Sengis (Elephant-Shrews)

Captive gray-faced sengi
Rhynchocyon chrysopygus
Ndundulu Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania.
Photo: F. Rovero, 19 March 2006

Gray-faced sengi
Note snare scar across thigh.
Ndundulu Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: G.B. Rathbun, 19 March 2006

Museum study skins of the four gray-faced sengi voucher specimens.
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
Photo: Dong Lin, 17 October 2006

Arafat Mtui, of the Udzungwa Ecological Monitoring Center, training field assistants to assemble camera traps.
Mwanihana Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: F. Rovero 10 June 2006

Arafat Mtui and Francesco Rovero, protected from big game by an armed ranger, positioning a camera trap in the forest.
Mwanihana forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: J. Sanderson, July 2002

Camera-trapped gray-faced sengi.
Mwanihana Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: F. Rovero, 21 June 2006

Expedition members with the first gray-faced sengi captured.
Left to right - Amos Lugami, Francesco Rovero, Andrew Perkin, Charles Leonard, David Ribble, Galen Rathbun (with sengi), Ruben Mwakisoma, and Amani Kitegile.
Ndundulu Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: F. Rovero, 18 March 2006

Porters on eight-hour hike carrying equipment and supplies through grass and braken fern habitat before reaching the forest.
Udekwa Village, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: G. Rathbun, 12 March 2006

David Ribble on path through dense forest, which is gray-faced sengi habitat, near base camp.
Ndundulu Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: G. Rathbun, 19 March 2006

Kitchen, laboratory, and rain shelter at base camp.
Ndundulu Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: G. Rathbun, 19 March 2006

Charles Leonard, David Ribble, Galen Rathbun, and Francesco Rovero at dinner.
Ndundulu Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: G. Rathbun, 24 March 2006

Andrew Perkin waiting (wishing) for the daily rain to stop.
Ndundulu Foret, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: G. Rathbun, 24 March 2006

Photographing a gray-faced sengi required a photographer (F. Rovero) and sengi wrangler (G. Rathbun).
To ensure that none of the valuable animals escaped, the tent was zipped shut while shooting.
Ndundulu Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: D. Ribble, 18 March 2006

Expedition members stand guard around a photography corral in a forest glade during an unusually sunny afternoon.
Francesco Rovero and a gray-faced sengi are both inside the corral, which is covered with netting to prevent the sengi from leaping out and escaping.
Ndundulu Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: G. Rathbun, 23 March 2006

Francesco Rovero at work with a gray-faced sengi in the photo corral.
Ndundulu Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: G. Rathbun, 23 March 2006

David Ribble pointing out the noose of a snare (green nylon twine) set on an indistinct path through the forest that might be used by a gray-faced sengi.
Ndundulu Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: G. Rathbun, 19 March 2006

Galen Rathbun, Francesco Rovero, and David Ribble about to prepare a gray-faced sengi specimen.
Ndundulu Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: A. Perkin, 23 March 2006

Andrew Perkin and Francesco Rovero with three museum study skins of gray-faced sengis prepared for drying.
Ndundulu Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: F. Rovero, 20 March 2006

Daily rain and high humidity in the forest required a make-shift oven over a campfire to dry the gray-faced sengi museum study skins.
Ndundulu Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Photo: G.Rathbun, 25 March 2006

Various different forms of giant sengi study skins in their cabinet drawers.
The Natural History Museum, London
Photo: G. Rathbun, 30 March 2006

Selected study skins of different forms of giant sengi. Top four in near row are gray-faced sengis.
The Natural History Museum, London
Photo: G. Rathbun, 30 March 2006

Representatives of the four species of giant sengi:
(a) gray-faced sengi (camera trap image), (b) black-and-rufous sengi (captive), (c) checkered sengi (camera trap image), and (d) golden-rumped sengi (captive).
Plate from Rovero, F. & G.B. Rathbun. 2006. A potentially new giant sengi (elephant-shrew) from the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania.
Journal of East African Natural History 95:111-115.

Camcorder trap video sequence of a gray-faced sengi foraging on a game trail through the forest.
Ndundulu Forest, Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania
Video: Trevor Jones, 4 June 2006, 1207 hours.