Hyraxes
Procaviidae
Hyraxes (from Ancient Greek ὕραξ hýrax 'shrew-mouse'), also called dassies, are small, stout, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the family Procaviidae within the order Hyracoidea. Hyraxes are well-furred, rotund animals with short tails. Modern hyraxes are typically between 30 and 70 cm (12 and 28 in) in length and weigh between 2 and 5 kg (4 and 11 lb). They are superficially similar to marmots or over-large pikas but are much more closely related to elephants and sirenians. Hyraxes have a life span of 9 to 14 years. Both types of "rock" hyrax (P. capensis and H. brucei) live on rock outcrops, including cliffs in Ethiopia and isolated granite outcrops called koppies in southern Africa.
Almost all hyraxes are limited to Africa; the exception is the rock hyrax (P. capensis) which is also found in adjacent parts of the Middle East.
3 branches of this family, most-observed first · about 6 known species
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Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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Every page naming Procaviidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 43084.