World's Biggest Elephant Shrew Tracked in Tanzania
The gray-faced sengi faces an uncertain future in its rain forest home, experts say.
The gray-faced sengi is good at hiding out.
It was not until 2005 that scientists discovered this species of elephant shrew, a mammal found only in Tanzania. First captured in a camera trap image, the species was later named Rhynchocyon udzungwensis by tropical ecologist Francesco Rovero and his collaborators.
The gray-faced sengi (sengi is a Swahili name) lives in the country's Eastern Arc Mountains in the protected areas of the Udzungwa Mountains National Park and the Kilombero Nature Reserve.
Native only to Africa, elephant shrews are small mammals with long, trunk-like noses. Eighteen species of them are found in a variety of habitats, ranging from rain forests to coastal deserts, and they vary in color and size.
