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Project Noah Nature School
Procavia capensis
Small mammals that live in rock faces, hyrax are most closely related to the elephant. Solid brown fur, hoof-like feet pads, and large incisors.
Cliff faces of plateaus in high elevation grasslands. Just look for white wash on the cliffs and you've likely found hyrax.
Spotted on Jan 1, 2014
Submitted on Jan 17, 2014
3 Comments
That's awesome, Neil! I definitely have plans to go back, maybe I'll get to have a cool encounter like that with some wild animal! Their other closest relative is the manatee (which makes sense if you knew elephants and manatees are related), but hyrax are just weird creatures!
I love these little guys. I was staying at a lodge in Kenya for an extended period and there was one Hyrax that always wanted to sit on my lap. No fear at all. His mates would gather around my feet, and I would sit there for ages not wanting to disturb them. Just like not wanting to disturb the cat when it's sitting on your lap. It's like a hostage situation. Known as Dassie's in SAR. The 'elephant' fact is mind-blowing. Still trying to get my head around that one.
Hiraxes are awesome. So hard to believe they are related to elephants!!!