Short-eared Elephant Shrew
(Macroscelides proboscideus)
Facts
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IUCN LEAST CONCERN (LC)
Facts about this animal
This is one of the smaller elephant-shrew species. Adults have a head-body length of about 10 to 11 cm and a tail length of about 11 to 13 cm. Body-weight ranges from 31 to 47 g.
Did you know?
That in the past, elephant shrews have been classified as part of the Insectivora, regarded as distant relatives of the ungulates, grouped with the treeshrews and lumped in with the hares and rabbits in one order?
| Factsheet | |
|---|---|
| Class | MAMMALIA |
| Order | MACROSCELIDEA |
| Family | MACROSCELIDIDAE |
| Name (Scientific) | Macroscelides proboscideus |
| Name (English) | Short-eared Elephant Shrew |
| Name (French) | Macroscélide à oreilles courtes |
| Name (German) | Kurzohr-Rüsselspringer |
| Name (Spanish) | Macroscelid de las aurelhas cortas |
| Local names | Afrikaans: Ronde-oorklaasneus |
| CITES Status | Not listed |
| CMS Status | Not listed |
Photo Copyright by
Olaf Leilinger
Distribution
| Distribution | |
|---|---|
| Range | Botswana, Namibia, South Africa |
| Habitat | Sandy and gravelly thornbush plains |
| Wild population | Unknown (Red List IUCN 2011) |
| Zoo population | 121 reported to ISIS (2006) |
In the Zoo
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How this animal should be transported
For air transport, Container Note 81 of the IATA Live Animals Regulations should be followed.
Find this animal on ZooLex
Photo Copyright by
Salix
Why do zoos keep this animal
While not endangered in the wild, short-eared elephant shrews are often kept by zoos because they are one of the most attractive mammalian species of their size and because - representing a mammalian order of their own - they are of considerable educational interest.