If you've known me for longer than a few minutes, you know that one of my favorite videos of all time is the "take a closer look at that snout!" elephant shrew x Phantom of the Opera mashup that took the internet by storm in 2015. I feel like I've watched that gorgeous elephant shrew licking its lips and snout—getting ready to belt out, "sing, my angel of music!"—literally thousands of times.
As much as I've watched that tiny, snouted, Phantom of the Opera, though, I still haven't gotten enough elephant shrew content, so I went searching for more of the creature that Galen Rathbun of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, quoted in Science News, describes as what would you'd get if you were to take "an antelope and an anteater and slap them together."
I'm pleased to report that I have come back from my hunt with the perfect elephant shrew ASMR video, and a terrific educational video about elephant shrews, also known as sengi.
First up, behold this short—alas, it's a mere minute long—but captivating video of a sengi at the Houston Zoo making the cutest little sniffy and smacky noises, while showing off its absolutely beautiful snout. That snout hardly looks like it could be real! What a lucky little beast to have such a glorious snout! And how lucky are we to get to witness such a marvel!
Next, here's a recent 8-minute overview from Animalogic of sengis, aka elephant shrews, with plenty of footage of the adorable creatures and lots of facts about the ridiculously cute creatures. They're weirder than we ever thought! They're secretive! They're voracious insectivores! They have an incredibly high metabolism! They look like mini anteaters on stilts! There are about 20 recognized species, including the golden-rumped sengi (which, yes, has a cute golden butt)! They aren't "true shrews"—they are actually genetically closer to elephants, aardvarks, and dugongs (sea cows) than true shrews! Their long snouts probe the ground! Their tongues flick food down their throats!
To further clarify these last two points, Science News describes their eating process:
Their long bendy noses look like tiny elephant trunks, but they're less flexible and can't pick things up. To snatch an ant, a sengi shoots out a skinny tongue from its mouth, which lies far back toward the neck. To work around all that nose, sengis sometimes turn their heads and slurp sideways.
Above all, sengis are just about as cute as any creature that exists on this big ol' planet. Enjoy!
