus Variegated squirrel, Sciurus variegatoides Yucatan squirrel, Sciurus yucatanensis Genus: Tamiasciurus Douglas squirrel, Tamiasciurus douglasii Mearns's squirrel, T. d. mearnsi Subfamily: Xerinae Tribe: Marmotini Genus: Ammospermophilus Harris's antelope squirrel, Ammospermophilus harrisii Espíritu Santo antelope squirrel, Ammospermophilus insularis Texas antelope squirrel, Ammospermophilus interpres White-tailed antelope squirrel, Ammospermophilus leucurus Genus: Cynomys Black-tailed prairie dog, Cynomys ludovicianus Mexican prairie dog, Cynomys mexicanus Genus: Neotamias Buller's chipmunk, Neotamias bulleri Cliff chipmunk, Neotamias dorsalis Durango chipmunk, Neotamias durangae Merriam's chipmunk, Neotamias merriami California chipmunk, Neotamias obscurus Genus: Spermophilus Tropical ground squirrel, Spermophilus adocetus Ring-tailed ground squirrel, Spermophilus annulatus Baja California rock squirrel, Spermophilus atricapillus California ground squirrel, Spermophilus beecheyi Sierra Madre ground squirrel, Spermophilus madrensis Mexican ground squirrel, Spermophilus mexicanus Perote ground squirrel, Xerospermophilus perotensis Spotted ground squirrel, Spermophilus spilosoma Round-tailed ground squirrel, Spermophilus tereticaudus Rock squirrel, Spermophilus variegatus Suborder: Castorimorpha Family: Castoridae (beavers) Genus: Castor American beaver, Castor canadensis Family: Geomyidae Genus: Cratogeomys Yellow-faced pocket gopher, Cratogeomys castanops Oriental Basin pocket gopher, Cratogeomys fulvescens Smoky pocket gopher, Cratogeomys fumosus Goldman's pocket gopher, Cratogeomys goldmani Merriam's pocket gopher, Cratogeomys merriami Perote pocket gopher, Cratogeomys perotensis Flat-headed pocket gopher, Cratogeomys planiceps Genus: Geomys Desert pocket gopher, Geomys arenarius Texas pocket gopher, Geomys personatus Tropical pocket gopher, Geomys tropicalis Genus: Orthogeomys Oaxacan pocket gopher, Orthogeomys cuniculus Giant pocket gopher, Orthogeomys grandis Hispid pocket gopher, Orthogeomys hispidus Big pocket gopher, Orthogeomys lanius Genus: Pappogeomys Alcorn's pocket gopher, Pappogeomys alcorni Buller's pocket gopher, Pappogeomys bulleri Genus: Thomomys