Fiery spiny mouse

The fiery spiny mouse (Acomys ignitus) is a small rodent of the family Muridae that lives in southern Kenya and northeastern Tanzania, near the Usambara Mountains. It is a little larger than most of its relatives, about 10 cm long, and its coat runs from deep brown to reddish with some black on the back, sometimes looking orange, over a white belly. Like other spiny mice it carries stiff guard hairs that resemble tiny quills and detach easily from the skin, but it loses its scaled tail less readily than other members of the genus. It lives mainly on rocky outcrops and cliffs in dry savanna between roughly 700 and 1,000 metres, so its populations are patchy and isolated. It also turns up in gardens, grain stores and straw huts, where it can outcompete Wilson's spiny mouse for food. It is omnivorous, eating mostly grain and seeds along with insects, and it is nocturnal, shy and gentle, though captive groups have shown killing of group members.