Insectivora

Order of class Mammalia, including shrews, moles, hedgehogs, tenrecs, golden moles, and elephant shrews. There are over 300 living species. The families are: Tenrecidae, tenrecs; Chrysochloridae, Cape golden moles; Erinaceidae, hedgehogs; Soricidae, shrews; Talpidae, moles; Macroscelididae, elephant shrews; Solenodontidae, solenodons; and Potamogalidae, otter shrews.

The largest is about the size of a small rabbit. The shrews are the smallest mammals, some weighing only 2.5 g/0.09 oz. They are found all over the world. All have teeth well adapted for eating insects, with tiny conical tubercles on the top of the molar teeth. Many have a full complement of teeth: incisors, canines, premolars, molars, and even temporary milk molars. The actual number varies with different families, but 44 is the average total.

Their muscular system is well developed; their skin is thin, and shrews and other species are provided with scent-glands at the sides of their bodies. Australia and South America are the only large areas of the globe where there are no Insectivora; in all other tropical and temperate zones there are many representatives.

There is growing genetic evidence that the order Insectivora should be divided. According to US and Irish scientists in 1998, golden moles and tenrecs are more genetically similar to elephants than they are to the other insectivores and so should be placed in a separate order.