The study of Mexican mammals has been going on for a long time, with different stages being identified that can be directly related to the history of the country. Since the pre-Columbian and Colonial periods, the work carried out by a combination of foreigner researchers, during the first stage of the country’s independence, and later, generations of homegrown scientists with an interest in Mexican mammals has led to the development and consolidation of Mexican mammalogy as it currently stands. We offer a review of these stages and give an update of the last 10 years with consideration for the work of the scientific societies currently active, including an analysis of their scientific meetings, in order to identify the contemporary areas of interest in Mexican mammals. Two of these scientific societies are the most active in the country, the Sociedad Mexicana de Mastozología Marina and the Asociación Mexicana de Mastozoología. Both have held regular scientific meetings and actualization courses for students. Four journals, mainly focused on terrestrial mammals, are published regularly, and two of these were recently created to promote dissemination of knowledge about mammals. Ecology is the predominant research topic, followed by disease/parasitism and distribution, representing the topics of 11 of the 13 scientific meetings held in the last decade. We discuss new approaches to and challenges for the study of Mexican mammals, given the current context of the country.