Elephant shrew. Black-red (fiery) elephant shrew or black-fiery Sengi. Range, habitats

Look at his nose and mouth! You, right, thought that this creature is a relative of the elephant?

No? And in vain - because jumpers, along with tenrecs and aardvarks, are relatives of elephants - not as close as hyraxes and manatees, but closer than all other animals, because they originated from the same ancestor when Africa was isolated from the rest of the continents, and formed a superorder of afrotheria. When the jumpers were given English title- elephant shrew - they did not know about it, and thought that it was elephant shrew. But it turned out - such a shrew elephant.

Red jumpers weigh about 50 g, and live in pairs among dry shrubs. East Africa, each couple in their own area. The plot is large - from 1600 to 4500 m 2. They protect this area from other jumpers - males from males, females from females.

The rivals who met at the boundary slowly go around each other, performing a ritual dance - they importantly raise their long paws and try to appear more impressive. If the opponent is impudent, they bravely rush into battle. The battle of the jumpers lasts a few seconds.

When the jumper is calm, he walks on four legs.

When he runs fast, he switches to a ricochet run on the back, like a jerboa or a kangaroo. In order to run, each couple builds a complex maze of intersecting paths in their area and memorizes it in great detail in order to know where to unexpectedly turn off, running away from a predator. Little-used paths consist only of a chain of small, bare, oval patches of sandy soil upon which jumpers land as they jump, while frequently used paths are continuous, scrubbed tunnels through the forest floor.

The labyrinth is kept immaculately clean - so that you can run through it at full speed. Male and female spend daily 20-40% of daylight hours separately from each other, inspecting the network of their roads and sweeping fallen leaves and branches, quickly throwing them aside with their front paws - so that God forbid they do not stumble at the most crucial moment. Males spend almost twice as much time clearing trails than females. Take care.

While the jumper is inspecting his labyrinth, the food itself comes to him - insects, mainly ants and termites, with which the jumper feeds, go out onto the paths, where they are easy to spot and catch.

Having decided that it is dangerous, the jumper, before running, knocks on the ground with his hind paw to warn the second. And then he runs.

A couple at a time gives birth to one or two fully formed cubs - miniature copies of adults, like elephants or ungulates. They are covered with wool, sighted and, in principle, ready to run, but at first they are hidden somewhere on the path, in a secluded place, and in case of danger they cling to the mother's nipple and are transferred to a safe place. Breastfeeding lasts only 2 weeks. At the age of 2-3 months, young jumpers become sexually mature.

The jumper's penis is divided into three lobes.

The elephant shrew (Macroscelidea), also known as the jumper, is a small mammal native to Africa. Macroscelidea means "macro" long and "skelidos" legs. Traditionally, this animal received the name "elephant-shrew" in connection with the outward resemblance of its long nose to an elephant's trunk. And the name jumping shrew appeared in connection with the discovery of a marsh species of an elephant shrew, which has especially long hind legs. This species is one of the fastest runners among all shrew elephants, can develop enough great speed thanks to the long hind legs and to jump higher than a meter.

For a long time, zoologists failed to correctly classify this animal. In the past, it was classified as an insectivore, along with shrews and hedgehogs. Then scientists grouped them together with tree shrews and included them in the lagomorph order, which includes hares and, and even considered them as distant relatives of ungulates, to which the llama belongs.

However, modern data strongly support the belonging of the elephant shrew to the superorder Afrotheria, which includes proboscideans, sirens, jumpers, tenrek-like, aardvark and. In connection with this modern classification, it has become common to use a hyphen in the name "elephant shrew" and "leaping shrew" to distinguish these animals from the simple shrew.

One of the remarkable aspects about the shrew elephant is that it is a living fossil. Scientists use the term "living fossil" to describe species that lived many millions of years ago. For example, the swamp shrew has changed very little from its ancestor, which flourished on the African continent about 30 million years ago.

Like their ancestors, shrew elephants insectivorous mammals, which means that they are carnivores with a diet consisting almost exclusively of insects and other such small creatures. These animals have a brownish-gray coat color. Body length varies from 10 to almost 30 centimeters, and weight from 50 to 500 g, depending on the species. Life span in wild nature ranges from two and a half to four years.

Jumpers feed mainly on insects, spiders, centipedes, centipedes and earthworms. They use their long nose to find their prey, and use their equally long tongue to send food into their mouths, just like anteaters. Some shrew elephants sometimes add to their diet vegetable food, especially young leaves, as well as seeds and small fruits.

mating season lasts for several days. After mating, the couple returns to their solitary life. The female gives birth to a litter consisting of 1-3 cubs several times a year, after a gestation period of 45 to 60 days. The young are born relatively well developed, but remain in the nest for several days before venturing out of the burrow into the outdoors. After 5 days, they already feed on insects, which the mother collects in cheek pouches and brings them to them. Then gradually they begin to learn environment and hunt insects on their own. After about 15 days, young jumpers begin the migratory stage of their lives, which reduces their dependence on their mother, and create their own own houses in the range of about 1 km2.

