TENREC

also spelled Tanrec, any of the 23 varied species of mammals constituting the family Tenrecidae, order Insectivora. Except for the otter shrew, which is sometimes placed in a separate family, tenrecs are confined natively to Madagascar and the Comoro Islands. Typical tenrecs are round-bodied, bigheaded animals with pointed faces and very wide mouths when opened. They forage chiefly at night, looking for earthworms, grubs, other insects, and mollusks, which they root up with their flexible snouts. Several species spend the dry season asleep in burrows. Tenrecs are the most fecund of insectivores. The common, or tailless, tenrec (Tenrec ecaudatus; sometimes Centetes ecaudatus) is one of the largest insectivores and grows up to 41 cm (16 inches) long. It has dorsal spines or stiff hairs (depending on age) as well as pale-brown, coarse hair. The female bears as many as 21 young (usually 12 to 16) at a time, which may be a record among mammals. The streaked, or banded, tenrec (Hemicentetes semispinosus), 18 cm (7 inches) long, has black-and-white bands along the body and at any age is prickly on the midback. The Madagascar hedgehog is the 18-centimetre-long spiny tenrec (Setifer setosus; sometimes Ericulus setosus); it is fully spined and looks almost like a true hedgehog. Other species of tenrecs may have soft fur. The three rice tenrecs (genus Oryzorictes) are molelike forms that burrow in rice fields for insects and do considerable damage to crops therein. An arboreal species is the long-tailed tenrec (Microgale longicaudata), whose tail is more than twice as long as its body. The web-footed tenrec (Limnogale mergulus) resembles a muskrat.