Sengis | Macroscelididae

Springspitsmuizen | Macroscelídidos

The snout is this family's tool: conical, made mobile by muscles of its own and probing the ground without pause, after which a long tongue picks up ants, termites and beetles. The body is light and the hind legs thin and long; at any alarm the animal bounds away along a network of little paths that it keeps clear itself and checks daily — an obstacle on such a path costs it its life during a chase, and the sweeping of them takes up much of the day. Male and female share one territory for years, but each defends it against rivals of its own sex and otherwise they keep largely apart. The litter is small — one or two young — but they are born furred and open-eyed and are on their feet almost at once. North-western Africa holds a single species, on rocky slopes and stony desert.