Malayan Water Shrew

Malayan Water Shrew[1]
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Soricomorpha
Family:	Soricidae
Genus:	Chimarrogale
Species:	C. hantu
Binomial name
Chimarrogale hantu Harrison, 1958
Malayan Water Shrew range

The Malayan Water Shrew (Chimarrogale hantu), also known as the Hantu Water Shrew, is a red-toothed shrew recorded only from the Malaysian state of Selangor. It was listed as a critically endangered, but is now considered near threatened.

It gets its scientific name hantu from the Malay word for ghost.

Anatomy

The Malayan Water Shrew has a white underside, a black coat along its top and sides and a fringe of bristles running along the surface of the tail and on the paws which act as swimming aids. Teeth have red tips and the Malayan Water Shrew can grow up to about 10 cm in height and 20 cm in length.

Habitat

The Malayan Water Shrew lives in the Tropical Rainforests of Peninsula Malaysia. It lives mainly by fresh water lakes and rivers surrounded by vegetation and spends much of its time underwater. Underwater this shrew likes to stay in leafy areas to avoid predators and surprise its prey, which include fish, frogs and plants.

References

1. ^ Hutterer, Rainer (16 November 2005). Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M.. ed. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). pp. 275. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3. 
2. ^ Insectivore Specialist Group (1996). Chimarrogale hantu. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 11 May 2008. Listed as Near Threatened