Elephant shrew
| Elephant shrews Temporal range: Lutetian–Recent |
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|---|---|
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| Black and rufous elephant shrew Rhynchocyon petersi | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Eutheria |
| Superorder: | Afrotheria |
| (unranked): | Afroinsectiphilia |
| Order: |
Macroscelidea Butler, 1956 |
| Family: |
Macroscelididae Bonaparte, 1838 |
| Genera | |
Elephantulus
Macroscelides
Petrodromus
Rhynchocyon
Elephant shrews, or jumping shrews, are small insectivorous mammals native to Africa, belonging to the family Macroscelididae, in the order Macroscelidea, whose traditional common English name comes from a fancied resemblance between their long noses and the trunk of an elephant, and an assumed relationship with the shrews (family Soricidae) in the order Eulipotyphla. Nonetheless, elephant shrews are not classified with the superficially similar true shrews, but are instead more closely related to elephants and their kin within the newly recognized Afrotheria; the biologist Jonathan Kingdon has proposed they instead be called sengis (singular sengi), a term derived from the Bantu languages of Africa.
They are widely distributed across the southern part of Africa, and although common nowhere, can be found in almost any type of habitat, from the Namib Desert to boulder-strewn outcrops in South Africa to thick forest. One species, the North African elephant shrew, remains in the semiarid, mountainous country in the far northwest of the continent.
The creature is one of the fastest small mammals. Despite their weight of under half a kilogram, they have been recorded to reach speeds of 28.8 km/h.
Elephant shrews are small, quadrupedal, insectivorous mammals resembling rodents or opossums, with scaly tails, elongated snouts, and rather long legs for their size, which are used to move in a hopping fashion like rabbits. They vary in size from about 10 cm to almost 30 cm, from just under 50 g to over 500 g. The short-eared elephant shrew has an average size of 150 mm (5.9 in). Although the size of the trunk varies among species, all are able to twist it about in search of food. Their lifespans are about two and a half to four years in the wild. They have large canine teeth, and also high-crowned cheek teeth similar to those of ungulates. Their dental formula is 1-3.1.4.23.1.4.2-3
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