Nature Atlas

How Nature Works
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Taxa

Tenrecidae

Mammal Families

Tenrecidae is a family of afrotherian mammals in the order Afrosoricida, endemic to Madagascar and commonly called tenrecs. The family comprises three subfamilies, eight genera, and thirty one living species, which through adaptive radiation and convergent evolution have come to resemble hedgehogs, shrews, opossums, rats, or mice depending on species. Tenrecs range in size from small shrew-like forms of about five grams to the common tenrec at over a kilogram, are among the few terrestrial mammals known to echolocate, and occupy aquatic, arboreal, terrestrial, and burrowing habitats across the island.

Facts
Classification
Living or Extinct
Yes 1
Taxonomic Rank
Family 1
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Tenrec
Wikipedia
  • Tenrecidae: present tense, endemic to Madagascar
  • Introduction
    A tenrec () is a mammal belonging to any species within the afrotherian family Tenrecidae, which is endemic to Madagascar.
View the Source
Wikidata: Tenrecidae
Wikidata Q23340, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.