The highland streaked tenrec (''Hemicentetes nigriceps'') is an insectivore which lives in the central upland regions of

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 ...

. Its black and white striped body is covered with quills, which it will raise when agitated. The spines detach and remain in the body of an inquisitive predator. The function of the black-and-white pattern may be to mimic juvenile ''

Tenrec ecaudatus The tailless tenrec (''Tenrec ecaudatus''), also known as the common tenrec, is a species of mammal in the family Tenrecidae. It is the Monotypic taxon, only member of the genus ''Tenrec''. Native to Madagascar, it is also found in the Comoros, M ...

'' since the parents of this species are known to be aggressively protective, and the stripes may have developed as a type of camouflage while foraging. The highland streaked tenrec uses its long snout to burrow under leaves and bark, searching for

earthworm An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. Th ...

s, its primary food.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1762455 Endemic fauna of Madagascar Mammals described in 1875 Taxa named by Albert Günther