What is Tenrec?
{{Automatic Taxobox | name = Tenrecidae | fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Bartonian|Recent}}<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Martin Pickford |year=2015 |title=Late Eocene Potamogalidae and Tenrecidae (Mammalia) from the Sperrgebiet, Namibia |journal=Communications of the Geological Survey of Namibia |volume=16 |pages=114–152 |url=http://www.mme.gov.na/files/publications/407_Comms%20GSN%2016,%202015%20Pickford%20Tenrecoidea,114-152.pdf |access-date=2020-10-07 |archive-date=2020-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907171550/http://www.mme.gov.na/files/publications/407_Comms%20GSN%2016,%202015%20Pickford%20Tenrecoidea,114-152.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> | image = Tanrek.jpg | image_caption = [[Tailless tenrec]] (''Tenrec ecaudatus'') | taxon = Tenrecidae | authority = [[John Edward Gray|Gray]], 1821 | subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies | subdivision = *[[Geogalinae]] *[[Oryzorictinae]] *[[Tenrecinae]] }} The '''tenrec''' is a [[mammal]] of the [[family (biology)|family]] '''Tenrecidae''', found on [[Madagascar]] and in parts of the [[Africa]]n mainland. Tenrecs are varied. As a result of [[convergent evolution]], they look like [[hedgehog]]s, [[shrew]]s, [[opossum]]s, [[mouse|mice]] and even [[otter]]s.<ref>Savage RJG, & Long MR 1986. ''Mammal evolution: an illustrated guide''. New York: Facts on File. p. 53. {{ISBN|0-8160-1194-X}}</ref> They occupy [[aquatic]], [[arboreal]], [[Terrestrial animal|terrestrial]] and underground [[habitats]]. Some of these species can be found in the Madagascar's dry [[deciduous]] [[forests]]. Although they may resemble shrews, hedgehogs, or otters, they are not closely related to any of these groups. Their closest relatives are other African, insectivorous mammals such as [[golden mole]]s and [[elephant shrew]]s. The common ancestry of these animals, together with [[aardvark]]s, [[hyrax]]es, [[elephant]]s, and [[sirenia|sea cow]]s in the group [[Afrotheria]], was not recognized until the late 1990s.<ref>Stanhope M.J. ''et al'' 1998. Molecular evidence for multiple origins of