Different creatures - Golden - rumped Sengi

This large (550g) elephant-shrew, or sengi, gains its common name for the distinctive golden coloured fur on its rump. In common with other elephant-shrews the snout is long, pointed and flexible , and the tail is almost naked .
The coat is coarse but glossy and a dark reddish-brown colour apart from the yellowish/golden rump and a white tip to the tail .

There is a 'dermal shield' of thickened skin under the sengi's rump patch that is 3 times thicker than the skin on the middle of the back . This shield is thicker in males than in females and is thought to act as protection against the biting attacks of other males .

It inhabits moist, dense coastal scrub forest and woodland and is e­stricted to re­main­ing pock­ets of suit­able for­est in coastal Kenya. Males and females form monogamous pairs and live in adjoining home ranges. The pairs defend the home range, the female chasing females and the male driving away only males. If threat­ened, ei­ther by a preda­tor or a con­generic in­truder, ele­phant shrews will dis­play tail-slap­ping be­hav­ior where they re­peat­edly slap the for­est floor with their tail. If fur­ther dis­turbed, they will run while slap­ping the ground with their hind legs. These au­di­tory cues may help to warn other ele­phant shrews of the pres­ence of a preda­tor


Golden-Rumped Ele­phant Shrews breed through­out the year. Fe­males give birth to a sin­gle young after a 42 day ges­ta­tion pe­riod. Young re­main in the nest for two weeks and emerge fully weaned. After emerg­ing, the young fol­lows its mother on her for­ag­ing runs but be­comes com­pletely in­de­pen­dent after about 5 days. The young re­mains on its par­ents' home range until it de­fines its own range (5-20 weeks post emer­gence). Ele­phant shrews live an av­er­age of 4-5 years

Elephant-shrews are not closely related to shrews, as their name would appear to suggest; recent molecular evidence places sengis (order Macroscelidea) in an ancient group of African mammals that also includes elephants, hyraxes and golden moles, amongst others.

Their diet includes grasshopers, beetles, spiders, millipedes and earthworms.Ele­phant shrews are di­ur­nal and sleep at night in nests on the for­est floor. Nests are al­ways con­structed in the early morn­ing by ex­ca­vat­ing a hol­low in the soil, lin­ing it with leaves and lay­er­ing over the top with dry leaves. New nests are con­structed every 1-3 days and take about 2 hours to build.

They are pro­tected in 44 hectares of the Gedi His­tor­i­cal Mon­u­ment in Kenya. It also inhabits the Arabuko Sosoke Forest.

Golden-rumped elephant shrews, like all elephant shrews, have a long, flexible snout. They are distinguished from other elephant shrews by their golden rump patch and grizzled gold forehead. There is an area of thickened skin (a dermal shield) under the rump patch. This dermal shield is thicker in males than in females and is thought to provide protection from the biting attacks of hostile males. The feet, ears, and legs are black. The tail is black, execpt the distal 1/3 which is white with a black tip. The fur is fine, stiff and glossy; the ears are naked; the tail is sparsely furred. All elephant shrews are semi-digitigrade (i.e. they walk on their finger/toe-tips). Golden-rumped elephant shrews have sexually dimorphic canines (6.6mm in males; 4.6mm in females). It is thought that males use these canines in attacks on other males during territory defense. Measurements: Total Length: 526mm; Tail: 243mm; Hind Foot: 74mm; Ear: 34mm.

Golden-rumped elephant shrews, like all elephant shrews, have a long, flexible snout. They are distinguished from other elephant shrews by their golden rump patch and grizzled gold forehead. There is an area of thickened skin (a dermal shield) under the rump patch. This dermal shield is thicker in males than in females and is thought to provide protection from the biting attacks of hostile males. The feet, ears, and legs are black. The tail is black, execpt the distal 1/3 which is white with a black tip. The fur is fine, stiff and glossy; the ears are naked; the tail is sparsely furred. All elephant shrews are semi-digitigrade (i.e. they walk on their finger/toe-tips). Golden-rumped elephant shrews have sexually dimorphic canines (6.6mm in males; 4.6mm in females). It is thought that males use these canines in attacks on other males during territory defense. Measurements: Total Length: 526mm; Tail: 243mm; Hind Foot: 74mm; Ear: 34mm.