Short-eared Elephant Shrew

(Macroscelides proboscideus)


Facts

Short-eared Elephant Shrew 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?
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

Short-eared Elephant Shrew

 

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.

 

How this animal should be kept

Short-eared elephant-shrews are kept in desert terrarium-type enclosures. The larger the enclosure, the better, especially when the animals are kept in pairs. If kept singly, the minimum ground surface should be at least 0.5 m². The floor should be covered with sand with a grain size of 1 mm, or more coarse substrates like gravel, chips of wood or chips, but then the animals should be offered a plate with fine sand (chinchilla sand) for sand bathing. Sand for bathing must be clean and dry and should be changed regularly. The enclosure should be furnished with roots, stones, branches and pieces of bark are useful. It is not necessary to offer hay or similar material, because the animals do not build nests. What never should be missed in an enclosure for short-eared elephant-shrews is a heat source, for example an infrared bulb.