Species introCountry intro
Lowland streaked tenrec in Maroantsetra, Madagascar
Yes, I'm definitely cursing at that grass blocking its face, but this is the only photo I have of this species. We found it when returning from dinner and walking back to our lodge at the beach in Maroantsetra. They are quite active and fast and keep changing direction, making them hard to photograph.
Tenrecs are a very interesting and diverse family of mammals of which most only occur in Madagascar, yet somehow their isolated evolution led to features we recognize in other places and species. This one has a lot in common with hedgehogs, for example.
Fun fact for this particular streaked tenrec species: it is the only mammal in the world known to produce sound by rubbing body parts together, a process called stridulation. They vibrate their quills to communicate with others.
One minute after this capture and only a few meters apart, we found the arch enemy of all tenrecs:
The lowland streaked tenrec is a small tenrec found in Madagascar.
comments (8)
http://wildlife.projectlte.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/paignton005a372-181117.jpg Posted 9 years ago
"The tenrec is the first known tropical mammal found to hibernate for long stretches without arousal periods. Because it can hibernate for up to nine months at a time these early mammals may have survived the cataclysm that killed off dinosaurs" Posted 9 years ago