• Question from:Colin Bartlett

Many sources tell me that while Africa was an island continent, Elephant Shrews and Hyraxes dominated the northern grasslands and woodlands. They say that there were many the size of antelope or even small rhinos! And then they never give descriptions, or even species names, much less skeletal or (gods forbid) life reconstructions. So, I'm left with all sorts of questions about these guys. Did these antelope-sized Elephant Shrews have the snouts that make their smaller brethren so endearing? Where they omnivores, herbivores, carnivores? What were some of their names?! I understand that this is a lot to ask of you guys, but could you at least point me to where I could find an image of a reconstructed skeleton?





Thanks for all of your help on my other questions! This site is a goddesssend for frustrated amateur scientists like me. I'm still checking up on my various threads; the answers are even more fascinating and informative when you guys disagree!

Thanks for your question. It's true that some extinct hyraxes really were giant compared to the living species. Macroscelideans, or sengis, or elephant shrews, really were more diverse in the past but none were particularly big - the biggest was Metoldobotes, but even Patterson 1965 (the only reference I have to hand on this taxon) only says of its size that it was 'somewhat larger than Rhynchocyon petersi'). Rhynchocyon petersi, the living Black and rufous sengi, has a maximum total length of 55 cm and a mass of 550 g or so. Metoldobotes resembled living sengis in tooth form so probably wasn't so different from them, but it was more primitive in having more bulbous tooth cusps. Among the more interesting of fossil sengis were the mylomygalines: these had strikingly rodent-like cheek teeth and were almost certainly rodent-like herbivores. The Miocene myohyracines were superficially hyrax-like and were initially thought to be hyraxes, and like hyraxes their molariform teeth indicate that they were browsing herbivores. The biggest myohyracine, Protypotheroides, was again only a bit bigger than the Black and rufous sengi. Besides Metoldobotes, mylomygalines and myohyracines, fossil representatives of the two surviving sengi clades, Macrosclelidinae and Rhynchocyoninae, are also known.

With regard to a mobile proboscis, skull remains are not usually complete enough to be sure about this, but from what's been figured in the literature it seems that most forms had such a structure - the specialised herbivorous forms seem to have lacked it or had it very much reduced. Skeletal reconstructions and life restorations? Forget it - let me know if you see one. Anyway, lots more could be said but that'll have to do for now. I suppose I ought to follow all of up with a Tet Zoo article.

Last edited by Darren Naish (17th Feb 2008 22:19:50)