Madagascar is home to some strange and wonderful animals, but few stranger and more wonderful than the tenrecs. Belonging to the family of Afrotheria, the small shrew-like tenrecs are most closely related to elephants, sea cows, aardvarks, and hyraxes. Including some thirty species, tenrecs are omnivorous and eat a range of foods. While the majority of tenrecs survive on Madagascar, three species are known from Africa’s mainland. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
To read more about tenrecs, including the only tenrec species known to be semi-aquatic: Forgotten species: Madagascar’s water-loving mammal, the aquatic tenrec .