Elephant Shrew (various)
Status: Endangered.
Size: Length 4 to 12 in., weight 1 oz. to 1 lb.
Characteristics: Active, swift.
Area: Africa.
Offspring: One to
three.
Trivia:
· Elephant shrews like to sunbathe to warm their bodies.
· They’re sometimes called jumping shrews.
· They’re not really shrews, nor are they related to elephants.
· 30 million-year-old elephant shrew fossils have been found, dating to the early Oligocene Epoch.
· Some scientists believe they may be related to primates, because of their large brains.
These tiny mouse-like animals have various colours, from gray to brown to a combination of the two. They’re primarily insectivores, but sometimes eat vegetation as well. Some species of elephant shrews live in burrows in the ground while others just nest under leaves on the forest floor. They have long flexible noses that are useful in sniffing out insects. The noses are black and resemble the unsharpened lead tip of a pencil. Some elephant shrews, such as the golden-rumped elephant shrew, mate for life. There are fifteen species of elephant shrews and three are endangered: the golden-rumped elephant shrew, the yellow-rumped elephant shrew and the black-and-rufous elephant shrew. Elephant shrews come out in the day and use their long tongues to scoop up insects and bring them to their mouth, much as an elephant uses his trunk to scoop food. They usually walk on all four limbs, but when they want to move quickly in order to get away from danger, they jump using their powerful hind legs.
Elephant shrews live in a variety of habitats throughout Africa, including semi-deserts, savannahs and coastal rain forests. In Kenya, they’re protected within the Gedi Historical Monument. Otherwise, the habitat of the elephant shrew is shrinking due to human encroachment. Elephant shrews are extremely territorial and become irate when another shrew approaches them on their own territory.
There is no set mating season for elephant shrews. Gestation lasts between 42 and 60 days, depending on the species. The young are born with fur and their eyes are open. They can follow their mother almost immediately after birth and are weaned within four weeks. Within another week, the youngsters become fully independent, although they may stay within their parents’ territory until they establish their own. The average lifespan of an elephant shrew in the wild is four to five years.