Jumpers are not found outside the African continent, and most species live south of the Sahara Desert. But there are species that prefer the semi-arid regions of North Africa, such as Algeria and Morocco. Some of them are found in savannahs, lowland forests and mountains with dense undergrowth, while others live in thickets. Central Africa and its east coast.

The elephant shrew's main predators are humans, who use it as a food source. However, the most serious threat to shrew elephants is the fragmentation of forest areas, as it is often difficult for animals to move to habitats where there are more potential breeding partners and food resources.

A calf was recently born at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington state rare species rodents from the elephant shrew family.

The elephant shrew (or elephant jumper) was named so for its elongated movable nose, resembling a miniature trunk. Despite the name, this animal is not related to shrews and for the most part moves by running, although it can also jump quite well. Surprisingly, elephant shrews are similar to elephants not only in appearance - they are actually relatives.

This strange beast could not be classified for a very long time. The jumper was attributed to insectivores, it was believed that he was a relative of the tupai, hares, or even ungulates. But as molecular studies have shown, jumpers, like elephants, belong to the afrotherian group. They descended from a common ancestor who lived in North Africa about 60 million years ago. True, the closest relatives of jumpers turned out to be not elephants, but no less strange tenrecs, aardvarks and golden moles, which also belong to afrotheria. IN Lately elephant shrews began to be called by their African name - sengi, to distinguish them from real shrews.

flickr / Lennart Tange

Jumpers are small animals (10–30 centimeters in length) with a very long tail, which can be longer than the body. Their miniature "trunk" nose is surrounded by bundles of sensitive vibrissae. On the tail, on the soles and on the chest, the jumpers have sebaceous glands that secrete an odorous substance with which they mark the grass and paths in their territory. The animals carefully look after their thick fur and “comb” it with their hind paws several times a day, standing on the remaining three.

flickr/Peter Miller

Sengi live almost throughout Africa south of the Sahara and in certain areas of North Africa. Some species prefer savannas and deserts and are even found in the Namib Desert, one of the driest places on the planet. Others settled in tropical forests. The animals feed mainly on insects, worms and spiders. If the prey is small, like ants or termites, then the jumper draws it into its mouth with its tongue, like a miniature anteater. It is already more difficult to deal with large insects or worms: in order to eat prey a quarter or even half its height, it presses down an insect or worm with its front paw and eats from the side, much like a dog gnaws a large bone.

flickr / Amara U

Jumpers are diurnal animals, the peak of their activity occurs at dawn and dusk, and during the day they hide from the heat and sleep in burrows or in the shade of stones or shrubs. In the morning and at sunset, they spend most of their time looking for food. Many types of sengi clear paths in the grass and spend a lot of time removing leaves, branches and other debris from them that impede movement. They use trails to hunt insects and escape from predators, so clear, unobstructed trails can save jumpers' lives.

The animals are very shy (which is not surprising given their size) and at the slightest noise or incomprehensible movement break away and run away. Fleeing from persecution, they move in long jumps, and if necessary, they can jump in length or jump up 40 centimeters and higher (several times higher than their height).

Sengi are usually monogamous. Male and female live in the same territory (and jealously guard it), but most of the time they are kept alone, and meet only for a short time to conceive offspring. In relation to other relatives, they are completely unfriendly. If an alien wanders into their area, they first drum on the ground with their hind legs or slap it with their tail. If this does not help, the jumpers begin to run in front of the enemy on straight legs (perhaps to appear taller), and then start chasing him. Usually the intruder runs away, and the owner (or mistress) returns to his territory.

flickr / Nathan Rein

Jumpers are very silent. In addition to the "drumming" with which they drive out strangers from their territory and warn other individuals of danger, sengs living in captivity squeal loudly only when they are rudely treated, and cubs make a chirping sound when they are hungry.

Elephant shrews are isolated in a separate detachment, macroscelidea. The living jumpers belong to several species that form four genera: proboscis dogs ( Rhynchocyon), forest jumpers ( Petrodromus), long-eared ( Elephantulus) and short-eared ( Macroscelides) jumpers. Most of them are quite numerous, but some species are included in the Red Book, and golden proboscis dogs, due to hunting and habitat destruction, are threatened with complete extinction.

Jumpers belong to the family of African mammals and can be of different sizes, usually there are three types: large, medium and small.

