The Chester Zoo has welcomed two Sengis (Macroscelides protoscideus), who have a cute expression as they smile and yawn while sticking their tongues out. These small mammals, which eat roots and shoots, and live for fifty-six days, were born in the zoo during summer, outside of public view, at a specially designed breeding facility. This is the first breeding of sengis at the zoo. They look a lot like their shrew relatives, but they don’t actually have any direct genetic relationship to them. Their closest genetic relatives are manatees, elephants and hyraxes. The viral image of the sengi smiling has been shared on social media sites all over the globe. (Photo by Chester Zoo) Most mammals have multiple mates throughout their lives, but the elephant-shrew has one thing in common. They say “together until death” when they find a partner. James Andrewes (assistant team manager at Chester Zoo) said that the elephant-shrew is related to larger animals. “They may look like shrews but they are actually distantly related with manatees. The species used to be called the elephant-shrew in the past. However, many biologists now refer to them as “sengi” to avoid confusion with real shrews. There are actually nineteen species of sengi. They are not well-known in nature and only last year, a new species was found in Namibia. The sengi’s snout is long and flexible. The nostrils of the sengi can be seen at its end. Photo: Chester Zoo. The size of the sengi ranges from 30 up to 45grams (1oz to 1.5oz). As an adult they reach a length of about four inches, making them the tiniest of the 19-subspcies in the family Macroscelididae. You can find them in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and in their natural habitats in forests, scrublands, deserts and woods. The Secret World of the Okapi exhibit at Chester Zoo allows members of the public to see them. Chester Zoo The Chester Zoo, which is run by the North of England Zoological Society in Chester, is located at Upton-by-Chester (Chester), about 38 from Liverpool. TripAdvisor ranked it as the UK’s top zoo and 7th in the world for July 2015,. Genetically-speaking, the round-eared elephant-shrew is more similar to the elephant than other shrews. Photo: Chester Zoo. George Mottershead, OBE (1894-1978), and his family opened Chester Zoo in 1931.. In Mr. Mottershead was taken to Belle Vue Zoological Gardens, Manchester. He didn’t like the idea of animals being kept in cages. He visited that zoo and became inspired to open his own zoo with all the freedoms of a free-running animal sanctuary. As a teenager, he tried out large tanks and aviaries for his reptiles. Chester Zoo receives no government financial aid. It has an area of approximately 160 ha acres. It is visited by more than 1.4 million people in 2014,. Forbes magazine listed it as one of the top 15 zoos in the world in 2007.. Video: Sengi, or the round-eared elephantshrew
