Tailless tenrec

Tailless tenrec[1]
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Afrosoricida
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 mammal in the Tenrecidae family. It is the only member of the genus, Tenrec. It is found in Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, and Seychelles. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montanes, dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, arable land, pastureland, plantations, rural gardens, and urban areas.[2]

The tailless tenrec is the largest land-dwelling species of the Tenrecidae (tenrec family). It is 26 to 39 cm (10 to 15½ in) in length and weighs 1.5 to 2.5 kg (3¼ to 5½ lb). It has medium-sized, coarse grey to reddish-grey fur and long, sharp spines along its body. It not only eats small invertebrates among leaves, but also scavenges and hunts frogs and mice. 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 15-20 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 (⅜ to ½ in) in length.

References

  1. ^ Bronner, Gary N.; Jenkins, Paulina D. (16 November 2005). "Order Afrosoricida (pp. 71-81)". In Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). pp. 77. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3. 
  2. ^ a b Afrotheria Specialist Group (Tenrec Section), Vololomboahangy, R. & Goodman, S. (2008). Tenrec ecaudatus. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 29 December 2008.