Editing Elephant shrew (section)

{{short description|Family of insectivorous mammals}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Elephant shrew<ref name=msw3>{{MSW3 Macroscelidea|id=11200002}}</ref>
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|48|0|ref=<ref>{{Cite journal|author1=Martin Pickford |author2=[[Brigitte Senut]]|author3=Helke Mocke|author4=Cécile Mourer-Chauviré|author5=Jean-Claude Rage|author6=Pierre Mein|year=2014|title=Eocene aridity in southwestern Africa: timing of onset and biological consequences|journal=Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa|volume=69|issue=3|pages=139–144|doi=10.1080/0035919X.2014.933452 |bibcode=2014TRSSA..69..139P |s2cid=128423895}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|author=Martin Pickford|year=2015|title=Chrysochloridae (Mammalia) from the Lutetian (Middle Eocene) of Black Crow, Namibia|journal=Communications of the Geological Survey of Namibia|volume=16|pages=105–113|url=http://www.mme.gov.na/files/publications/8f1_Comms%20GSN%2016,%202015%20Pickford%20Chrysochloridae%20BC,105-113.pdf}}</ref>}}
| image = Rhynchocyon_petersi_from_side.jpg
| image_caption = [[Black and rufous elephant shrew]], ''Rhynchocyon petersi'', [[Philadelphia Zoo]]
| display_parents = 5
| parent_authority = [[Percy M. Butler|Butler]], 1956
| taxon = Macroscelididae
| authority = [[Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte|Bonaparte]], 1838
| type_genus = ''[[Macroscelides]]''
| type_genus_authority = [[Andrew Smith (zoologist)|A. Smith]], 1829
| subdivision_ranks = Genera
| subdivision = ''[[Elephantulus]]''<br />
''[[Galegeeska]]'' <br />
''[[Macroscelides]]''<br />
''[[Petrodromus]]''<br />
''[[Petrosaltator]]''<br />
''[[Rhynchocyon]]''
| range_map = Elephant shrew range.jpg
| range_map2 = Elephant shrew range genus.jpg
| range_map2_caption = Range map of elephant shrew by genus
}}

'''Elephant shrews''', also called '''jumping shrews''' or '''sengis''', are small [[insectivore|insectivorous]] [[mammal]]s native to [[Africa]], belonging to the family '''Macroscelididae''', in the [[order (biology)|order]] '''Macroscelidea'''. Their traditional common English name "elephant shrew" comes from a perceived resemblance between their long noses and the trunk of an [[elephant]], and their superficial similarity with [[shrew]]s (family Soricidae) in the order [[Eulipotyphla]]. However, [[Phylogenetics|phylogenetic]] analysis has revealed that elephant shrews are not properly classified with true shrews, but are in fact more closely related to elephants than to shrews.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1093/molbev/msi179 | title=A Retroposon Analysis of Afrotherian Phylogeny | year=2005 | last1=Nishihara | first1=Hidenori | last2=Satta | first2=Yoko | last3=Nikaido | first3=Masato | last4=Thewissen | first4=J. G. M. | last5=Stanhope | first5=Michael J. | last6=Okada | first6=Norihiro | journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution | volume=22 | issue=9 | pages=1823–1833 | pmid=15930154 | doi-access=free }}</ref> In 1997, the biologist [[Jonathan Kingdon]] proposed that they instead be called "sengis" (singular ''sengi''),<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kingdon|first=J.|year=1997|title=The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals|url=https://archive.org/details/kingdonfieldguid00jona|url-access=registration|publisher=Academic Press|location=London|isbn=978-0-691-11692-1}}</ref> a term derived from the [[Bantu languages]] of Africa, and in 1998, they were classified into the new clade [[Afrotheria]].<ref name="Stanhope">{{cite journal|last=Stanhope|first=M. J.|author2=Waddell, V. G.|author3=Madsen, O.|author4=de Jong, W.|author5=Hedges, S. B.|author6=Cleven, G. C.|author7=Kao, D.|author8=Springer, M. S.|year=1998|title=Molecular evidence for multiple origins of Insectivora and for a new order of endemic African insectivore mammals|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=95|issue=17|pages=9967–9972|bibcode=1998PNAS...95.9967S|doi=10.1073/pnas.95.17.9967|pmc=21445|pmid=9707584|doi-access=free}}</ref>
[[File:Black and Rufous Elephant Shrew skeleton.jpg|thumb|''R. petersi'' skeleton, [[Museum of Osteology]]]]
[[File:Eastern Rock Elephant Shrew.jpg|thumb|[[Eastern rock elephant shrew]], ''Elephantulus myurus'', South Africa]]
[[File:Bushveld-elephant-shrew.jpg|thumb|right|[[Bushveld elephant shrew]], ''E. intufi'', Namibia]]

They are widely distributed across the southern part of Africa, and although common nowhere, can be found in almost any type of habitat, from the [[Namib Desert]] to boulder-strewn outcrops in South Africa to thick forest. One species, the [[North African elephant shrew]], remains in the semi-arid, mountainous country in the far northwest of Africa. The [[Somali elephant shrew]] went unobserved from 1968 to 2020 but was rediscovered by a group of scientists in [[Djibouti]].<ref name="Briggs">{{cite news |last1=Briggs |first1=Helen |title=Elephant shrew rediscovered in Africa after 50 years |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53820395 |access-date=19 August 2020 |work=BBC News |date=18 August 2020}}</ref>