Tailless tenrec

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Tailless tenrec[1]

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Afrosoricida
Suborder: Tenrecomorpha
Family: Tenrecidae
Subfamily: Tenrecinae
Genus: Tenrec
Lacépède, 1799
Species:
T. ecaudatus
Binomial name
Tenrec ecaudatus
(Schreber, 1778)
Tailless tenrec range

The tailless tenrec (Tenrec ecaudatus), also known as the common tenrec, is a species of

Tenrecidae. It is the only member of the genus Tenrec. Native to Madagascar, it is also found on the Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, and Seychelles island groups, where it has been purposely introduced.[2] Its natural habitat is the understory of subtropical-tropical forest, open forest, arid shrub-land, savanna, arable land, pastures, crop plantations, private gardens, and some landscaped, urban areas.[2]

The tailless tenrec is the largest species of the tenrec family, Tenrecidae. It is 26 to 39 cm (10 to 15 in) in length and weighs up to 2 kilograms (4.4 lb).

rodents for which it is often mistaken, possesses small, needle-like sharp teeth for a diet of larger invertebrates, frogs, reptiles, mice and other small mammals, as well as fruits, leaves and other vegetation.[3] If threatened, this tenrec will scream, erect its spiny hairs to a crest, jump, buck and bite. It shelters in a nest of grass and leaves under a rock, log or bush by day. It gives birth to a litter of as many as 32 young, with an average litter between 15 and 20 after a gestation
of 50–60 days; when young, they have a black-and-white striped appearance. Despite being sometimes known as the tailless tenrec, they have a small tail 1 to 1.5 cm (0.39 to 0.59 in) in length.

The tailless tenrec was the first tropical mammal observed to hibernate, for long stretches of time without waking periods, up to nine months at a time.

Promoniliformis ovocristatus.[5]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tenrec ecaudatus.
  1. OCLC 62265494
    .
  2. ^
    doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T40595A97204107.en
    . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Tenrec ecaudatus (Tailless tenrec)". Animal Diversity Web.
  4. ^ Gruber, K. G. (23 October 2014). "Mammals may have slept through dinosaur extinction". Australian Geographic. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
  5. doi:10.1051/parasite/1963385793
    . Retrieved February 9, 2020.
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