Cape Elephant Shrew
Elephant shrews or jumping shrews are small insectivorous mammals native to Africa, belonging to the family Macroscelididae, in the order Macroscelidea. Their traditional common English name comes from a fancied resemblance between their long noses and the trunk of an elephant, and an assumed relationship with the true shrews (family Soricidae) in the order Insectivora because of their superficial similarities. As it has become plain that the elephant shrews are unrelated to the shrews, the biologist Jonathan Kingdon has proposed that they instead be called sengis, a term derived from the Bantu languages of Africa.
Elephant shrews are small animals with brownish gray coats. Elephant shrews vary in size from about 10 to almost 30 centimetres, from just under 50 g to over 500 g. The Short-eared Elephant Shrew has an average size of 150 millimetres (5.9 in). All are quadrupedal with mouse-like tails, and rather long legs for their size which are used to move in a hopping fashion like rabbits. Although the size of the trunk varies from one species to another, all are able to twist it about in search of food.
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