Lowland Streaked Tenrec
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A mid-sized tenrec. The body is blackish-brown with distinctive yellow stripes on the sides and is covered with detachable barbed spines. The underside is a chestnut brown. (The species looks rather like the young of Tenrec ecaudatus, but is spinier, this may be Batesian mimicry (Poduschka 1996)). (Garbutt, 1999)
Moderately common during the warmer months (November-March). This tenrec is active during the day and thus is more easily found than the others.
Head/Body Length |
13-19cm |
|---|---|
Tail Length |
|
Weight |
90-220g |
Eats mostly earthworms and other soft-bodied invertebrates. They forage in leaf-litter. They may forage in groups.
H. semispinosus foraging (earthworm escapes)
2.5Mb
V1
They are cathemeral.
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One of the few insectivores to live in groups. They dig a burrow (often near a stream) 1.5m long and 15cm deep, the mouth of which is plugged with leaves, and up to 20 individuals of the same (multi-generational) family may reside within.
They give birth during the wet season and may produce several litters in
a season. Gestation is 45-55 days with a litter size between 5 and 8. The
young are sexually mature at 30-35 days and may reproduce at once.
2.3Mb
V2
As the temperature cools in the winter the animals can reduce their body temperature to match and still remain active. If it cools too much they become torpid, reawakening when it warms up.
They produce sub-sonic calls by rustling their spines together, and have both alarm and contact calls.
Mammalia -> Insectivora -> Tenrecidae (Tenrecinae) -> Hemicentetes semispinosus
Garbutt, N. 1999, Mammals of Madagascar, Yale University Press
Poduschka W; 1996 "Hyperthelia, litter size, and duration of pregnancy in the subfamily Tenrecinae Cabrera, 1925 (Mammalia: Insectivora: Tenrecidae), with remarks on the longitudinal stripe pattern in the genus Hemicentetes", Contributions to Zoology, 66:(2) 119-128.
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H.
semispinosusP3