Depending on belonging to certain kind The size of the body of a rodent can vary from 10 to 30 cm, while the length of the tail ranges from 8 to 25 cm. Jumper in the photo looks very cute and unusual, but in real life it is very difficult to see it because of fast speed movement.

The muzzle of all jumpers is long, very mobile, the ears of a rodent are the same. The limbs end with four or five fingers, the hind legs are much longer. The coat of the animal is soft, long, the color depends on the species - from yellow to black.

This animal lives mainly on the plains, overgrown with shrubs or dense grass, and are also found in forests. Because of the thick coat, jumpers do not tolerate heat well and that is why they are looking for shaded areas for a permanent place of life.

The forelimbs are designed so that the animal can easily dig solid soil. Sometimes this helps them create their own burrows, but most often rodents occupy the empty houses of other inhabitants of the steppes.

Of course, jumpers can live not only in burrows, a reliable blockage of stones or thick branches and tree roots is also well suited. The peculiarity of these rodents lies in their ability to move using all four or only two paws.

Thus, if animal jumper he is not in a hurry, he, moving with all his paws, slowly moves along the ground “on foot”. However, in case of danger or when catching prey, when the rodent needs to quickly move from place to place, it rises only on its hind legs and quickly jumps. The tail, the length of which is often equal to the length of the body, is always raised up or trails along the ground for the animal; the jumper never drags its tail behind itself.

Meet the jumper in natural environment habitat is extremely difficult, since the animal is very shy, and mobile, sensitive to any sound vibrations, ears, allow it to hear the approach of danger at a considerable distance. These rodents live in Zanzibar. In total, the jumping family includes four genera, which, in turn, are divided into fourteen species.

The nature and lifestyle of the jumper

The choice of a place of life for an animal is determined by its belonging to a particular species. Thus, elephant jumper can live in any terrain, from deserts to dense forests, while short-eared jumper can feel comfortable only in the forests.

Jumpers of all kinds belong to terrestrial animals. Like all small rodents, they are extremely mobile. The peak of activity occurs during daylight hours, however, if the animal is too hot during the day, it also feels good at dusk and in the dark.

Jumpers hide from the heat in any shaded places - under stones, in thickets of bushes and grass, in their own and other people's holes, under fallen trees. You can meet both single-living jumpers and representatives of monogamous couples.

Pictured is an elephant jumper

However, in any case, these rodents actively protect their own home and surrounding area. In addition, in cases where jumpers live in pairs, males protect their own females from foreign males, girls perform the same function in relation to foreign females.

Thus, jumping bugs can show aggression towards members of their own species. long-eared jumpers are an exception to this pattern. Even monogamous pairs of this species can form large colonies and work together to protect the territory from other animals.

As a rule, jumpers do not make any sounds, even during the mating season, fights and stress. But, some individuals may express dissatisfaction or fear with the help of long tail- they knock them on the ground, sometimes while stomping their hind legs.

An interesting fact is that sometimes jumpers live next door to each other, for example, if there are not enough places in the area to create holes or there is little food. However, in this case, rodents living nearby will not contact each other in any way, but they will not attack each other either.

Pictured is a long-eared jumper

Nutrition

These small rodents prefer to feed. It can be ants, termites, other small ones. However, if the jumper meets on the way greens, fruits and berries that are edible for him, he will not disdain them, as well as nutritious roots.

As a rule, a jumper living permanently in the same territory knows exactly where to go in order to eat well. For example, when hungry, the animal can slowly go to the nearest anthill (if insects have this moment waking time).

The extraction of such food is not difficult - having eaten enough, the jumper can rest nearby, and then continue the meal, or, of course, return to its hole for a long sleep. Such power sources do not disappear from their usual location, and the jumper knows this very well.

Reproduction and lifespan

In the wild, some species of jumpers make up monogamous pairs, others lead a solitary lifestyle, meeting with relatives only for breeding.

The mating season dates from the end of summer - the beginning of autumn. Then, in monogamous couples, the process of copulation takes place, and single jumpers are forced to temporarily leave their usual place of life in order to find a partner.

Pregnancy in a female jumper lasts a long time - about two months. In most cases, two cubs are born, less often - one. The female does not build a special nest in order to give birth to offspring there, she does this in the nearest shelter or in her hole. Jumper cubs immediately see and hear well, have thick long hair. Already in the first day of life, they can move quickly.

In the photo, the cubs of the jumper

Females of this family are not famous for their strong maternal instinct- they do not protect and do not warm the cubs, their only permanent function is to feed the children with milk several times a day (and often one).

After 2-3 weeks, the kids leave their shelter and independently begin to look for food and their own place to live. After a month and a half, they are ready for procreation.

In the wild, the jumper lives 1-2 years, in captivity it can live up to 4 years. Buy jumper you can in a specialized pet store, but first you need to create all the conditions to feel comfortable.