elephant shrew

Elephant shrews[1]
Short-eared Elephant Shrew (Macroscelides proboscideus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Infraclass: Eutheria Superorder: Afrotheria Order: Macroscelidea Butler, 1956 Family: Macroscelididae Bonaparte, 1838
Genera
Rhynchocyon Petrodromus Macroscelides Elephantulus

The small insectivorous mammals native to Africa known as elephant shrews or jumping shrews belong to the Macroscelididae family, in the order Macroscelidea. Their 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 true shrews (family Soricidae) in the order Insectivora. As it has become plain that the elephant shrews are unrelated to the shrews, some people prefer to call them sengis, a term derived from the Bantu languages of Africa.

The 15 species vary in size from about 100 mm to almost 300 mm, from just under 50 g to over 500 g. The Short-eared Elephant Shrew has an average size of 150 mm. All are quadrupedal with rather long legs for their size, and although the size of the trunk varies from one species to another, all are able to twist it about in search of food. Their life span is about 2 or 3 years. Their diet is largely insects and other small creatures, particularly beetles, spiders, worms, ants, and termites, mostly gleaned from leaf litter, but they also take seeds and some green shoots. The Rhynchocyon species also dig small conical holes in the soil, bandicoot style.

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 semi-arid, mountainous country in the far north-west of the continent.

Although mostly diurnal and very active, they are difficult to trap and very seldom seen: sengis are wary, well camouflaged, and adept at dashing away from threats. Several species make a series of cleared pathways through the undergrowth and spend their day patrolling them for insect life: if disturbed, the pathway provides an obstacle-free escape route.

In the past, they have been classified with the shrews and hedgehogs as part of the Insectivora; regarded as distant relatives of the ungulates; grouped with the treeshrews; and lumped in with the hares and rabbits in Lagomorpha. Recent molecular evidence, however, strongly supports a superorder Afrotheria which unites tenrecs, and golden moles with certain ungulates or mammals that were previously presumed to be ungulates, including hyraxes, sirenians, aardvarks and elephants, as well as the elephant shrews.

An elephant shrew from Frankfurt Zoo.

• ORDER MACROSCELIDEA^[1]
  • Family Macroscelididae
    • Genus Elephantulus
      • Short-snouted Elephant Shrew, Elephantulus brachyrhynchus
      • Cape Elephant Shrew, Elephantulus edwardii
      • Dusky-footed Elephant Shrew, Elephantulus fuscipes
      • Dusky Elephant Shrew, Elephantulus fuscus
      • Bushveld Elephant Shrew, Elephantulus intufi
      • Eastern Rock Elephant Shrew, Elephantulus myurus
      • Somali Elephant Shrew, Elephantulus revoili
      • North African Elephant Shrew, Elephantulus rozeti
      • Rufous Elephant Shrew, Elephantulus rufescens
      • Western Rock Elephant Shrew, Elephantulus rupestris
    • Genus Macroscelides
      • Short-eared Elephant Shrew, Macroscelides proboscideus
    • Genus Petrodromus
      • Four-toed Elephant Shrew, Petrodromus tetradactylus
    • Genus Rhynchocyon
      • Golden-rumped Elephant Shrew, Rhynchocyon chrysopygus
      • Checkered Elephant Shrew, Rhynchocyon cirnei
      • Black and Rufous Elephant Shrew, Rhynchocyon petersi

External links

• Elephant Shrew: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife & Reptiles Foundation

References

Murata Y, Nikaido M, Sasaki T, Cao Y, Fukumoto Y, Hasegawa M, Okada N. Afrotherian phylogeny as inferred from complete mitochondrial genomes. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2003 Aug;28(2):253-60.

Murphy WJ, Eizirik E, Johnson WE, Zhang YP, Ryder OA, O'Brien SJ. Molecular phylogenetics and the origins of placental mammals. Nature. 2001 Feb 1;409(6820):614-8.

Tabuce R, Marivaux L, Adaci M, Bensalah M, Hartenberger JL, Mahboubi M, Mebrouk F, Tafforeau P, Jaeger JJ. Early Tertiary mammals from North Africa reinforce the molecular Afrotheria clade. Proc Biol Sci. 2007 May 7;274(1614):1159-66.

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