The Cape elephant shrew (''Elephantulus edwardii''), also known as the Cape rock elephant-shrew,Petra Wester
"Sticky snack for sengis: The Cape rock elephant-shrew, ''Elephantulus edwardii'' (Macroscelidea), as a pollinator of the Pagoda lily, ''Whiteheadia bifolia'' (Hyacinthaceae)"
''Springer-Verlag'', November 16, 2010. Retrieved 2019-04-11. or Cape rock sengi, is a species of

elephant shrew Elephant shrews, also called jumping shrews or sengis, are small insectivorous mammals native to Africa, belonging to the family Macroscelididae, in the order Macroscelidea. Their traditional common English name "elephant shrew" comes from a pe ...

in the family Macroscelididae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, although it is a relatively common animal. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is rocky areas. Elephant shrews are not closely related to other species of shrews and to rodents such as mice. ''E. edwardii'' has been observed to be a non-flying mammal pollinator of the pagoda lily (''

Massonia bifolia ''Massonia bifolia'' is a species of geophyte in the genus '' Massonia''. It is endemic to Namibia. Distribution ''Massonia bifolia'' is found from southern Namibia down to the Western Cape. Habitat ''Massonia bifolia'' is found mostly i ...

''). Elephant shrews are floral pollinators due to their largely insectivorous diet. Elephant-shrews are pollinators of Hyobanche atropurpurea. It uses its long slender tongue to feed on the pagoda lily's nectar while getting the lily's pollen on its long nose. ''E. edwardii'' is also a pollinator of ''

Protea sulphurea ''Protea sulphurea'', also known as the sulphur sugarbush, is a flowering plant of the genus ''Protea'' in the family Proteaceae, which is only known to grow in the wild in the Western Cape province of South Africa. A vernacular name for the pla ...

''.Kühn, N., Midgley, J. & Steenhuisen, S.-L. (2017). Reproductive biology of three co-occurring, primarily small-mammal pollinated Protea species (Proteaceae). ''South African Journal of Botany''. 113: 337-345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2017.08.020.

References

Endemic fauna of South Africa Elephant shrews Mammals of South Africa Mammals described in 1839 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{macroscelidea-stub