The lesser hedgehog tenrec (''Echinops telfairi'') is a species of mammal in the family Tenrecidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Echinops'' and is named in honour of Charles Telfair. 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 ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, shrubland, and shrubland and dry

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

Description

The lesser hedgehog tenrec is a small, stout-bodied animal similar to a

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduct ...

, hence the name. Their tails are short, their limbs and muzzles are of moderate length, and their ears are prominent. The entire dorsum is covered with sharp spines. Color is usually yellow buff; individuals range from near white to almost black. Head and body length is . Weight is about . Lesser hedgehog tenrecs (like all tenrecs) have a

cloaca In animal anatomy, a cloaca ( ), plural cloacae ( or ), is the posterior orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive, reproductive, and urinary tracts (if present) of many vertebrate animals. All amphibians, reptiles and birds ...

(common uro-genital opening), like a bird or a reptile.

Behavior

This tenrec is terrestrial. It spends its daytime hours resting under a log, a pile of branches, leaves, straws or in a hollow tree, although trees are widely scattered in its native habitat. In hot weather, it sleeps with its body extended, but otherwise lies in a curled position to rest. It enters a state of torpor in the winter time. They mostly feed upon insects but may prey on small vertebrates, and usually forage alone, except for a mother with her young. Breeding is known to occur in October but may depend on warm weather first arousing the animals from winter torpor and on an available food supply. The Lesser hedgehog tenrec is a host of the Acanthocephalan intestinal parasite '' Promoniliformis ovocristatus''.

Captivity

The lesser hedgehog tenrec has become popular in the

exotic pet An exotic pet is a pet which is relatively rare or unusual to keep, or is generally thought of as a wild species rather than as a domesticated pet. The definition varies by culture, location, and over time—as animals become firmly enough est ...

industry.

References

* Simon and Schuster's Guide to Mammals

External links

*View th
Lesser hedgehog tenrec genome
in

Ensembl Ensembl genome database project is a scientific project at the European Bioinformatics Institute, which provides a centralized resource for geneticists, molecular biologists and other researchers studying the genomes of our own species and other ...

. {{Taxonbar, from=Q613836 Afrosoricida Mammals of Madagascar Mammals described in 1838 Taxa named by William Charles Linnaeus Martin Taxonomy articles created by Polbot

Description

Behavior

Captivity

References

Further reading

External links