sengi
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsɛŋɡi/
Forms: form: sengis
Etymology: Borrowed from Swahili sengi, probably from another Bantu language (compare Giryama sanje).
Senses: examples: text: Four-toed elephant shrew or sengi Petrodromus tetradactylus
ref: [1997, Jonathan Kingdon, “Elephant Shrews, or Sengis”, in The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals, San Diego, Calif.; London: AP Natural World, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 149:
text: The order formerly known as Insectivora included solenodons; shrews; moles and desmans; hedgehogs and moonrats or gymnures; golden moles, tenrecs, and otter shrews; and sengis or elephant shrews.
ref: 2007, Marian Armstrong, Wildlife and Plants, volume 9 (Horseshoe Crab – Ladybug), New York, N.Y.: Marshall Cavendish, →ISBN, page 540:
text: Sengis feed on insects and other animal and plant material. […] Young sengis are highly precocial at birth—they will forage 1 day after birth[…].
ref: 2007, George A[lan] Feldhamer, Lee C[harles] Drickamer, Stephen H[ulbert] Vessey, Joseph F[rancis] Merritt, Carey Krajewski, “Afrosoricida, Erinaceomorpha, Soricomorpha, Macroscelidea, Scandentia, and Dermoptera”, in Mammalogy: Adaptation, Diversity, Ecology, 3rd edition, Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, part 3 (Adaptive Radiation and Diversity), page 251, column 1:
text: Like small African antelopes, sengis spend their life exposed to the elements while relying on disruptive coloration to act as camouflage from the plethora of African predators.
ref: 2010, Joseph F[rancis] Merritt, “Mating Systems and Reproductive Strategies”, in The Biology of Small Mammals, Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, part 3 (Reproduction), page 237:
text: The gray-faced sengi is good at hiding out. It was not until 2005 that scientists discovered this species of elephant shrew, a mammal found only in Tanzania. First captured in a camera trap image, the species was later named Rhynchocyon udzungwensis by tropical ecologist Francesco Rovero and his collaborators. The gray-faced sengi (sengi is a Swahili name) lives in the country's Eastern Arc Mountains in the protected areas of the Udzungwa Mountains National Park and the Kilombero Nature Reserve.
ref: 2013 December 20, Christy Ullrich Barcus, “World’s Biggest Elephant Shrew Tracked in Tanzania”, in National Geographic, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 01 Jun 2023:
text: After various studies it has been decreed that the sengi, of which there are probably 19 species living in Africa, are not related to shrews at all but are in fact a distant relative of the – drum roll, please – yes, you guessed it, the elephant! […] The majority of the sengi species are considered of Least Concern, but two giant sengis (giant is a loose term when dealing with elephant-shrews) are at risk.
ref: 2017, Ceri Levy, “Golden-rumped Sengi: Rhynchocyon chrysopygus”, in Ralph Steadman’s Critical Critters, London; New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Natural History, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 96:
glosses: Any of several small, insectivorous long-nosed mammals, of the family Macroscelididae within the Macroscelidea order, native to Africa.
Synonyms: elephant shrew
jumping shrew
macroscelidid
Hyponyms: word: black and rufous sengi
taxonomic: Rhynchocyon petersi
word: zanji sengi
taxonomic: Elephantulus intufi
word: bushveld sengi
taxonomic: Elephantulus edwardii
word: cape sengi
taxonomic: Rhynchocyon cirnei
word: chequered sengi
taxonomic: Elephantulus fuscipes
word: dusky-footed sengi
taxonomic: Elephantulus fuscus
word: dusky sengi
taxonomic: Elephantulus myurus
word: eastern rock sengi
taxonomic: Petrodromus tetradactylus
word: four-toed sengi
taxonomic: Rhynchocyon chrysopygus
word: golden-rumped sengi
taxonomic: Rhynchocyon udzungwensis
word: gray-faced sengi
taxonomic: Elephantulus rozeti
word: North African sengi
taxonomic: Macroscelides proboscideus
word: round-eared sengi
taxonomic: Elephantulus rufescens
word: rufous sengi
taxonomic: Elephantulus revoili
word: Somali sengi
taxonomic: Elephantulus rupestris
word: western rock sengi