I bet you didn’t know! – Kenya’s mammals fun facts

The naked mole-rat is ectothermic! What does that mean? That is more reptile-like than mammal-like, meaning the source of heat is not internal, like for all other mammals, but gained from the surrounding environment (hence no hair). This species has another peculiarity, it has the highest number of offspring (28!)

Question: can a mammal be poisonous?
Well, if you answered really honestly you would have probably said ‘no’, and you will have been wrong.
There are some, like the platypus or like some shrews, which are indeed poisonous, but there is one very smart little fellow, called the Crested Rat (Lophiomys imhausi).

This nice looking mouse, resembling a hedgehog, chews the bark of the very poisonous Acokanthera (a tree used by the WaKamba for poisonous arrows).

Some of the hair of his crest are hollow and absorbent and this smart guy slathers the chewed bark on them.
Predators must have learned their lesson and they leave this poisonous rat alone!

Do you know which mammal is widespread all over the planet and share a common ancestor with the hippo?

Did you guess the pig?
Nope!

Think again…

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It’s the whale!