27 June: Elephant Shrews

On this date in 2014, scientists identified a new species of elephant shrew. Here are 10 things you might not know about the elephant shrew:

1. Elephant shrews belong to the family Macroscelididae, derived from Greek, with ‘macro’ meaning long and ‘skelidos’ meaning legs. There are about 20 different species.

2. Despite the name, they are not shrews. Despite their appearance, they are not rodents. Their closest relatives are Moles and tenrecs; their family tree also includes anteaters and actual Elephants.

3. Other names for elephant shrews are jumping shrews and sengis (singular sengi). The latter is derived from the Bantu languages of Africa.

4. They are endemic to Africa and have been found thriving in both arid areas and tropical forests.

5. They can leap up to three feet in the air and run up to 18 miles per hour to escape predators.

6. They eat Ants, Termites, worms, Spiders, centipedes, and millipedes. They use their long, flexible snouts to hunt them. If there are no bugs available, they will eat leaves and seeds.

7. They reach sexual maturity at 45 days old, and females will give birth to several litters during the year. When the young are about five days old, their diet of milk will be supplemented by mashed up insects which their mother will carry home in her cheek pouches.

8. Elephant shrews are unusual for non-primate animals in that they have a menstrual cycle like a human female. Scientists in the 1940s studied elephant shrews to get insights into the human menstrual cycle.

9. Elephant shrews are diurnal, meaning they are awake during the day and sleep at night.

10. They live up to two years in the wild, but can reach four years of age in captivity.

Character birthday

Whiphand. She is an alien of uncertain origin, possibly a hybrid of two races. Dr Despicable discovered her working as a madam in a brothel in an off-world colony, where he was a regular customer. He was there when her establishment was raided by inter-galactic police and she was forced to go on the run. Despicable got her off the colony and brought her to Earth where she became a member of The Organisation. Her weapon of choice is a whip.