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prettygoodwordtenrec (TEN-rek) - n., any of several small insectivorous mammals (family Tenrecidae) of or near Madagascar with long, pointed snouts, many of which resemble hedgehogs.
In being spiny and tailless. Other tenrecs resemble shrews and opossums, and a couple aquatic species resemble otters -- convergent evolution in action. When some presents a tenrec to you, odds are it is, more specifically, the lesser hedgehog tenrec (or possibly its greater cousin). Name adopted into English the 1720s from French tanrec, from Malagasy tàndraka.
---L.
In being spiny and tailless. Other tenrecs resemble shrews and opossums, and a couple aquatic species resemble otters -- convergent evolution in action. When some presents a tenrec to you, odds are it is, more specifically, the lesser hedgehog tenrec (or possibly its greater cousin). Name adopted into English the 1720s from French tanrec, from Malagasy tàndraka.
---L.
