Cowan's shrew tenrec (''Microgale cowani'') is a species of
mammal in the family
Tenrecidae.
Description
Cowan's shrew tenrecs weigh an average just over , and have an average length of slightly over . Most specimens are mostly brown, often having a mid-dorsal stripe of a darker color and a lighter belly. The coat of Cowan's shrew tenrecs contains a wide variety of patterns, mostly consisting of various shades of red and brown.
Cowan's shrew tenrecs are mostly solitary animals. When two males are in close quarters, they will often try to squeal at or bite each other. Cowan's shrew tenrecs are
carnivores
A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other so ...
, and will search for small prey on forest floors. Their predators are mostly other vertebrates, such as
owls and sometimes even other shrew tenrecs. Their only major defense against these predators is the ability to
camouflage
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...
.
Habitat and distribution
Cowan's shrew tenrec is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
. It is found in the most habitats of any other shrew tenrec, with its natural
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s being
subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical moist
montane forest
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...
,
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
s, and heavily degraded former forest.
It lives at elevations from about 800 to 2,500 meters.
References
Afrosoricida
Mammals of Madagascar
Mammals described in 1882
Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
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