Page 21 - World of Animals - Issue #30

Bizarre!

The unusual insectivore that LOWLAND STREAKED
TENREC
Hemicentetes semispinosus
looks like a cross between a Class Mammalia

hedgehog and a shrew Territory Eastern Madagascar
Diet Worms and other
invertebrates
Lifespan 2-3 years (in
This black and yellow striped Madagascan captivity)
Adult weight 90-220g (3.2-
native uses its quills to communicate like 7.8oz)
Conservation status
no other mammal on the planet
LEAST CONCERN

It’s one
of a kind

The lowland streaked tenrec
rubs specialised spines
on its back together to produce
high-pitched sounds – a form
of communication known as
stridulation. Insects like crickets
are known for stridulating by
rubbing their legs together, but the
lowland streaked tenrec is the only
mammal with this ability.

Their family
is diverse

Tenrecs can only be found in
Madagascar, and are believed to have
evolved from a single ancestor on the
African mainland 60 million years ago.
The 25 or more species of tenrec make
up an incredibly varied family – it is
thought that this is because they were
one of very few mammals to become
established on Madagascar, so they
were free to diversify and fill many

different niches.
It communicates It likes to headbutt It can drop its

with tongue clicks its opponents body temperature

Stridulation is not the tenrec’s only form of This creature’s head is covered in a crown Lowland streaked tenrecs are active during the
communication. This feisty mammal will click of yellow spines. These can be used as day and at night. During the winter, they can
its tongue to make high-pitched sounds camouflage when the animal is foraging drop their body temperature so that it is almost

that ward off intruders, and has also been for food, but also act as a form of defence. the same as the environment they are in, but
observed doing this while foraging for food. The lowland streaked tenrec will warn off when it becomes too cold, these mammals go
This may be a form of echolocation, although predators by raising these spines, but if it into torpor. This means they can go in and out
more studies still need to be carried out to feels threatened, it will rush at its attacker and of a deep sleep to survive when temperatures © Thinkstock
determine if this is true. headbutt them at full force. drop and food is limited.

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