(You) 1) Hello, my friend. How are you? (Friend) 2) Hi, I'm O'K. I've heard that you know something about the UK. 1) Yes, I know a lot of information about it. 2) Could you tell me, who lives in the United Kingdom? 1) There are British people in the main, but there are a lot of other nationalities too. 2) And what is the weather there? 1) Oh, UK is so rainly and hazy country. 2) And when will you go to the UK? 1) I want to visit it in the next year. 2) Thank you for this interesting information. Bye! 1) So long!
The striped tenrek (lat. Hemicentetes semispinosus) is a representative of a very interesting family, called tenrek or bristly hedgehogs. To understand what this funny animal looks like, you need to put together ... a hedgehog, a shrew and an otter and paint what turned out with yellow and black paint.
It is not difficult to guess that the final portrait will be somewhat unusual: an elongated muzzle with a yellow stripe along the nose, a crown of long sharp needles and many spines scattered throughout the body mixed with thick black hair, long hind legs and short front legs with sharp claws. The exterior is really piquant, but this is exactly what a striped tenrek looks like - a small mammal, endemic to Madagascar, living in the eastern and northern parts of the island.
Striped tenreki - the main object of hunting of famous Madagascar predators, such as Foss and their close relatives of the Mongoose. To protect themselves from attacks on their lives, small tenreks invented an ingenious way of throwing needles at the enemy. Caught in a dangerous situation, they bring their long, jagged needles into combat readiness, directing them towards the predator, and then with sharp movements of the head and torso “shoot” them directly into the nose and paws of the enemy. Of these flying needles is the entire crown on the head of the tenrek, and another part of them is located on the sides of the body.
However, these are not all the functions that an unusual, prickly fur coat of a bristly hedgehog performs. The striped tenrek is the only mammal that has mastered the ability to communicate in the way that beetles, crickets and snakes do.
Wide beige needles that run along the central part of the back, when rubbing against each other, emit high sounds, thanks to which striped tenreks exchange information with their congeners.
Seemingly silent from the outside, the tenreks are in constant communication: in their language, they send sound signals to help them navigate the dark forest. It is on hearing that they rely more than on sight, but the sounds they emit, as in the case of bats, are inaccessible to the human ear.
Communication in the life of striped tenreks plays a very important role, since they are the only ones out of thirty types of tenreks that are combined into groups. Each of these groups, in which there may be up to twenty individuals, occupies a long, about one and a half meters, hole dug at a depth of 15 centimeters near the water body. Striped tenrecs are covered with leaves in their home, and near the hole, these neat little animals necessarily erect what people call a lavatory or latrine.
When the cold season comes, and in Africa it falls on May-October, striped tenrecs lower their body temperature to the level of the surrounding temperature, while remaining active. This trick helps them save energy, but if winter is too harsh, they have nothing left but to hibernate.
From September to December, striped tenreki mate, and after about two months, 6-8 babies are born, who very quickly grow up and are already five weeks old, ready to become parents themselves.
(Friend) 2) Hi, I'm O'K. I've heard that you know something about the UK.
1) Yes, I know a lot of information about it.
2) Could you tell me, who lives in the United Kingdom?
1) There are British people in the main, but there are a lot of other nationalities too.
2) And what is the weather there?
1) Oh, UK is so rainly and hazy country.
2) And when will you go to the UK?
1) I want to visit it in the next year.
2) Thank you for this interesting information. Bye!
1) So long!
It is not difficult to guess that the final portrait will be somewhat unusual: an elongated muzzle with a yellow stripe along the nose, a crown of long sharp needles and many spines scattered throughout the body mixed with thick black hair, long hind legs and short front legs with sharp claws. The exterior is really piquant, but this is exactly what a striped tenrek looks like - a small mammal, endemic to Madagascar, living in the eastern and northern parts of the island.
Striped tenreki - the main object of hunting of famous Madagascar predators, such as Foss and their close relatives of the Mongoose. To protect themselves from attacks on their lives, small tenreks invented an ingenious way of throwing needles at the enemy. Caught in a dangerous situation, they bring their long, jagged needles into combat readiness, directing them towards the predator, and then with sharp movements of the head and torso “shoot” them directly into the nose and paws of the enemy. Of these flying needles is the entire crown on the head of the tenrek, and another part of them is located on the sides of the body.
However, these are not all the functions that an unusual, prickly fur coat of a bristly hedgehog performs. The striped tenrek is the only mammal that has mastered the ability to communicate in the way that beetles, crickets and snakes do.
Wide beige needles that run along the central part of the back, when rubbing against each other, emit high sounds, thanks to which striped tenreks exchange information with their congeners.
Seemingly silent from the outside, the tenreks are in constant communication: in their language, they send sound signals to help them navigate the dark forest. It is on hearing that they rely more than on sight, but the sounds they emit, as in the case of bats, are inaccessible to the human ear.
Communication in the life of striped tenreks plays a very important role, since they are the only ones out of thirty types of tenreks that are combined into groups. Each of these groups, in which there may be up to twenty individuals, occupies a long, about one and a half meters, hole dug at a depth of 15 centimeters near the water body. Striped tenrecs are covered with leaves in their home, and near the hole, these neat little animals necessarily erect what people call a lavatory or latrine.
When the cold season comes, and in Africa it falls on May-October, striped tenrecs lower their body temperature to the level of the surrounding temperature, while remaining active. This trick helps them save energy, but if winter is too harsh, they have nothing left but to hibernate.
From September to December, striped tenreki mate, and after about two months, 6-8 babies are born, who very quickly grow up and are already five weeks old, ready to become parents themselves.