- Where to see one
- 4 U.S. zoos in our directory hold tenrec, confirmed against each zoo's own animal list.
Conservation status
Not Evaluated
This species has not been assessed for the IUCN Red List, so it sits outside the threat scale entirely.
About the tenrec
Tenrecs are a diverse family of small mammals found only on Madagascar. Through adaptive radiation they have come to resemble hedgehogs, shrews, opossums and mice, though they are not closely related to those animals. Their closest relatives are the otter shrews. Different species are aquatic, arboreal, terrestrial or burrowing. The smallest are shrew-sized, around 4.5 cm long and 5 g, while the common tenrec reaches 25 to 39 cm. They are at least somewhat omnivorous, with invertebrates the largest part of the diet, and most are nocturnal with poor eyesight but sensitive whiskers.
Tenrec facts
- Tenrecs are among the few terrestrial mammals that echolocate.
- The tailless tenrec can have as many as 32 young, and females have up to 29 teats.
- Tenrecs share a single cloaca for waste and reproduction, which is unusual for placental mammals.
- All tenrecs are believed to descend from an ancestor that rafted over from Africa.
Where to see tenrec in the U.S.
4 zoos across 4 states
Find the closest one
Rank the 3 zoos holding tenrec by how far they are from you. Your location is used in your browser to sort this list and is never sent to us.
1 more zoo holds tenrec but has no coordinates on file yet, so it isn't ranked here. It's in the full list below.
California· 1
Delaware· 1
Kansas· 1
Virginia· 1
AZAThe Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Accredited members have passed an independent inspection of animal care and welfare, safety, conservation and education, repeated every five years. Many smaller facilities never apply, so “not accredited” isn't a verdict on its own. What accreditation means · How we check this
Built from each zoo's own published animal list.
