Armored Shrew

Taxobox
name = Armored ShrewMSW3 Hutterer | pages =257]


fossil_range = Recent
status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1
status_ref = IUCN2006 | assessors = Kerbis Peterhans, J. | year = 2004 | title = Scutisorex somereni | id = 41449 | downloaded = 2006-12-31]
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Soricomorpha
familia = Soricidae
subfamilia = Crocidurinae
genus = "Scutisorex"
genus_authority = Thomas, 1913
species = "S. somereni"
binomial = "Scutisorex somereni"
binomial_authority = (Thomas, 1910)

The Armored Shrew ("Scutisorex somereni"), also known as the Hero Shrew, is a large shrew native to Africa, which has a highly unusual spinal column. Its corrugated interlocking vertebrae are quite different from those found in other shrews, or in fact, in any other type of mammal.

The Armored Shrew's unique anatomy allows it to bear the weight of a 160-pound human without harm. [cite journal | author = Allen, JA. | year = 1917 | title = The skeletal characters of Scutisorex somereni | journal = Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History | volume = 28 | pages = 769–784]

References

External links

* http://www.abdn.ac.uk/mammal/hero.shtml
* http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Scutisorex_somereni.html