The black and rufous sengi (''Rhynchocyon petersi''), the black and rufous elephant shrew, or the Zanj elephant shrew is one of the 17 species of

elephant shrew Elephant shrews, also called jumping shrews or sengis, are small insectivore, insectivorous mammals native to Africa, belonging to the family Macroscelididae, in the order (biology), order Macroscelidea. Their traditional common English name "ele ...

found only in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. It is native to the lowland

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

and dense forests of

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. Like other members of the genus ''

Rhynchocyon ''Rhynchocyon'' is a genus of elephant shrew (or sengi) in the family Macroscelididae. Members of this genus are known colloquially as giant sengis. They are a ground-dwelling mammal, significantly larger than their relatives in the order Macrosc ...

'', it is a relatively large species, with adults averaging about in length and in weight.

Distribution and habitat

The forests of the

Eastern Arc Mountains The Eastern Arc Mountains are a chain of mountains found in Kenya and Tanzania. The chain runs from northeast to southwest, with the Taita Hills being in Kenya and the other ranges being in Tanzania. They are delimited on the southwest by the fau ...

are critical habitats for ''R. petersi''. The Chome Forest Reserve in Tanzania is an isolated, and largely undisturbed, habitat for the shrews. Populations densities in the Chome area are significantly lower than the surrounding areas, home to approximately 2700 ''R. petersi'', and is thought to be the result of restricted migration and illegal human activity. It was once listed by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

as vulnerable, but has since been changed to a status of least concern. However, its numbers are reportedly declining; suffering from severe

forest fragmentation Habitat fragmentation describes the emergence of discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organism's preferred environment (habitat), causing population fragmentation and ecosystem decay. Causes of habitat fragmentation include geological proces ...

and degradation from human expansion.M. Hoffmann, N. Burgess, and F. Rovero. (2016). ''Rhynchocyon petersi''. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T19708A21286959. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016- 1.RLTS.T19708A21286959.en

Diet and behaviour

It eats insects such as beetles,

termite Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...

s, and

centipede Centipedes (from Neo-Latin , "hundred", and Latin , "foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', "lip", and Neo-Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphylum Myriapoda, ...

s, using its

proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular arthropod mouthparts, mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a pr ...

to dig them from the soil and its tongue to lick them up. Like most elephant shrews, it lives in

monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a relationship of two individuals in which they form a mutual and exclusive intimate partnership. Having only one partner at any one time, whether for life or serial monogamy, contrasts with various forms of non-monogamy (e.g. ...

pairs, defending

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

-sized territories. It typically builds ground level nests for shelter requiring dry

leaf litter Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall, or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that has fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituen ...

often at the base of trees.

Elephant shrews in zoological gardens

Several

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

s have begun breeding this elephant shrew, including seven in Europe,https://www.prazskyden.cz/prazska-zoo-ma-noveho-vzacneho-obyvatele-zije-jen-v-nekolika-evropskych-zahradach/ Prague ZOO exhibits new elephant shrews such as the

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

zoos, along with four zoos in the United States including the

Philadelphia Zoo The Philadelphia Zoo is a zoo located in the Centennial District of Philadelphia on the west bank of the Schuylkill River. It was the first true zoo in the United States; it was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on March 21, 1859 ...

. For example, two black and rufous sengi males were born on February 4, 2007, at the National Zoo in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, which no longer keep the species.

References

Black and Rufous Elephant Shrew skeleton

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1422628 black and rufous elephant shrew Mammals of Kenya Mammals of Tanzania black and rufous elephant shrew Taxa named by José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage