Hyrax
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Hyrax
Related Category: Vertebrate Zoology
(h´rks), name for rabbit-sized mammals of Africa and SW Asia comprising the family Procavidae.
Rock Hyrax Anatomy and Appearance
The Rock Hyrax looks very much like a large Guinea Pig, but with rounder ears and the lack of a tail. They have thick, soft fur which is usually brown or grey in colour, but can be slightly yellow.
Cape hyrax, Dassie
Procavia capensis
A small African mammal which looks like a rodent, but is actually a member of the Afrotheria - related to elephants, sea cows, tenrecs, elephant shrews and the aardvark.
Hyrax vocalizations include twitters, growls, whistles and shrieks. One group will answer the contact calls of another group.
Hyraxes have long hairs scattered over their bodies. The hairs probably help orient hyraxes in dark areas and burrows, similar to whiskers.
4.
Rock Hyrax
Procavia capensis
Home Range
Sub-Saharan Africa and Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Syria ...
Rock Hyraxes Scouting
Here's another party of mammals using a termite mound for a home. These rock hyraxes weren't nearly as wary of our vehicle as the mongooses. They're keeping an eye out for more dangerous game.
Vultures Squabbling ...
Hyraxes are about the size of rabbits. They have short necks, round heads, and short tails. They have three toes on their hind feet and five on their fore feet. On the first and third toe of their hind feet they have hooves; the middle toe has a claw.
Hyracoidea (Hyraxes).
c.*Barypoda (Arsinoitherium). d.*Toxodontia (Toxodon, &c.). e. *Amblypoda (Uintatherium, &c.). f.*Litopterna (Macrauchenia, &c.). g.*Ancylopoda (Chalicotherium, &c.). h. *Condylarthra (Phenacodus, &c.). i.
The elephants, the hyrax or klipdassie, the dugong Dugong dugon and the manatee Trichechus spp, shared a common pig-like ancestor, Moeritherium some 60 million years ago.
Proboscideans, like hyraxes and embrithopods, evolved and diversified in Africa during the Paleogene. The oldest proboscidean is a meter-high unnamed animal from the Lower Eocene of Algeria (Mahboubi et al. 1984).
Rock hyrax (Procavia capensis)
Sanderling (Calidris alba)
Ringed river frog (Phrynobatrachus annulatus)
Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon)
Greater mouse-tailed bat (Rhinopoma microphyllum)
Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata) ...
In other areas the diet is largely mammalian, especially hyrax and small antelopes. Animals as large as an Impala calf are taken, and some monkeys, also occasionally young domestic goats, and lambs.
Rock hyraxes are killed very frequently and remains were found in 53% of 200 scats which were examined. Vegetable matter and insect remains have also been found in caracal faeces. Grapes and green grass have been seen inside their stomachs.
The large flat nails of elephants, hyraxes, and sea cows - collectively called the "paenungulates" ("almost ungulates") - were thought to represent an evolutionary intermediate between traditional claw-like nails and true hooves.
Caracals will take a wide variety of prey that include small or young antelope, rodents, hares, hyraxes, birds and lizards. Birds are caught while roosting or batted down while flying.
Other animals in this group include elephants, hyraxes, sirenians, elephant-shrews, golden moles, and tenrecs. Afrotherians are thought to have originated and evolved in Africa.
Caracal generally hunt birds, rodents, scrub hares, hyraxes, and small antelope. The caracal has an amazing jump and is capable of jumping up to heights of two metres - a useful skill when hunting birds.
The closest relatives to the elephant are the Hyraxes and Sea Cows (dugongs and manatees). Elephants are also related to Horses, Tapirs and Rhinos.
Elephant Diet ...
As a boy I remember watching spellbound as an adult Verreaux's Eagle (then called Black Eagle ) snatched a Rock Hyrax twenty feet from me on the slopes of Table Mountain.
FWC Facts:
Manatees are related to elephants, hyraxes and aardvarks.
Learn More at AskFWC
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Fossil records suggest that the elephant has some unlikely distant relatives, namely the small, rodentlike hyrax and the ungainly aquatic dugong. They all are thought to have evolved from a common stock related to ungulates.
Manatees are closely related to the elephant and the hyrax (a small mammal that looks like a rodent)! Many years ago, there were legends that sailors, seeing manatees from a long distance, thought they were mermaids.
The closest living relatives to the aardvarks include elephants, hyraxes, dugongs, manatees, elephant shrews, golden moles and tenrecs. Together, these mammals form a group known as the "Afrotheria".
They have two flippers with three to four nails on each, and their head and face are wrinkled with whiskers on the snout. The manatee's closest relative is the elephant and the hyrax (a small furry rodent-like animal).
Nor is the aardvark closely related to the South American anteater, despite sharing some characteristics and a superficial resemblance. The closest living relatives of the aardvark are the elephant shrews, along with the sirenians, hyraxes, tenrecs, ...
 See also: Elephant, Aardvark, Manatee, Shrew, Rabbit
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