Giant otter shrew

Big Otter Shrew, drawing from 1868

The Big Otter Shrew ( Potamogale velox ) is a mammal of the family of tenrecs ( Tenrecidae ). Together with the little otter shrews, it forms the subfamily of the otter shrews ( Potamogalinae ).

Features

Otter shrews have, as the name suggests, a remote resemblance to otters. Her body is streamlined, the muzzle broad and flattened. The body is covered by a dense undercoat, which is superimposed of rough over hairs. The coat is whitish at the top and dark brown on the bottom. The eyes are small, external ears are visible, the nostrils are closed in their dives. The tail is flattened and is used primarily for locomotion under water. The short legs that do not have webbed feet, are not used for locomotion in water, but applied to the body. On land they move away on the soles. Large otter shrews reach a body length from 29 to 35 centimeters, the tail is again 24 to 29 inches long. Its weight is 340 to 400 grams.

Distribution and habitat

Large otter shrews are located in central and southern Africa, their range extends from Nigeria and Kenya to Zambia and Angola. They live in rain forests and upland areas up to 1800 m in the area of lakes and rivers or muddy regions.

Way of life

Otter shrews are fast and good swimmers. During the day they retire to burrows along the banks back, they pad with leaves and grasses. At night, they go in search of food. They are considered loners who do not come together except during the mating season with other conspecifics.

Large otter shrews feed primarily on crabs, which they find mainly by touch. Do they have a prey animal found, they swim ashore to get it to eat there. In addition, they also take fish and amphibians to himself.

Little is known about reproduction. The females have two teats, and usually give birth to twins.

Threat

Big Otter Shrews are hunted for their fur, which also covers loss of habitat through deforestation and reduce water quality by construction activity. Previously it was the species as endangered, today it is no longer counted as endangered species due to their large distribution area of the IUCN.