Endangered
Golden-rumped elephant shrew
Rhynchocyon chrysopygus
The golden-rumped sengi or golden rumped elephant shrew is a small African mammal.
Appearance
Its name derives from the conspicuous golden fur on its hindquarters, distinctive golden coloration on its rump, and grizzled gold forehead contrasting with its dark reddish-brown color. Like other sengis, this species has the distinctive long and flexible snout that led to them being given the name elephant shrews. Its tail is largely black except for the last third, that is white with a black tip.
Published measurements include mass about 540.
Range and habitat
The golden-rumped sengi is a diurnal animal, that lives in densely vegetated forests, avoiding clear and open areas to help protect themselves from predators. It inhabits coastal regions and is found in moist, dense-brush forests and lowland semi-deciduous forests.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
Their diet consists of invertebrates such as earthworms, millipedes, insects and spiders. The newborn offspring are usually ready to leave the mother's den after two weeks, and it takes approximately five days after leaving the nest for them to become fully independent in the wild.
In crisis
It is classified as endangered. The golden-rumped sengi is classified as endangered largely due to a fragmented forest environment and anthropogenic factors. Their most notable population is in the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest in Kenya.
Due to their small populations, even though many are protected, their numbers are expected to continue to decline due to stochastic events and further anthropogenic disturbances.
Golden-rumped elephant shrew is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Golden-rumped elephant shrew, Wikidata item Q1333257. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
