representative of a very interesting family, called tenrecs or bristly hedgehogs. To understand how this looks like a funny animal, you need to put together... a hedgehog, shrew and otter and paint that turned yellow and black paint.
It is not difficult to guess that the final portrait will be somewhat unusual: an elongated muzzle with a yellow stripe along the nose, a crown of long sharp needles and a lot of thorns scattered throughout the body mixed with thick black hair, long hind and short front paws with sharp claws. Appearance is really spicy, but it looks like a striped tenrek — a small mammal, endemic to Madagascar, living in the Eastern and Northern parts of the island.
Striped tenrecs – the main object of hunting is known of the Malagasy carnivores like the fossa and their close relatives of the mongoose. To protect themselves from attacks on their lives, small tenreki invented a clever way of throwing needles at the enemy. Once in a dangerous situation, they bring their long, jagged needles into combat readiness, directing them towards the predator, and then sharp movements of the head and torso "shoot" them directly into the nose and paws of the enemy. Of these flying needles is the whole crown on the head of the tenrec, and another part of them located on the sides of the torso.
However, this is not all of the features performs unusual prickly bristly fur of a hedgehog. Striped tenrec is the only mammal who have mastered the ability to communicate well, as do beetles, crickets and snakes.
Wide beige needle that runs along the Central part of the back, by friction against each other emit high-pitched sounds, through which striped tenrecs share information with neighbors.
Seemingly silent from the outside, the tenreks are in constant communication: with their tongue, they send sound signals to help them navigate the dark forest. It is on hearing that they rely more than on vision, but the sounds they make, as in the case of bats, are not available to the human ear.
Communication in life striped tenrecs plays a very important role because they are the only ones of the thirty species of tenrecs are grouped. Each of these groups, which can number up to twenty individuals, takes a long, about one and a half meters, a hole dug at a depth of 15 centimeters near the pond. The entrance to the dwelling striped tenreks close leaves, and near a hole these neat small animals surely construct that at people is called a bathroom or a latrine a place
When the cold season comes, and in Africa it falls on may-October, striped tenreki lower the temperature of your body to the ambient temperature, while remaining active. This trick helps them to save energy, but if the winter is too harsh, they have no choice but to hibernate.
From September to December, striped tenreks mate, and after about two months 6-8 babies are born, which grow up very quickly and at the age of five weeks are ready to become parents.
