The Zoo's African Odyssey
Two Black and Rufous Giant Elephant-shrews Born at Zoo
May 2009
The National Zoo's Small Mammal House is home to two baby black and rufous giant elephant-shrews—also known as sengis. Newborn elephant-shrews stay hidden away in nests built by their parents for 21 to 25 days. When the babies were first seen by keepers on May 18, staff estimated they were born in late April. They will reach adult size by the time they are six weeks old. In the meantime, visitors may see them nursing on their backs. Zoo staff are experts in breeding and caring for these fascinating animals—eight sengis have been born here since 2007
Elephant-shrews are neither elephants nor shrews, but belong to their own group of ancient mammals. They are distantly related to aardvarks, and have been classified in the superorder of mammals that includes manatees and dugongs, hyraxes, and elephants. Native to eastern Kenya and Tanzania, the black and rufous giant elephant-shrew is listed as vulnerable to extinction.
Elephant-shrews are among the mere three percent of all mammal species that are monogamous, forming exclusive mating pairs. But they don’t live as cozy couples sharing food and beds. The pair spends little time together, although they occupy the same territory, which they defend against all intruders—males chase out male interlopers, females chase out females. Even mating is a brief and fairly infrequent affair, and males don’t help females care for their young. 
Find out more about this fascinating species.
